Of the major system builders (HP, Dell, Sony, and Toshiba), the companies that let you go to their website and let you pick your parts for a system, HP is the best. Obviously I'm not talking about the aftermarket crowd, like most of us here, who buy a case and the bits and put them together. I'm talking about the places you can go to on the web and choose a series and pick from a few options of CPUs, GPUs and a few options on software. Of those companies, HP has the best selection of parts for their systems. Toshiba tends to be the best at keeping bloat-ware to a minimum, but HP isn't that far behind. and of course, HP and Toshiba tend to be the cheaper options.
This move on its own is not particularly noteworthy actually. It simply is a step to cut overhead in the company. It's unclear how this will actually affect products, as cost cutting for bottom-line finances sake or efficiency's sake doesn't always necessarily mean a change in product quality one way or another. It will be in the market for a new laptop later this year, and the HP dv7 series is among my finalists right now.