Buying a laptop. (HP, Compaq, or Gateway)

[Mark A-J. Raught (from the laptop)]

Greetings all,

I am about to buy a laptop from Best Buy (18 months no interest is the 
main reason I am going with them) My choices have come down to the 
following 3:

Gateway 7405GX (AMD 64 3200+)
HP zv5320us (AMD XP-M 3000+)
Compaq r3306us (AMD XP-M 3000+)

While it would be cool to have the 64 bit machine, I am kind of scared 
of the new technology in a laptop. I know sometimes it is easier to turn 
lead into gold than get the latest and greatest to work on a laptop.  So 
I am kind of leaning toward the HP or the Compaq. However (you knew it 
was coming) I still don't trust Compaq (bad history with them) so this 
leaves me at the HP. It seems to be a reasonable laptop at a decent price.

I am definitely not set on the HP, that's why I'm writing to the mobile 
group, to get more info...

On to the big problem; I can't find any info on any of the laptops with 
FreeBSD. I checked the usual compatibility web pages, but couldn't find 
these specific models and don't know what models would be close. I am 
going today to play with a FreeSBIE CD, but I would feel more 
comfortable knowing if I was going to hit any big roadblocks.

Extra info: The laptop will be wiped (no windows please) and I will be 
running FreeBSD. I have no problem replacing a miniPCI card if need be, 
but obviously I can't do that with video (HP and Compaq both have nVidia 
w/ unknow chipset) which is my biggest concern, or sound (not that 
important, but it'd be nice).

I have complete confidence that this laptop would work eventually, but I 
would rather sooner than later.

Please, if anyone has experience with any of these (or similar models) 
please let me know. I will be buying soon (hopefully today or tomorrow, 
within the week definitely) and would love to have more than a FreeSBIE 
CD to tell me everthing will be alright. :)


thanks,
-mark