Dell Or Gateway

[MommyEnterprises]

We are looking to buy a used laptop for our daughter. There is a Dell or a Gateway.

Which would you pick?

[Rick McCombs]

Dell.

Stay away from Gateway.

[KimW]

Interesting, I'd say stay away from Dell.

Actually, go with HP.

[Rick McCombs]

I have a Dell that I have been using for 3 years and haven't had 1 problem.

HP makes good ones too.

[Michael Ellis]

Never tired a Gateway computer. I do have an HP monitor and really like it. But I've had some great experiences with Dell. Over the years I've beaten Dell products pretty hard, and they still kept ticking.

I've had some really bad experiences with HP laptops...enough to say that I'll never own another HP product.

[KimW]

Rick,
I had a PC repair shop until I had to close it earlier this year due to illness.
I used to call Dell "job security".

It actually depends a lot on the user though.
In a business enviroment Dells are ok. For personal use, especially with kids, it doesn't really matter which brand, the kids are going to screw it up sooner or later.

[KimW]

Michael,
Gateway used to be an "ok" brand, but they aren't that good any more either.
If you see all those E Machines,those are Gateway.
Emachines were very inexpensive PCs and were also very poor quality.
Gateway bought them out a few years ago,and their quality went up a bit, but they were and still are very poor quality machines.
The Gateway brand is a step above EMachines, and I'd even put Dell about both of them.
What I honestly tell people when they ask about buying a computer is, if it's a desktop,to have it custom built, and it it's a laptop they are looking for, to get either an HP or a Toshiba.
Michael,
you say you have had bad experiences with HP laoptops ,bad enough that you would never own another HP product. I have to say that one thing HP does excel at is printers.

[Michael Ellis]

KimW, you sound like you know what you're talking about... I agree, I'd go the custom route as well, especially for gaming machines. You'll end up with much higher quality components that way.

The one HP problem was on my laptop. A few years back I purchased one of the top of the line HP laptops for around $3000. I used it for 6 months and noticed I had to keep wiggling the power cord to get it to charge.

After a while, it just would charge anymore. I didn't buy the extended warranty so I was kind of stuck with the bill. I took it back where I bought it and they said I needed a new motherboard for $1200! I told them to forget it.

About 1 year went by and I got a letter from a law firm on a class action lawsuit for defective products with certain serial numbers. Mine was one of them. The problem was I dump the laptop by that time... never got anything out of it. That's when I swore I'd never get another one.

[Joanne Greco]

I've had a Gateway PC and a Gateway laptop. Both were crap.

I've had three Dell PC's and I've had no problems.

I say...go with Dell.

[Rick McCombs]

The Dell I have goes with me every where and has seen a lot use.

Maybe I got lucky when I bought it. It has been a good machine.

[Sleaklight]

Having had all 3 and the only one that is still alive from all 3 is my Dell, HP died 1 month after warranty expiration. Gateway was a POS from day 1.

[OMI]

I only order Dell and GW comps and laptops, but more towards Dell because they have amazing support. I ordered laptops for my kids this year, too, and got them both custom Dell Inspiron 1525's.

It also depends on their usage. My 2 tweens are familiar with computers having grown up with them in the house since they were born. So, they need their own now and it will be good to teach them the responsibility of having it, as well as online etiquette.

I recommend going with Dell, but it's too bad it's too late to custom build one for your daughter and get it in time for xmas. The ones off the shelf come with tons of crapware (all comps do) that you should uninstall before she starts using it.

I get refurbed GW laptops from TigerDirect.com and they have been great.

Do you have a budget in mind?

[KimW]

Originally Posted by OMI

I only order Dell and GW comps and laptops, but more towards Dell because they have amazing support.

I find this to be an surprising statement.
In my opinon Dell support sucks. But it depends what type of support you mean.
Online support is pretty good, you can go to Dell.com ,put in the service tag and get a list of drivers for your machine. Thats the good part. The bad part is that when you do the above, your list might contain 20 different network drivers,with one being the correct one.The same goes for video drivers and models and most other parts.

And if your talking phone support, they have absolutely the worst in the business.So bad that I believe a fellow Warrior put out an ebook of how to deal with Dell Support.
One of the main things he said was tell them you were hard of hearing so you could get someone that actually spoke english as their native language.

I once called to get a price on a part for a customer of mine. The sales rep refused to give me a price unless I gave them all of mine and my customers personal information.
I refused.
Needsless to say, Dell lost the business they could have had.

Another time Dell sent me the wrong part 3 seperate times , and when I finally got fed up and told my customer what had happened and suggested they call Dell direct, Dell told them that I had ordered the wrong part 3 seperate times. Luckily I was able to explain to the customer how Dell looks up the part via the service tag so it was impossible for me to have done it and that Dell was trying to squirm out of their mistake.

I could go on and on with horror stories , but the real facts are that once PCs came under the 1K cost to consumers, almost all the manufacturers started using sub standard parts and we the consumers paid for it in the long run.

[Delta423]

I own a Dell. Haven't tried others. I like the Onenote notebook you can get with Dell. I organize my bills and projects in it.

[ecoverartist]

My parents use Dells and they've all run smoothly. We just recently upgraded a 10 year old Dell with...a newer Dell. Even the laptops are really good. No issues!

[emofree123]

Go with Dell...or Sony.

[jgalty]

Well if it's out of those two choices then Dell but i was also look into buying a new laptop instead of used.

[KimW]

Since someone revived this old thread, advice hasn't changed...avoid Dell at all costs.

