Gateway Performance 933 deluxe : Time-Limited Offer Solved the Major Problem
Written: Jan 04 '01 (Updated Mar 18 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Quality of Tech Support: |
|
|
|
Pros: excellent support system, solid machine spec, inexpensive (with their time-limited offer)
Cons: n/a
The Bottom Line: Gateway Performance 933 deluxe is a good machine. How can we get this machine at the discounted price?
|
|
|
| uribou's Full Review: Gateway Performance 933 deluxe |
I bought my Gateway Performance 933 a couple of days ago as the Christmas gift for myself. The major reasons I decided to purchase this machine are 1) Gateway is currently offering "Deal of The Week" for this machine, and the price is drastically reduced (The basic model price is $1299), and 2) One of my good friends owns this machine, and I tried it with the great satisfaction, and 3) I had very good experiences with Gateway's customer support.
My machine spec is basically:
Pentium III 933MHz
256MB SDRAM(2-128 modules)
20G Ultra ATA HD
17 inch monitor,
20X/48X Max CDRW
Windows Me
Price (before tax and shipping charge): $1784
I bought this machine to replace my old home pc which I bought about 4 years ago. The old machine spec is: Pentium Pro 200, 96 RAM, 2.5G HD. Even with this machine, I was pretty much satisfied with the performance. But I got some extra money, and it seemed to me a good time to replace my home pc to nicer one, I decided to go with a very high-end computer.
When I am on pc, and doing some serious jobs, I usually keep a lot of software running. For example, right now, I am running MS Outlook Express, Netscape (4 panels), text/binary editor, Japanese language input equipment, and ICQ. (Usually I add FTP client and file manager as well.) So, my biggest issues are on RAM and processor speed. I don't keep many files on my HD, thus HD space is not a big issue to me at all. So, in this sense, the high-end machine implies the combination of a fast processor, a large RAM, and a nice internal storage device.
Let me go back to the reasons which made me actually to purchase this machine.
As the other reviewers write, one of the cons of this machine has been its price. If you want to customize the spec as you like, you will have to be prepared for over $3000. But this part, for my good surprise, was resolved with Gateway's "Deal of The Week" offer.
The combination of hardware and software results in very good performance. Probably this is because Gateway itself have researched a vast scope of devices, and found ones for better fit. (Well, I hate to add new devices by myself, because it often ends up with mis-match.)
The important reason I would like to focus on with this review is their customer and technical support. Even though you have to expect a lengthy on-hold time, once you starts talking with the support person, you get very nice support. My old machine had a power supply problem twice in the past. In both cases, when I talked with a technical support guy, and followed his direction, we found the power supply device had died, and I was received a new power supply device with in a week. I am not a hardware guru, so it was very helpful to have a trustable support.
The following is not about the machine itself. But I would like to bring your attention to one fact. If you are a foreigner, and if you are thinking to use a credit card issued outside the US, you might want to think it again, because it might add some more paperwork. Even if the shipping address is in the US, if you purchased the machine with a foreign-issued credit card, your machine is technically exported to outside the country, so you have to go through whatever their international department. As you may know, computers are strategic devices, and should be approved under the US regulation if they are exported outside the US.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1784
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 801-900
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
uribou
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Reviews written: 129
Trusted by: 136 members
About Me:
Sushi party with Japanese girls?
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.