Indeed. But opinion-seeking threads are best served by In My Humble Opinion. I’ll shoot it over there.
Here’s my thoughts.
I have never personally dealt with Dell, I have dealt with Gateway and bypass the toll free line entirely. We have a Gateway Country store not too far. Since my client has upwards of 20 Gateways, for various reasons, the local Gateway repair shop knows me. (believe me, not all of the problems have been warranty issues – never drop a heavy 1 1/2 inch thick three ring binder on a laptop screen.) Cost my client $1000 for replacement.
Anyhow, on a personal level I buy local. I go to the small guy that has been in business for years and years and have my machine custom made. Now, since I am a techchick I also specify which parts go in my machine. Add to that that I have done business with them since 1997 and have developed a “relationship” with the people there. They know if I am inside my case I am not in there to fart around, I am in there for business so my warranty remains intact.
One nice thing about the small guys, if you get a list of components from them (brand etc.) if you need to update a driver it’s usually pretty easy to find them on the web.
Go with Dell. I’ve used both, and I just like Dell better.
In high school, some of my teachers had known Mike Dell in college. They’re still kicking themselves for not being there when he was giving away free stock.
Dell… I used to work for the company that does Gateway’s support. I am sure Dell hires the same type of losers, but at least I don’t have evidence of the fact.
I would just have a local computer store make one. They can use cheaper non-dell, non-gateway parts.
You can always call dell & ask them what a modem costs, & compare to a store.
Get someone who knows how to build them make one for you. I have a dell here at work and it bites. I built mine( AMD K6-2 400 mhz), and it kicks the Dell p3 500 mhz here.
I’m not sure what position you are in as far as computer knowledge, but you might want to consider building your own.
Its not as hard as computer people try to make it sound like. Basically you just need to buy a case, motherboard, processor, ram, Hard drive(s), cd/dvd, modem, video card monitor and a few fans if you buy oem equipment. These days it really is simple, just plug everything in, and boot off of the cd from bios to install the OS. You can save a fair amount of money, and you know your computer very well. The downside is that there is a fair amount of bad equipment out there, like DOA hard drives. If you buy the computer already put together, the bad equip has been taken care of and replaced, but on a personal build you have to figure it out and send it in for a replacement.
I’m not going to go into all the details here since there are many website devoted to it, but if you have any interest in building one you can look at Anand’s, Tom’s hardware and hardwarecentral.
I just bought my Dell computer. I sue it every day, and it works relatively OK.
Yes, I’m one of the “lunatic finges” who changes equipment every two to three months.
Oh boy talk about Freudian slips!! I use it everyday.
My friend has gotten excellent service from Dell, as opposed to my friend who has a Gateway. One of his pieces of hardware fried, it was one that had been recalled, so Dell had sent someone over to replace it right away. His computer was back up in a day.
I’ve also seen Dell get slightly better grades in PC magazines than Gateway, although they’re just about tied.
You’re pretty safe either way you choose. However, I have noticed that Gateway leans more towards AMD systems while Dell is in Intel’s camp.
Dell, Gateway are extremely rich comp’s. Which would say to me they charge way too much for their stuff. Which is why having a store make one for you is better.
Thanks for the replys folks.
I had originaly planed to make my own computer but after loosing my but in the satelite buisness I was kind of punchy.
I started checking out prices from Jameco and found that I could buy a system for the same money as if I made it myself. SO,Figures I,Why bother. I’ll leave the headaches and sleepless nights worrying about screwing up to someone else.
I haven’t decided what to do yet but I’m leaning toward a laptop. It just seems more practical.
Heck I don’t know how to use all the bells and whistles this computer has.