[aussieroo1]

My brother owns a Dell and hasn't experienced anything wrong with it. I've been seeing good deals on Gateway notebooks though.

[Michael Motley]

Dell.

Parts are parts. the processor on a dell is no different from the processor on a gateway. Another thing that is the same is both machines will break down. Its inevitable. The difference between the machines is the service. Dell comes to you and fixes it next day, Gateway doesnt.

[KimW]

Actually,parts are not parts.
There can be a drastic difference in the quality of parts some maufacturers use.
Once the PC market hit the under $1000 priceline, parts got more and more unreliable.
There are many brands that I will take over others because I know they will outlast the competition.

[Michael Motley]

an intel processor is an intel processor
a sound chip is a sound chip
if you have a dell that says it has a quadro 3500 card and a gateway that says it has a quadro 3500 card, they are both the same card, neither is 'special' for the manufacturer

the only real differences in any of the oem system is their system boards but unless they are using a proprietary board, it is no different from one you can go buy yourself

[Lawrh]

Originally Posted by Michael Motley

an intel processor is an intel processor
a sound chip is a sound chip
if you have a dell that says it has a quadro 3500 card and a gateway that says it has a quadro 3500 card, they are both the same card, neither is 'special' for the manufacturer

the only real differences in any of the oem system is their system boards but unless they are using a proprietary board, it is no different from one you can go buy yourself

Hardly, one or two chips might be the same, but everything else on the motherboard can be a mix of anything. RAM varies drastically in quality let alone all the supporting ICs. Even the quality of the circuit prints and welds on cards and the mobo can vary. I've sent cards back because the edge connectors were crap. Don't forget crappy ports that break when you plug something in. There is no standard for quality in computer components, cheap brands use cheap components.

Oh, about buying a mobo yourself, be very careful and do your research because most of them are crap as well. I'm currently using two computers I built myself and have built many others, Mobos and cards definitely are not created equal.

[KimW]

But an Intel is not an AMD!
An Nvidia is not an ATI.
a generic sound chip is not a Creative Labs (Soundblaster) sound chip.
Crucial memory is not the same as off brand memory.

[Michael Motley]

Originally Posted by KimW

But an Intel is not an AMD!
An Nvidia is not an ATI.
a generic sound chip is not a Creative Labs (Soundblaster) sound chip.
Crucial memory is not the same as off brand memory.

True. But Dell uses nvidia and ati, intel and amd, creative labs and generic chips, crucial and house memory. just as im sure gateway does. And all those parts will be the exact same as the parts you would go buy at best buy, or at gateway.com from the same manufacturers.

The only difference is going to be the service when it breaks. Does anyone else have next day onsite service or sort of an 'insurance' on their hardware because Dell does.

[KimW]

Actually I think we covered this before Michael.
From my experience Dell will make you jump through hoops and do triple summersaults before they help you,the casual consumer.

I do think if you are a business or agency you will get that service you keep talking about, but the average every day user only gets it after having to have teeth pulled.

PS: I emphasized my experience because we could keep going round and round on this.

I,as you , have been in IT for many years and have had different experiences.
You will recommend Dell, and I in good conscience can't.

I do get asked quite often which laptops I would recommend and I usually say,in this order:
HP
Toshiba
Sony
Acer

[Michael Motley]

Originally Posted by KimW

Actually I think we covered this before Michael.
From my experience Dell will make you jump through hoops and do triple summersaults before they help you,the casual consumer.

I do think if you are a business or agency you will get that service you keep talking about, but the average every day user only gets it after having to have teeth pulled.

PS: I emphasized my experience because we could keep going round and round on this.

I,as you , have been in IT for many years and have had different experiences.
You will recommend Dell, and I in good conscience can't.

I do get asked quite often which laptops I would recommend and I usually say,in this order:
HP
Toshiba
Sony
Acer

So what kind of hoops does dell make you jump through?

[christftw]

Most manufacturers do skimp on quality parts, but in my experience it's usually the stuff they can easily get away with. Like power supplies. Those are very important but often overlooked -- and going for the absolute bare minimum in quality can cause a lot of headaches in the future (and if you want to upgrade, chances are you'll need to upgrade your PSU too).

I like HP, too. Not that it matters since this thread is about a year old, but I don't have enough personal experience with Dell or Gateway (I don't want to take the chance, knowing about both and the reps they've come to have).

Custom built is definitely the way to go if you can dedicate a few minutes a day for a week to learning about hardware and watch a few videos on youtube. It's not as hard as it sounds, but most local computer/repair shops will assemble the parts for you for a small fee ($50 is the highest I've heard of). And before deciding on anything, there are a lot of knowledgeable people at places like Tom's Hardware willing to help.


MommyEnterprises, which way did you go?

[Steve-K]

Dell is by far the better computer. I have owned nothing but Dells over the years and never had any problems.

[KimW]

Originally Posted by Michael Motley

So what kind of hoops does dell make you jump through?

Those who bought Dells and had to do it know what I mean.
Just dealing with their tech support is a nightmare.

[carlwilson]

Like the other user of dell, i go with them....

[John M Kane]

I have had great success with IBM Thinkpads.
Current is T42 which is several years old but,
works fine with XP(which still isn't bragging as it is Wyndoze)
In fact still have 3.All work, just older processors.
2 are set up with versions of Linux which gave them
both reprieves from the garbage dump.
Daughter and her fiance both recent Dells with monster screens
AND both have Vista
But so far trouble free