building own vs. Gateway

[paydaymom]

I have everything pickd out to build one and my husband sees an Office Depot ad today that has a Gateway bundle. He feels this would be our best bet. I know there is no adding on to this later though. Keep it mind this is mainly a computer for a business, no gaming, just billing, internet, office stuff and a landscape design software... What do you alll think?

http://officedepot.shoplocal.com/off...ceDepot-060702

Not sure if the link will work.

Gateway Desktop Computer with AMD Athlon™ 64 Processor 3700+
with 17" Flat Panel LCD Monitor & Photo Printer
• 1024MB memory
• 200GB hard drive
• Burn & play DVDs & CDs via the double layer drive
• Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 software
• Micro-BTX technology for enhanced reliability & quiet performance
• 9-in-1 memory card reader

this is all it says in the advertisement.

[rjfvillarosa]

I build and sell machines for a living and to be honest I make more money on repairs, simply because you cannot compete with the prices of new machines built by large manufacturers.
That Gateway is probably quite good value for money and the Dell outlet site has plenty of bargains, but you have already answered your own question, most of these machines are proprietary, which means you can only use their parts for any repairs or upgrades and unfortunately, apart from Dell, the cheaper end of the prebuilt market tends to use cheap quality parts in order to keep costs down and profits up.
If this is going to be a business only machine then I suggest you consider prebuilt very carefully, should you wish to upgrade this machine in the future then go with your own build.
One other thing it might be easier to claim tax relief on a prebuilt than a pile of parts.

[paydaymom]

Originally Posted by rjfvillarosa I build and sell machines for a living and to be honest I make more money on repairs, simply because you cannot compete with the prices of new machines built by large manufacturers. That Gateway is probably quite good value for money and the Dell outlet site has plenty of bargains, but you have already answered your own question, most of these machines are proprietary, which means you can only use their parts for any repairs or upgrades and unfortunately, apart from Dell, the cheaper end of the prebuilt market tends to use cheap quality parts in order to keep costs down and profits up. If this is going to be a business only machine then I suggest you consider prebuilt very carefully, should you wish to upgrade this machine in the future then go with your own build. One other thing it might be easier to claim tax relief on a prebuilt than a pile of parts.

That is what my husband was worried about, he said could he carry the receipt from newegg to his account for it to be a tax deduction. LOL!

[rjfvillarosa]

I just asked my wife (accountant/company secretary for her fathers business) and her opinion was that you should be able to claim tax relief and maybe even depreciation as a piece of office equipment on a prebuilt, where as on parts you could only claim tax relief on the original purchase and don't forget to buy all this with the receipts in the company name and paid for with a company cheque or credit card.


edit.....Just a thought but are there any tax incentives on IT equipment with your local tax office?

[ktkendall]

As much as we here recommend building your own PC over prebuilt ones, it does sound like in your case and brand name prebuilt PC is what you need, especially based on rjfvillarosa'a post which is a very good point to consider, and in light of that here is my 2 cents worth:

I would definately recommend Dell over Gateway..

[Mr.Ferrari]

Cant forget da overclockin'

[ktkendall]

Originally Posted by Mr.Ferrari Cant forget da overclockin'

I doubt they want to overclock, but also the Dell PC's are from what I've seen at least a bit more upgradable than Gateway PCs. Just like with anything though, I would not buy the bottom of the line Blue Light Special on whatever brand I deceded to get, spend a little more and you won't regret it. I'm not saying get the top of the line most expensive one they offer either but somewhere in the middle. I can't tell you how many times in my life I've went with bargain basement, bottom of the barrel, blue light special, items and ended up spending more in the long run because they just don't last.

[SputnikSweethrt]

I would never suggest to anyone that they buy pre-built over building their own. Not after what I've been through.

• Dell Dimension 8100: Hard drive fried after a year.. lost all my data!
• My sister's Dell: PSU toasted within a few months
• Random system my dad bought for his office: Opened it up to find some 'Mr.Ram' brand of RAM that runs 2/3 of the memory it's supposed to and a mystery brand 200W PSU which is hardly adequate.. etc

Some might suggest that you go with a cheap pre-built system for business use because your system demands aren't as great as a gamer, but I think otherwise.
What kind of data can I lose on a home computer? Some photos, programs.. nothing devastating..
But at a business? I can't imagine losing all the accounting and customer data I keep on my work computer.. and I know it won't be upgraded and worked on as much as my home system. Therefore stability becomes far more important on a business system.

In otherwords, I think you should build your own. There is a reason why it's cheap and you don't want to find out why.

[glc]

The problem with that Gateway is it probably has onboard video, which is NOT suitable for a landscape CAD program. It *may* have an expansion slot for a video card, but it also may have a power supply too weak to handle a card.

I'm probably inviting an argument here, but it's been my opinion and experience for many years that for a STABLE business machine, you are best off with an Intel processor on a motherboard with an Intel chipset. Therefore, if you must go prebuilt, I'd look at a midline Dell with a video card. This would be a Dimension E510, it offers 2 ATI video cards - both are Hypermemory but for CAD work, they will work fine and will be a LOT better than onboard video.

