To Gateway or not to Gateway

[blubomber]

How is Gateway doing these days? I know that there had been alot of complaints in the past about them but how are they doing now? Are they producing some good PCs? I am going out shopping for a PC for my sister in law and there is a Gateway store in my area. Thank you for any feedback.

[scotter]

well if you must buy from a OEM you could do worse than gateway there are better but http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif
at least they are doing the we will beat any price deal so you should find a OK system for cheap http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Bovon]

Hope your sister lives near the Gateway place of business...many independent shops won't work on Gateways, Compaq, Packard Hells, and other propritary machines...manytimes, only getting the parts necessary to fix one has to come from them, and that gets costly. I have one guy nearby, that now refuses to take one in because of such as this.

[vass0922]

I experience with Gateway has been far less than favorable...
Now on the other hand, Dell has always done fairly well (as far as OEM's go)

Their parts are probably the least proprietary of all PC's
DO NOT buy a compaq PC (IMO) every piece on there is made specifically for Compaq so it must be replaced by a compaq piece which means $$$$$$

Dell's if something breaks and it is out of warranty, you can simply go out and replace it (as far as my experience goes at least, haven't tried a mobo) but they use brand name vid cards and sound cards.

Personally I enjoyed building my own, but not having one company to call for "tech support" (as they call it lol) is a con.

As far as tech support goes, I've had more good experiences with Dell than I've had with Gateway (hmmm don't think I've had a good experience with gateway!)

But that was a few years ago too (2 yrs)

1 call with gateway put me into a conference call with 3 other people having problems and one tech support person... failed

another call, they say they're directing you to a person specially trained in the field you are experiencing problems (in my case a sound card) the lady I got had NO clue what MIDI WAS!!! I have no problem with somebody not knowing what midi is, but when they're supposed to be "specifically trained for that area" ummm BAD... not to mention every symptom I told her of my problem she had to look it up in the system to get an idea of what I was talking about!

Needless to say that call failed as well.

I ended up buying a new sound card LOL

[Richard_Cranium72]

As others have said, build one from scratch is best.

If you must buy pre-built check here for some sub-$300 Gateway machines, refurbs.

Use the AMEX Blue card to double the warranty.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?keywords=gateway&image1.x=6&image1.y=10

[blubomber]

Thank you all for the replies. Here is the deal, she wants a PC setup in her home tonight. She knows that i can setup a PC from her by buying all of the parts(She has seen my Duron 650@900) I was looking at Gateways website earlier and they have a special on an Athlon 1.2gig with 128megs RAM and a 17" monitor for $1099. She is going to mainly be using it for the internet and some Office stuff. So, unfortunatly i am going to have to buy an OEM PC for her that she can take home tonight.

[wyvrn]

You could find a local store (that has been in business for a while) and have them build her one with your specs. You may not have it tonight but I am sure they could give you a 24 hour turn-around. Would probably save money that way too.

[Sweeper]

I have 2 Gateways. Both have performed very well. One I got back in Oct.98 which came with a Pentium II 350 is now running a 700 Celeron and about to get an update real soon. But is still running excellent. The other one I got was one of there Celeron deals and it runs great as well. But I also have my homebuilt system which is my baby.

Sweeper

[MiKe85]

I wouldn't go with gateway.
If you had to get a computer, build it yourself, it would save you probably around a couple hundred dollars.

Gateway may have good customer relations (From what i've seen) but it's still too much of a hassle.
I'm done rambling. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[dragonB]

Don't know about you all, but I charge extra to work on Gateways, Compaqs, etc...
Dell is about the only decent oem...
but I would suggest(like other threads)
buy from someone like Alienware, Nutrend, Polywell, etc.

For someone who doesn't know a lot about computers(or buying them) I tell them to pick up a copy of PCWorld, flip to the back and the rankings, pick your price range and then buy one of those. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

dragonB

[Raist]

I have to go with Dragon on this one: If you cannot or do not want to build a custom PC and you have to have a name brand PC, Go with Dell. -Raist

[edwelly]

I have a PIII 800 Gateway PC and the only complaint I have is that when I go to shut it off, the fan keeps running. That's it. It works great with Win2000. The only other computer I have owned was a Compaq laptop and I wouldn't buy another Compaq because of the way they treat you at Tech Support. Gateway support I found to be OK but I usually know more than the techs (which is not saying a lot for the tech's). Hope this helps...

[Warthog]

Dell is better than the cow company, IMO.

Gateway's customer base are people who like the pretty box.

This makes them on nearly equal level with those who buy a Mac for the pretty case.

Warthog

[HfdWolfPack]

Hey hey now Warthog...easy mang...
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif
My first pc was a Gateway.....And the box wasnt cool enough to write home about believe you me.

THEN I find out ALL about integration graphics when I bought home a new Voodoo 3000 AGP and there was no where to "place" it.

My parents have now been using it for about 2 years with no problems. ( I had it for 1 1/2 years before them)

My friend does Dell "at home" support and says the Dells are getting lesser reliable these days...see too many "shortcuts" being taken.
In his words " cheap *** Dells these days"

[blubomber]

Well, we did not go out and get a computer last night. I was sick. But, the only problem i have with Dell,(We use them at my work and so far they have done very good.) is that they do not offer any systems with an AMD processor. Only intel. I have worked with Compaq and HPs and cant say that they impressed me. But, i will post back at let you all know what the decision came out to. Thanks again for the feedback.

[Warthog]

As far as I know, the *only* advantages of getting an AMD proc is (a)they are cheaper (wouldn't notice in a manufactered machine)or (b)to fight against the tyranny of Intel - otherwise they are pretty much the same. I see those benchmarks - not much different.

Warthog

[Richard_Cranium72]

For a "Surfing" box, there is NO way to build it cheaper than the tigerdirect Gateway I linked you to.

A 664mhz Celeron 10gb HD, 64 RAM all for less than $300.00 SHIPPED !

I build low end machines rather often here's how it goes

mobo 45.00
CPU 45.00
RAM 20.00
HD 80.00
Case 35.00
Modem 20.00
CD-ROM 35.00
Floppy 20.00
O/S 65.00
Fan 5.00
K.Board/ Mouse 25.00

Grand total, almost $400.00 prices include s&h

Then you get the joy of spending from 3-6 hours smoothing out the software package, what fun.

Yeah, IMHO, let the lady get a low buck pre-built, then later she won't cry so much when she realizes that someone could build a better unit, for more money of course..

[RayH]

For people who need LICENSED software and want on site service, either Dell or Gateway provide excellent service. I know of several people who have Gateway with no complaints.

[Richard_Cranium72]

Well, it seems as if the proverbial early worm does get the worm..

The link provided shows that the prices have INCREASED $50.00 per unit, what a shame, now it's no longer a super steal...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?keywords=gateway&image1.x=6&image1.y=10

[glitterin]

We have Gateways at work, one broke down - fixing it -good luck finding any one in our area to work on it. Cheaper to buy a new one.

[Richard_Cranium72]

Quote ----------------------

" For people who need LICENSED software "
----------------------------

Is this an ACCUSATION that perhaps we approve or commit theft by selling "Unlicensed" Software.

If so, I take exception to this as I sell nothing but fully Legal and Compliant software.

DrVette