Bestbuy has two Core 2 Quad processor desktops for under $600. I am trying to figure out which one to get. So please help me put my fellow Tcers.

Gateway: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9352336&type=product&id=1218089773975

Asus:http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9366599&type=product&id=1218092152723

I would have to go with the ASUS. It has a bigger hard drive, more ram, and you wont have to buy a wireless card if you are on a wireless network. The Gateway has a 56k modem but how many people still use dial-up any more? The main question is what will this computer be used for? just surfing the internet, check mail, store pictures of car shows on? If its for computer games either one will be slow video wise.

If you are just playing on the internet Email and such Asus. If you want to play games or edit video, Neither. You may also want to look at Dell for a basic computer. Check them out on line. I have always built my own machines but ended up with a Dell to play with and it has not missed a beat. Have to take back all the bad things I have always said about them. Check out there refurbished stuff.

I have had a few laptops and i favor the gateway. Its been very dependable. I have had it about 3 years now.

I may buy the Gateway tomorrow. It is only $450 w/ 18 months same as cash.
I play a few video games, but I mostly do HW and surf the web. So I think the Gateway should be good.
I also do the Folding@home, so maybe I will catch up to a few people and maybe even find a cure for cancer.:D

No on the Gateway.. They went belly up. They don't even have technical support anymore.

Big D

Gateway bad.

Toshiba Bad. Fixed to many of these...

Dell ok...

Asus ok...

I prefer HP. When I look at HP's it seems that you get a few bells and whistles that the others dont offer for the price...

I also have an opinion on the harddrive issue...

Dont go for the super massive 500 gig internal harddrive...When it starts filling it slows down...I prefer putting 100 giggers in or 2 if you want RAID...and then buying an external for storage...

To many people fill their harddrives with music, videos, and pictures only to lose them when they mess up their PC. I store all my things on externals. They are mobile, can be shared on a network and accessible from any PC on your network...(that you want to share with)

Gateway bad.

Toshiba Bad. Fixed to many of these...

Dell ok...

Asus ok...

I prefer HP. When I look at HP's it seems that you get a few bells and whistles that the others dont offer for the price...

I also have an opinion on the harddrive issue...

Dont go for the super massive 500 gig internal harddrive...When it starts filling it slows down...I prefer putting 100 giggers in or 2 if you want RAID...and then buying an external for storage...

To many people fill their harddrives with music, videos, and pictures only to lose them when they mess up their PC. I store all my things on externals. They are mobile, can be shared on a network and accessible from any PC on your network...(that you want to share with)


CyberpowerPC makes good stuff as well, its not the Big Three of the computer world, but you can pick and choose what you want.

Dell and HP, are good, and have good fairly decent tech support.

Gateway...just say no.

Filling up a hard drive has very little impact on seek time, read and write times of a HD. Fragmentation has that effect, as does completely feeling your drive making it impossible for the OS to have a paging file. I don't know about you, but I don't have any pictures or videos on my OS partition, and I still easily use 100GB in software, and with 4 GB of ram, that a hefty swap file. :) 160 GB and you'll likely be cleaning house from time to time. 250GB you have some breathing room. Considering the prices of drives, might as well get the bigger one. There isn't a server in my datacenter with a HD less than 250. Most are 450, 750, 1TB drives.

Big D

Your the few...

MOST people dont defrag anymore, they store hundreds of gig of "stuff" on the OS partitition and then ask someone why their PC is running so slow at 95% full...


I prolly have more then 6tb in my house alone...4 desktops (built by me), 2 laptops and the array of gaming systems...my main desktop is running raid, has two extra internals, and 2 1tb externals...my wife has RAID and 2 externals...etc...

No on the Gateway.. They went belly up. They don't even have technical support anymore.

Big D

I don't need tech support, I have Big D.:D

I guess that is why the computer dropped by $60 in the last week.

Your the few...

MOST people dont defrag anymore, they store hundreds of gig of "stuff" on the OS partitition and then ask someone why their PC is running so slow at 95% full...



I prolly have more then 6tb in my house alone...4 desktops (built by me), 2 laptops and the array of gaming systems...my main desktop is running raid, has two extra internals, and 2 1tb externals...my wife has RAID and 2 externals...etc...

If you have vista or Windows 7, you don't have to worry about defrag... it done automatically everyday, or whenever you would like to schedule it.


I don't have that much storage at home, just a nice system I built my self in a Nemesis case, good for gaming and whatever else I need to do.

Now at work my playground is upwards of 100TB, and 16 core servers.... :) Fun Fun.... Its amazing how technology advances.. Moores law and all.

Big D

I don't need tech support, I have Big D.:D

I guess that is why the computer dropped by $60 in the last week.

Thank You, I like to think I am knowledgeable in the subject... at least a little bit.

Big d

As someone who works in IT, both are reasonably good computers at those prices. Personally I'd go with the Asus, they are a reputable manufacturer of some components, whereas Gateway is just an assembler (not that that is bad in itself). Asus is a well respected company, whereas Gateway tends to kind of come and go in regards to quality depending on the market. The Asus also has a better video card, though probably built in is way better than Intels video. Two more gigs of RAM and a slightly bigger hard drive never hurts either.

As someone who works in IT, both are reasonably good computers at those prices. Personally I'd go with the Asus, they are a reputable manufacturer of some components, whereas Gateway is just an assembler (not that that is bad in itself). Asus is a well respected company, whereas Gateway tends to kind of come and go in regards to quality depending on the market. The Asus also has a better video card, though probably built in is way better than Intels video. Two more gigs of RAM and a slightly bigger hard drive never hurts either.


The company I work for used to buy from Gateway, until last year. An employee had an issue with her laptop. A tech support team member found that the mother board was toast on the laptop. A call to gateway tech support didn't go to well. We were told that they had filed for bankruptcy and that a third party now handles tech support. The third party said there was nothing they could do. So...... No more gateway contracts.

Big D