The good, bad, and refurbished
Apr 22 '00
I have a Solo 9100 laptop, which I bought from the portable refurbished department a year ago. In terms of the cost, I couldn't find a comparably priced machine that had a lot of options and power: 300 mhz, dvd, 14.1", etc.
The good: this is a great machine. I believe that Gateway laptop keyboards (not just the 9100) are well made. They feel good to a users who like both soft and tactile keyboards. (of which I am a fan of the latter) The addition of the MIDI/gameport is a great edition and this is the only laptop which thoughtfully includes this. Being a musician, I find this very handy. Gamers will love having a joystick. The price cannot be beaten: Gateway remanufactured portables are consistently some of the best bargains. However, this needs to be taken with a grain of salt... (see the "refurbished")
The bad: Gateway tech support, as many others have noted, is quite horrid. Being a computer resource specialist and tech support representative for 5+ years now (Earthlink, DNAI, and UC Berkeley Information systems to name a few), I found their technical support to be rather unknowledgable. It is obvious that they do their troubleshooting with walk through guides that they have either on the computer or on paper rather than actually listening to the problem. I have had a multitude of problems with my laptop, starting with my laptop DVD not working and having small pieces actually break: the latch that closes the computer, the battery latch, the hard drive cover. Gateway laptop design has not been up to par with Dell laptops: they are flimsy and easily damaged.
The refurbished: (the "ugly") The refurbished department has terrible quality control. My laptop arrived DOA. The battery didnt work at all and the DVD hardware was wrongly encoded. When I contacted client relations, I was assured that they would take care of the problem and I would get an extended warranty. When I later sent back my laptop because the hard drive crashed, it was 1 day out of the original warranty. Because Gateway runs as a strong bureacracy, there was nothing I could do. When I complained, someone in client relations was able to find a loophole for me. I doubt most representatives are so kind. That was my biggest gripe: Gateway doesnt care about its customers. I have faxed and mailed in various complaints without response. If you buy a Gateway, unless you are a large company, don't expect much attention outside of tech support and the usual buck-passing game between tech support, customer service, and client relations.
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Epinions.com ID:
manowar
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Member: Tom
Location: San Francisco, CA
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
Computer junky. Web/graphic designer. Law student. Jack of all trades basically.
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