Most people go with name brand laptops because of perceived reliability. The real thing is all notebook / laptops have about the same failure rates. The problem with name brand notebooks is the limited upgradability. There are Name Brand Custom Laptops that only OEM their models to system builders, like Clevo. They ship as many if not more notebooks than any Name Brand like Gateway or Dell.. These Custom brand name laptops can be upgraded beyond just memory... Below is a list of Pro and Cons of going either way.

Pros for Name Brand Notebooks / Laptops(Dell, Gateway..etc..):

1) The comfort of being with an established company

2) Reliability and support is usually present.

Pros for Custom Notebooks / Laptops: (Clevo, Jetta):

1) When researched, Buyers will see that these too are well established companies

2) You can upgrade the CPU, Memory, Hard Drive and would never have to go back to the Notebook company to do so...

3) You can get much faster machines than buying from a name brand like Dell, Gateway, HP..etc.... Example: Dual SLI Video, Multiple internal HDDs running RAID

4) Parts are standardized and not proprietary in 99% of the laptops..

5) You can get the same or better warranty for less with Custom Laptops

6) You can get more for your money with Custom machines

7) When purchasing On-site service from these types of companies, they are most likely using well known nationwide on-site service carriers which will still warranty the labor and tech support even if the company you purchased from ever goes out of business.. Dell goes out of business then you are stuck with no onsite or warranty.

Cons for Name Brand Notebooks / Laptops :

1) You are limited to the speed and components you can put inside.

2) Some to most parts in Name Brand latops cannot be upgraded unless going back to the Name Brand System maker.

4) CPU is mostly soldered or Motherboard made to only handle One specific CPU and Speed.. so upgrading means buying a new laptop / Notebook

5) Usually the only thing you can upgrade without going back to the manufacturer is Memory / RAM

6) You get less for your money

Cons for Custom Notebooks / Laptops:

1) Have not found any.......