Laptop Problem...Shall I Buy A New One???

[bedsheets]

Hey All,

First off a little background:
I purchased a Gateway laptop in Feb. 06' and right out of the box I had a problem with the AC power. What would happen is, the power would switch from AC to battery even when the AC was plugged into the computer. The laptop would do this every couple seconds or so and just keep doing it until I got fed up and turned the damn thing off and used my desktop. I think it's some kind of glitch with Gateway laptops because the connection from the AC to the laptop is fine. So anyways, I was able to exchange it for a new one (same model) and the new laptop worked fine...until now. Now the same thing is happening. I talked to Gateway support and they said it would be $170 to fix.

My questions:
1. Anyone have a similar problem and how did you fix it?

2. If I'm going to spend $170 to fix this should I just buy a new laptop for $850 (my max price range)

3. If I should buy a new laptop, what should I buy? My Gateway is a 15in. widescreen and I love the widescreen but I would prefer not to overlap or resize tables (I prefer 4-6 tables) Does a 1400x900 resolution allow no overlap or resizing if I 4 table? Give me some suggestions on this. I'm very open minded, so brand doesn't matter (although I prefer Dell because of there customer support)

4. Windows Vista - It seems all the new laptops I look at only come with Vista. I have heard some sketchy things about Vista so give me some feedback.

Thanks