The best way to get an idea of a system's reliability, or a manufacturer for that matter, is by checking out their refurbished section, or line-up!
HP has a HUGE one! Best Buy and many other retailers flog their massive and constantly growing list of system (lines) that have common problems! But don't take my word for it. Simply G00G ""HP refurb"", or ""refurbished"".
If on a budget, and you simply MUST buy prebuilt shit, buy a Dell! Yah, HP makes the odd good system, when they're luck! However, Dell has a much better track recored.
Better yet,
do you self a favour and buy AlienWare!! Unlike the others just mentioned, they do not merely build around whatever cheap ass hardware they can get their grubby mitts on! They build rock solid monster!!
Another key selling feature is they do not litter the system with the obscure proprietary garbage (software, system setting, hardware) that HP does.