[Mystake]

my brother's gateway laptop lasted a year
after that, the screen started to crap out.

I steer clear of any 2nd or 3rd "class" hardware.

I use an Asus laptop and that's about as low-end as I'll go. You get what you pay for in terms of those s**t laptops.
Don't bother with the netbooks either - keyboard too small, overall computer is too slow. It's like going back to dial up.