Gateway computer reliability

they're about as reliable as Russian space launch vehicles

The only [major] brand worse than Gateway is HP.. I'd recommend you choose brand lower on the graph.  

My Gateway laptop from 2008 is still working very well and lately I've been running it almost 24/7. I think that looking at a manufacturer for reliability is a bad way to go about this. Look at individual product lines because their reliability can vary widely even with the same company.