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Dell vs. Gateway

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by swomack

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I would like to get 10 opinions and that is why I am offering 1000 points, 100 points per opinion. We are thinking of switching from Gateway to Dell. Although I have had good experiences with Gateway systems over the past 4 years, Dell systems have recently become much less expensive than Gateway systems. I believe Dell is fighting a price war and until now, my Gateway rep has matched Dell's prices. But now it seems Gateway has changed its philosophy and is not willing to try to compete with Dell on price. They are using the excuse that Gateway's service is superior, which I don't know is true or not, and have tried to say that Gateway's components are superior, which I doubt because I don't think there is that much difference from one box to the next. My rep has pretty much said, "Take my first price quote or leave it." They don't want me comparing prices anymore. I just don't know if I can pay $1200 for a Gateway system when Dell is offering the exact same system for $1000.I would like to hear others opinions on the quality of Dell systems and Dell's service. I would also be interested in opinions on the current pc market and what lies ahead for Dell and Gateway.

23 replies

by alpha-male

From everything I have seen, Dell is not only waging a price war, but winning it. They are selling huge volumes and able to "force the hand" of other companies. Gateway may be stopping competing because they simply can't afford to. Their market share has been steadily decreasing and I believe they have closed several overseas operations.

http://news.com.com/2100-1040-271294.html?legacy=cnet

More important than this, however is the QUALITY of what you get for your money. I have been a fanof Digital hardware for many many years because of the fact that, yes, they cost more, but I felt you got a better system for your money. Too bad Compaq has not followed that philosophy since they merged with DEC...maybe HP will?

Regarding my opinions of Dell and Gateway...they are similar in quality, but I'd probably give a slight nod to the Dells. Their service has a reputation for being good and on the encounters I've had with them, I've been extremely impressed (and surprised). I'm not abig fan of their "at once" construction of systems (as I recall, you can request a 80gb drive for example...but have no say in whether it's a WD, Maxtor, Fujitsu, Quantum or whatever was on clearance the week before). Still, I have heard far more praise for Dell than complaints about them. They are a solid company, making decent products and offering good customer service and are one of the few tech companies really thriving at this time. It's hard to compete with that.

Gateway makes a decent product too. I really liked their hardware some years ago...but if I were going to buy a system today, between Dell and Gateway, it would probably be a Dell.

Our company for many years was an HP site...but we too have been moving to Dells for all new servers, laptops and workstations. I would say that the value they offer is about as good as you can find today...

Good luck...

by slim_jim_tx

I work in an educational environment, and we have had both Dell and Gateway. I can say that we have had much less problems with Dell's than the Gateways. Dell's service is great, we request a part from them and it is shipped and arrives the very next day. Gateway at the end it was hard to get the parts from them.

All I can say, Dell has made my job much easier. We no longer get Gateways on campus all we order now are Dell's.

P.S. - NEVER BUY COMPAQ'S

by maxwell edison

By the way, REMOVE SPACES from the pasted URLs.

Personally, I stay away from ALL proprietary computers in favor of custom made computers. I have many reasons for this, but will save it for a specific discussion on that particular topic.

(Andsince I didn't answer your question in the manner I'm sure you intended and don't have any [or much] first hand experience evaluating either Gateway or Dell products, I certainly don't expect you to accept this answer.)

by maxwell edison

Here's another interesting way of looking at the differences between the two: financial strength of the company - which is most likely to survive a very competitive industry?

Earnings per share:

Dell: .80 - up from .65 last year

Gateway: (.66) - down from (.18) last year
[ (##) = a negative ]

Look at the stock charts and other financial information.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=DELL&d=c&k=c1&a=v&p=s&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=l

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=gtw&d=c

Gateway stock has taken a real beating because of the lower earnings history, while Dell has actually increased about 30% over the last year.

(Dell has increased over the last year? What's your 401k done?)

Dell has outperformed gateway by about 60%:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?d=c&c=gtw&k=c1&t=1y&s=dell&a=v&p=s&l=on&z=m&q=l

REMOVE SPACES from the pasted URLs.

Botom line:

Dell - Making money.

Gateway - Losing money (big time).

Dell - much stronger, much less likely to be in a "cost-cutting" mode, much more likely to perform favorably in a support role.

Gateway: They better look for ways to cut costs or they're in big trouble. Do you want them cutting costs on your computers or support?

Bottom Bottom Line: Dell - Dell - Dell

Disclaimer: I am not a financial expert, and this financial analysis is my opinion only.

by el sombre

One of my clients is a small city and we have had extensive experience with both Gateway and Dell. While at times in the past I felt that it was a toss up to choose between them, we are currently ordering Dells exclusively. We have found them to be:
1. A very good value for the components
2. Well supported when things go wrong
3. Delivered when promised

by rapidad

Definately DELL, think about this.
1. cost of parts pretty much equal
2. cost of assembly ditto
3. cost of online presence ditto
4. brick and mortar stores and the people that go with it. Outrageous
5. What is gateway skipping on to pay for this????????? quality and parts........
6. ever seen a 1u 8way xeon rackmount gateway? thought not.

by otl

Gateway used to have a great product (8088 processors Upgradeable) worked great and lasted a long time (10+years and still running!) have heard complaints as quality is no longer there.

Dell quality seems to still be up there, complaints about OSrestrictions but not the computer.

Could always compare, buy one of each and have 2 power users run them for a month. See who complains! (no complaints = Dell less expensive) And which manufactor backs their claim to the best customer service.

by greybeard770

I have a Dell and a Gateway at home. At work, we use almost all HP. If I had to change, I would point toward Dell. They have a good product with good service and prices. I consider Gateway to be more of a home computer and Dell to be more of a business computer. I don't think you will be disappointed with Dell. They make nice servers too.

by inxale

You are pretty much right when you say 'which I doubt because I don't think there is that much difference from one box to the next '
With this philosophy we went with Dell four years ago on server and laptop. Workstation was Compaq because the price was better and a PC is a PC.
We have been ( I hate to tempt fate )lucky :) for the last three years with only a single maintenance visit for the Dell Latitudes.
The new Dell servers are gems.

by ssuckle

I've been using Dell & Compaq computers for years. Dell equipment, service and support have been excellent. As with any vendor there is always the one problem that took forever to be resolved,or tech support insists you run diags on a computer with no power. But after literally Thousands of computers, I still recommend Dell over any other vendor. Their quality control from computer to computer is excellent. Almost all warranty hardware failures were fixed next day. Tech support has always been prompt, cutious and usually helpful. When buying in quantity, they always deal on price or options.

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