Dell or Gateway or...

[Sheik Yerbouti]

My wife and I are getting my mother-in-law a computer. I would normally build one up but I get nailed with the prohibitive costs of the software (O/S, MSOffice, etc). So if you HAD to, would you buy a dell or a gateway or is there another reputable brand out there that is very affordable, and reliable?

Please understand I know there are people who hate both dell and gateway, it's just the only 2 I could think of off the top of my head that have very decent package deals.

Thanks in advance.

 

[CameraShy]

Definitely Dell.. I've bought many of their computers for work and friends..Their service can be ugly though.. If you know your way around the computer, its Dell. If you need an email address of a Dell rep that actually speaks and understands English, and will do something about your problems, just mail me..

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Thanks! I appreciate it. It's looking more and more like dell.

 

[Slowlearner]

Both Dell and HP make reliable and cheap PCs. I have bought some 35-40 of these for work over the past 5 years and have had no major failure yet. Dell is more aggressive in pricing thru Outrageous deals, free shipping and emailed coupons. However their systems with integrated graphics - 2400 and 3000s - are dogs, so I would suggest a 4700 (not 4700c) with a cheap graphics card, 512MB mem, 80 GB hd, if you need burners buy them separately, as well as optical mouse.

Service if needed is next business day. Dell also has a 30 days no questions asked return policy. If you ever have a problem look up Dell's corporate hq phone numbers at Round Rock TX and make a toll call directly to a supervisor/manager.

 

[ShadowBlade]

gateway is horrible, several friends as well as myself have had nothing but problems from them
i got a dell for free and was very happy with it...just needed a cheap pci video card for some gameability

definitely dell

 

[daniel1113]

Dell, no contest.

 

[apoppin]

no other choice . . . . De . . . del . . .

sorry, i can't type it

Gateway is a horrible company to deal with and they don't care [and are incompetitent]. . . . HP made some pretty terrible PCs a few years ago and their 'support' was a mess

that would leave you with the 'other one'
[lesser if 3 evils . . . get the "extra" warranty plan]

:roll:

 

[Miramonti]

Gateway was fantastic when I bought a computer from them in '99...they saved me many times working with windowsNT...but that was quite a while ago when things were going really well for them.

 

[Waylay00]

My Gateway is still running strong.

 

[edmundoab]

i know the customer support for dell is pretty good in the US,
not in my region though

 

[Buz2b]

Get the Dell. If you are comfortable with systems, I'd recommend you format and reinstall the OS before giving it to the Mother in law. Don't do a Restore though, just reinstall the OS, then load any software needed. Dell still loads a ton of bloatware on their systems and doing this will definitely help make things run cleaner. I did this with a laptop I got from them recently and it made a small but noticeable difference in performance. You can still load the diagnostics software, etc that Dell Service would need in case of any malfunction. Contrary to what was suggested earlier, I'd not purchase any warranty beyond the 1 year basic plan. If it's going to break, it most likely will by then. Spend the savings on a memory upgrade or CDRW/DVD.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Depends on what you're comparing. In some things, I'd pic Dell, in others I say Gateway.