While yes, they're clearly copying Gateway, that doesn't mean they have no skill. It's wholly possible that the clone company/companies end up implementing features Gateway doesn't have/won't have. It's not likely, but still possible.
While clone fanboys are annoying, so are Gateway fanboys. The people who assume the cloners are stupid/incapable are just as wrong as those who assume Gateway is stupid/incapable. Give it some time before the actual cards come out.
And in regards to the DRM notion... no. First of all, Gateway is proof that DRM doesn't necessarily mean squat. Second, Gateway should be focused on making sure their customers are happy, not making sure the clone buyers are unhappy. All DRM would do is make it harder/impossible to copy their new update, but since anyone who pays attention to this "scene" would pick Gateway until the clones prove to be better, it's not gonna affect sales on that big of a scale.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love for new teams to get on the scene and make some new hacks, whether better than Gateway or not. The problem I have is that these clones are blatantly just ripping off Gateway, if they were doing their own work and adding new features themselves, I wouldn't have the slightest problem.