Bottom line? The CAD program is the only thing that's driving this - otherwise, a $299 entry level Dell plus a couple select options would do the job just fine for a business machine.

[paydaymom]

Originally Posted by glc The problem with that Gateway is it probably has onboard video, which is NOT suitable for a landscape CAD program. It *may* have an expansion slot for a video card, but it also may have a power supply too weak to handle a card. I'm probably inviting an argument here, but it's been my opinion and experience for many years that for a STABLE business machine, you are best off with an Intel processor on a motherboard with an Intel chipset. Therefore, if you must go prebuilt, I'd look at a midline Dell with a video card. This would be a Dimension E510, it offers 2 ATI video cards - both are Hypermemory but for CAD work, they will work fine and will be a LOT better than onboard video. Bottom line? The CAD program is the only thing that's driving this - otherwise, a $299 entry level Dell plus a couple select options would do the job just fine for a business machine.

We are running the software on my 6 year old Gateway and a 2 year old lap top right now. I can not actually tell any difference in the graphics. So I am not following you on the video card, I know my Gateway has a really old yucky video card but it still works for the software, just not some games my son has tried to play. LOL!

I am not disagreeing with you, I just so lost when it comes to all this stuff.

[chuck4456]

I have 4 DELLS in my house. Except for a hard drive failure (in one) which was actually caused by a Trojan Downloader, I have never had a problem with any of them. We have a 2000 L600r (which I did up to 512 MB and install an 80GB hard drive) that we use as a kitchen computer. It is on 15 hours / day.
An E 510 is what you need. Go ahead and get 2 Gigs RAM. They throw in the 19" Flat Panel. You will eventually have to replace the graphix card - sooner than you think. That is the only pitfall.
I have had two neighbors that had to replace theirs, and I just replaced one for a Colonel out on base. BUT............. other than that one problem, they will all tell you that it's the best PC that they have ever owned.
Go to DELL Home & Office - Savings Spotlight - you can buy what you need for a grand.
As far as tax write-offs go - you don't get that much off anyway. I'm self employed. Go ahead and buy something that will help you make more money!

[jfk]

The depreciation is no big thing. They give you three years on a PC, even straight line that's what, couple hundred per year? I'd capital expense it anyway and take it all in one lump sum. JMO.

[glc]

You have to consider what happens when you get updates to the CAD program - every year the software is written with higher system requirements. You won't be able to keep using an old version indefinitely and remain productive. My next door neighbor uses Vector Works and upgrades with each new version. I believe the current version is 12. It runs fine on his Dell laptop with a 2.8 GHz P4 and a Nvidia 5200 chip - this is discrete video, not shared ram.

[paydaymom]

Originally Posted by glc You have to consider what happens when you get updates to the CAD program - every year the software is written with higher system requirements. You won't be able to keep using an old version indefinitely and remain productive. My next door neighbor uses Vector Works and upgrades with each new version. I believe the current version is 12. It runs fine on his Dell laptop with a 2.8 GHz P4 and a Nvidia 5200 chip - this is discrete video, not shared ram.

This is the requirements for the most up to date version of the software we use:
Intel or AMD processor
Microsoft Windows® XP (Home, Professional, Tablet PC Edition)
256 MB RAM Minimum (512MB RAM or higher recommended)
300MB of available hard disk space
800 X 600, 256 color display minimum (1024 x 768, 16M colors or higher recommended)
CD-ROM drive (4x needed for Multimedia Tutorial, 24x recommended)
Mouse, Pen Tablet, or other pointing device

Although we are two versions behind, we do not need the new bells and whistles yet.

[glc]

YET is the operative word. You have to plan ahead.

[djlauri]

I have had several Gateway computers since 1995 and all were good in my opinion. The hard drive crashed 2 months after I bought it. They promptly replaced it. I have had nothing but good suport from Gateway. I would not hesitate buying a new Gateway except I want to build my own this time around. I would recomend buying from Best Buy, Office Depot, Staples because they carry AMD processors in some of their Gateways. Right now I would wait till July 23, 2006 because Intel is going to drop prices to gain back market share lost to AMD. A price war may be in the works. This is according to newspaper reports.

[glc]

Gateways are no longer the quality computers they used to be. Remember they were bought out by eMachines. The only difference these days between a Gateway and a eMachine is the case badge.

[Panama Red]

Originally Posted by glc Gateways are no longer the quality computers they used to be. Remember they were bought out by eMachines. The only difference these days between a Gateway and a eMachine is the case badge.

Actually, Gateway bought eMachines, at least on paper. Gateway closed all it's Country Stores, laid off it's headquarters employees and moved it's headquarters to the eMachines headquarters, and named the CEO of eMachines as the CEO of Gateway. And to top it off, eMachines had surpassed Gateway to take number 3 in pc sales behind Dell and HP. All that to save Gateway from going out of business - cuz that's where they were headed. The eMachines buyout opened new marketing channels for Gateway turning them from a direct sales company like Dell to a display item on the shelves of Office Depot, Best Buy, etc. So today, inside the case of every Gateway beats the heart of an eMachines. (And I think some have been known to ship with a heart murmur!)