Compaq is no more. It's HP now. Actually HP has a pretty decent product line with the Pavillion series. I had a Compaq Presario laptop once and it was the worst computer I ever owned. I had to totally reload the operating system at least three times and I only had it for about a year. I use an IBM Thinkpad for a laptop now and it is the best computer I have ever had - including desktops.
I remember Gateway from the mid-1990s. I never owned one but I know people who did and they were happy with them. They had a chance to be where Dell is now but somebody screwed up somewhere.
I also have an IBM Thinkpad which is long in the tooth, but still works pretty well - I just bought a wireless card for it to use with the new home network. It is probably the best machine, overall, that I've ever had as well. I bought the daughter a Dell laptop for college, but that's because I was too cheap to buy her an equivalent IBM!
I liked it so much, I bought an IBM NetVista where the guts of the computer are on the back of the Flat Panel monitor. I figured IBM was cashing in on their expertise at miniaturization and laptops. That's been a good machine as well. I'm not sure why they didn't catch on, other than the difficulty upgrading.
I know that compaq is no more, but I still hate them. HP makes good printers and other peripherals, like my scanner, but I was never very impressed with their desktops or notebooks.