Gateway ML3108b 14.1" Laptop,

alanwjones

Has anyone bought one of these LAPTOPSfrom Tesco?
What do you think of the spec?
Thanks, Alan

angelfairy

My SIL bought this yesterda actually for her young son.

I am not that techi so i can't really comment, but would be interested to see what others thought of the product.

alanwjones

Anyone................. ??

gremlin666_2

Its not a bad spec really well worth the £299.00 if you want and entry level laptop. Memory could do with been 1gb instead of 512k but should run windows vista basic fine.

pealy

If it was my money I'd be heading over to Curry's reconditioned range. A Compaq Celeron Mobile with 1024MB RAM can be had for £299 and I would expect it to be a better quality machine. At this price I'm guessing processor power isn't a top priority and state-of-the-art 3D games aren't on the agenda so the Celeron is probably going to be fine. For a little more (£20 or so) there are core duo laptops available with more power.

Alternatively, chuck in an extra £50 and look out for the Dell offers which I believe might be coming out around the bank holiday.

mike_the_bike_2

We bought one of these yesterday Gateway ML6227b 15.4" Laptop for 368

I think for the extra 69 its money well spent than the cheaper mode..Its got a 15.4 inch screen a gig of ram to make vista run at a reasonable speed plus it comes with vista home premium (as opposed basic)..Only had it a day but very pleased with it..A look at various reviews suggest Gateway lap tops have a pretty good reputation so here is hoping!

motorguy

I'd find it hard to walk past a Dell Vostro for just £42 more than the Tesco deal

15.4 inch screen
DVD rewriter
1 Gb RAM
Vista Business
120Gb HDD
AMD Athlon TK53 processor
1 Years on site warranty

4.5% cashback if you use quidco.
All for £340.82 delivered to your door. :money:

E-Value code 305 N0810002

sarylou

Not that I'm one for negative statements - but Dell suck. (apologies for Americanism)
If you want Customer Service, don't go for them.
If it breaks - you're probably in for a fight.

At least if the 'inexpensive' Gateway one fails, Tesco are liable. (they're easy to find)
A bigger HDD would have been nice, tho'.
Agree with mike_the_bike, need 1gig for Vista.
And pealy has a point...but there's nothing like a new machine! :cool:

motorguy

sarylou wrote: »

Not that I'm one for negative statements - but Dell suck. (apologies for Americanism)
If you want Customer Service, don't go for them.
If it breaks - you're probably in for a fight.

At least if the 'inexpensive' Gateway one fails, Tesco are liable. (they're easy to find)
A bigger HDD would have been nice, tho'.
Agree with mike_the_bike, need 1gig for Vista.
And pealy has a point...but there's nothing like a new machine! :cool:

If you get the right warranty in the first place - and this one has - then dell are fine. The problem generally lies with the laptops that are bought with the minimum 3 month warranty, then go faulty at say six months old. Then you have an uphill struggle.

Dell have online forums, and you can contact them via an online log OR by phone. If an engineer needs to come out, it will be next day.

Rather than just quote heresay or rumour, heres my FACTUAL experience of Dell. Of the 200-300 i've sold this past two years or so, i've had to contact Dell about maybe 3 of them. They have been out next day (or in one case the day after that) to resolve. I currently run the technology dept of a large company with around 600+ Dell pc's and laptops. Given the abuse and relative age of the machines, callouts from Dell are uncommon, but usually prompt.

All very well criticising Dell, but i cant imagine getting a whole pile of technical support leaving my laptop down to my local Tescos. :eek:

sarylou

I'm not going to quote experiences of high-volume sales. That's not relavant to an individual purchase. But fair comment, nonetheless.
(although I'm curious as to why you - as a 'seller' - would need to contact them, but that's off-topic)
However, 3 months is not a 'warranty'. It's their support period which you pay for, surely?
12 months is the rule as far as I'm aware, so offering that option is a little silly...are they looking for a 'way out'? :rolleyes:
I read good stuff and bad stuff about Dell - all the time.
For such a big corporation they have too much bad stuff to warrant taking the chance, in my view - naturally.:D

Mobeer

I expect Tesco's will redirect you to Gateway for support, though the idea of queuing at the customer service desk for advice on a laptop does raise a chuckle.

I have dealt with Dell support before about a failed DVD-R drive and didn't have much trouble getting it replaced under warrantee.

The three month period is the minimum waranty period offered by Dell, as detailed in a [URL="javascript:winopen('http://www.dell.com/downloads/emea/services/uk/en/car_warranty_sow.pdf','popup595x400','WIDTH=595,HEIGHT=400,RESIZABLE=YES,SCROLLBARS=YES,TOOLBAR=NO,LEFT=0,TOP=20');"]PDF[/URL] and a web page. Longer support contracts are available with a new system or later.