HP 1810 vs. Dell 28xx vs others?

[pwrusr]

Ok guys, been researching this for a while now.
Anyways, I'm personally looking into a good solid switch that could grow with my home network and stay SOLID.

I've narrowed my choices down to the above two switches. The Dell 28xx and HP 1810 series. I'm leaning towards the HP, but the dell has a kick butt price that sways me in it's direction.
I've read about some really nice features on HP that again sways me in it's direction namely the fact that the 24 port version is fanless and has the ability to turn the lights off after a short while.
The Dell only offers fanless up to the 16 port models. The 24 port seems to add one single fan? Please anyone who's recently bought a 2824 chime in here.

I personally don't think that I'll NEED more then 16 ports. Heck for that matter the 8 port hp 1810 looks like all I currently need. Looking ahead I may very likely need more then that. So at minimum I'm going to need a 16 port.

Are there any features aside from the lifetime warranty that the HP switches offer over the Dells that I should be aware of? Any other netgear, cisco or other brands that I may not be aware of that could fit the bill?
budget wise... keep it reasonable... less then $300 is preferable though I'd be willing to step up to $400 if the switch is truely worth it.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

For a "home" network....what do you need? I'd stick more with budget in most home situations...so why not the Dell?

 

[keenan]

I'd personally prefer the HP, but for a home network the Dells are a lot cheaper and will do the job. Just beware of the awful web interface on them.

Netgear is not bad, but I find their pricing is usually not far from HP's and HP is nicer and has a better warranty.

As far as functionality, any of these should do the job. Do you even need a managed switch?

 

[pwrusr]

For a "home" network....what do you need? I'd stick more with budget in most home situations...so why not the Dell?

That's part of the reason I posted. Dell seems like a great price, but how solid is it?

I'd personally prefer the HP, but for a home network the Dells are a lot cheaper and will do the job. Just beware of the awful web interface on them.

Netgear is not bad, but I find their pricing is usually not far from HP's and HP is nicer and has a better warranty.

As far as functionality, any of these should do the job. Do you even need a managed switch?

I like to tweak and I love to have a secure network. I would like to get a decent managed switch that I can actually use (see my list of switches below that I currently own). To be able to have the utmost control over my network is what I'm really looking for. Having the ability to run a couple vlans is almost a must for me as I plan to segregate the local network and my webserver network.
I don't have plans to have a 24/7 web server. Something more to test ideas with.

I currently have the following switches:
Cisco 2950c (24 10/100 ports)
Cisco 1900 (24 10baseT with a single 100mb uplink)
3com 3c17300a (24 10/100 ports with 2x 1000mb uplinks)

The 1900 I got for $10 to toll around with, but with only 10mb speeds I really can't use it at all for my network.
The 2950 I got for about $60-70ish iirc. Much more advanced then the 1900 and something I can really dig into and learn more about Cisco's IOS when I'm board. however the fan on-board is a tad noisy so I only turn it on when I feel the need to poke around with some cisco goodness
I got the 3com for $50 from "Tweeter" when they were going out of business. When I first saw it I could have sworn all 26 ports were 10/100/1000, but when I got it home I found that it only had ports 25 and 26 (up and down ports) the capability to do the full gigabit. So even though it's fanless it's not going to work for me.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

That's part of the reason I posted. Dell seems like a great price, but how solid is it?

To be honest...of the Dell units I have at clients....they've been problem free for me. I believe SMC still makes the switches for Dell, the SMC Tiger series.

 

[pwrusr]

Hey Ye, thanks for the post.
Have you recently installed any of the dell 2824's? I've heard that some people have issues with fan noise while others don't even have a fan on their switch.

I'll try to give dell a ring and get their word on the issue.

 

[p3n]

I got a great deal on a 1810 from ebay, otherwise I might have looked at the dell for cost reasons...

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Hey Ye, thanks for the post.
Have you recently installed any of the dell 2824's? I've heard that some people have issues with fan noise while others don't even have a fan on their switch.

The last one was probably a 2824....it was a basic 24 port gigabit switch. I don't recall it being "loud"..but to be honest....also in the cabinet were a pair of PE R200 servers and one helluva noisy PE 2950 III. So it could be a screamer and nobody would notice. I installed that network down in NYC pretty much exactly 2 years ago to this month. Haven't rebooted that switch since.

 

[pwrusr]

I got a great deal on a 1810 from ebay, otherwise I might have looked at the dell for cost reasons...

That's likely going to be where I get my switch from as well. Mind if I ask how much you got it for?

The last one was probably a 2824....it was a basic 24 port gigabit switch. I don't recall it being "loud"..but to be honest....also in the cabinet were a pair of PE R200 servers and one helluva noisy PE 2950 III. So it could be a screamer and nobody would notice. I installed that network down in NYC pretty much exactly 2 years ago to this month. Haven't rebooted that switch since.

That's some pretty impressive uptime!

 

[pwrusr]

Ok guys, I just got out of chat with Dell...

11:27:39 AM Customer: Does the Power Connect 2824 have a fan or not?

11:27:39 AM Agent: Unfortunately, it does not have a fan.

In my case it's actually a good thing

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

That's likely going to be where I get my switch from as well. Mind if I ask how much you got it for?

That's some pretty impressive uptime!

