Decent Hardware; Marginal Support
Written: May 16 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good Price/Performance
Cons: Marginal Support
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| jnscon's Full Review: Gateway Solo 1100 |
The first problem that a potential Web purchaser will have in purchasing a Solo 1100 is dealing with Gateway's e-commerce site...which clearly isn't! Final pricing and order confirmation cannot be done on-line and you have to await an e-mail from a Gateway rep who may (or may not, as mine didn't) get things right.
For a low-end unit, both the hardware and software bundle (MSWorks Suite 2000) are reasonably impressive. The processor speed and disk space are adequate, the outputs are impressive in number and functionality, and the keyboard has an "almost-IBM" touch. Even the passive-matrix display is decent enough.
One of the deciding factors in my purchase decision for the Gateway was the presence of the much-tauted GoBack (by Wild File/Adaptec) recovery software which supposedly enables a user to "go back in time" and recover from a malfunctioning machine. Unfortunately GoBack, at least on my unit, added nothing but instability. When enabled it performed as indicated, BUT it also "locked up" the machine on shutdown every time necessitating the time-consuming ScanDisk run on each successive re-boot. Numerous e-mails to tech support, downloading and installing the MS WIN98SE shutdown patch (more than 15 times!), nor a (Gateway-recommended) re-fomat, re-partitioning, of the hard disk and software re-load resolved the problem. The only reliable means of obtaining a "clean" shutdown was (and is) to disable GoBack, thus giving up the recovery benefits which are so appealing. Like many software vendors GoBack/Adaptec will not support software bundled by an OEM and Gateway's techs are largely clueless on the problem...so the consumer remains in limbo. Gateway DID offer, however, to extend the length of my "money-back trial" period while their "engineers" sought a solution.
It is unfortunate that such an appealing package is marred by marginal support.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jnscon
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
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