I just looked through the invoices from the Dell rep back then..but back then my client purchased directly from them, I just "configured the cart". That was before I became a Dell reseller...so the order confirmation that I have doesn't have the prices. I want to say, going by memory, it was a bit under 2 hundge.

Like I mentioned in the "uptime" thread bouncing around this week, in my experience when you get "business grade" switches...that implies good stability. Combined with, with my rule of thumb of plugging all network devices into a battery backup unit..and you get excellent uptime, regardless of brand. I've had good luck with even lower grade Linksys SRW series switches. The only exception being 2x cases. When I have fiber tranceivers in them...I've noticed sometimes (like once a year) they'll need a bounce. And I had a quirk at a budget client of mine..where their old office grew...warranting the need for little 5 port switches here and there in corners...they were little Linksys sd205 switches. They didn't mix well with the srw2024 switches the client had at that time. I tossed the little sd205 switches...put in Netgears version of the same 45 buck switch...problem went away. Since then...they also moved to a new office, all switches replaced with ProCurves at the core, no secondary little switches....I like pure home runs to the center.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Ok guys, I just got out of chat with Dell...

11:27:39 AM Customer: Does the Power Connect 2824 have a fan or not?

11:27:39 AM Agent: Unfortunately, it does not have a fan.

In my case it's actually a good thing

ROFL...yup!

 

[SonyWii]

Ok guys, I just got out of chat with Dell...

11:27:39 AM Customer: Does the Power Connect 2824 have a fan or not?

11:27:39 AM Agent: Unfortunately, it does not have a fan.

In my case it's actually a good thing

Dell 2808 and 2816, no fan
Dell 2824 and 2848, has fan

 

[prochobo]

Why not get a Dell 5224 from ebay for ~ $125?

 

[C7J0yc3]

Why not get a Dell 5224 from ebay for ~ $125?

I would rather spend the little bit extra and get a 5324, however I would agree that a 53xx or 54xx series from Dell would be better then an HP 1810, however it has 2 fans and they are very loud. It was defiantly never meant to be a workgroup switch.

 

[pwrusr]

Ye, thanks for the input!

To everyone else, you've all been a great help in making the decision.

Dell 2808 and 2816, no fan
Dell 2824 and 2848, has fan

I read the manual. it says that the 8-16 ports = no fan. iirc it said the 24 port = 1 fan and 48 port = 2 fans.
I have no idea if the 48 port models have changed. However, going by talking to dell and reading a couple reviews on their site the newer revision 24 port models don't have a fan. Which again is what I mostly care about.

Why not get a Dell 5224 from ebay for ~ $125?

Because it's going to be in my bedroom. While I don't mind low pitched fan noise from my computer, I simply can't stand high pitched fans that seem all too common for small fans like those used in switches. The 5224 looks like it has three fans, so unless they are pretty quiet I won't touch a switch that has that many fans in it. I don't mind the blower squirrel cadge fans that cisco uses though.

 

[keenan]

I have a 5324 in my home network. Unplugged the fans and haven't had any problems with it. For home use I don't really have a problem with this solution, might be worth a thought. It's really the only affordable fully-managed GigE switch I've been able to find. Occasionally you'll find an HP 2824 for double the price or so on the bay, or maybe a broken one you might be able to return, and it's a much nicer switch, but the Dell 5324's are not terrible and there are tons of them available. Just completely ignore the web interface and do everything from the CLI.

 

[pwrusr]

Donno why I didn't think about that before... Does unhooking the fans light any error lights on the switch?

I suppose I could simply replace the loud fans with something quieter

Thanks keenan for the input. That sounds alot like what I'm looking for. If I can find one for a decent price I'll look at picking one up.

 

[keenan]

Error light yeah, but no alarms or anything, just a little red LED.

 

[p3n]

That's likely going to be where I get my switch from as well. Mind if I ask how much you got it for?

It was around £230 iirc

 

[prochobo]

I have a 5324 in my home network. Unplugged the fans and haven't had any problems with it. For home use I don't really have a problem with this solution, might be worth a thought. It's really the only affordable fully-managed GigE switch I've been able to find. Occasionally you'll find an HP 2824 for double the price or so on the bay, or maybe a broken one you might be able to return, and it's a much nicer switch, but the Dell 5324's are not terrible and there are tons of them available. Just completely ignore the web interface and do everything from the CLI.

Donno why I didn't think about that before... Does unhooking the fans light any error lights on the switch?

I suppose I could simply replace the loud fans with something quieter

Thanks keenan for the input. That sounds alot like what I'm looking for. If I can find one for a decent price I'll look at picking one up.

Hehe there you go I might have to try that as well. . .

What features does the 5324 have that warrant 2x the price of a 5224? For someone looking for a gigabit switch able to do VLANs, would the 5224 suffice?

 

[pwrusr]

It was around £230 iirc

Not bad! I went browsing yesterday on the bay and found a few for under $300 buy it now.

Hehe there you go I might have to try that as well. . .

What features does the 5324 have that warrant 2x the price of a 5224? For someone looking for a gigabit switch able to do VLANs, would the 5224 suffice?

Dang, took the words from my mouth! anyone here ever compared the two side by side?

 

[hardware_failure]

I manage (if you could call it that) a production area with at least 6 Dell Powerconnect 2748's. They are all 2+ years old with 0 failures.

The Dells will be the cheapest by a significant margin out of the above list, which is why we went with them (budget)