Gateway opens up possibilities
Written: May 25 '01
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Pros: Great package deal, shipped right to me
Cons: Impatient waiting for it to come
The Bottom Line: For anyone, student or professional, this Gateway system has everything you need to get your work done, all while having a little fun.
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| princess2000's Full Review: Gateway Performance 1400 |
I'd been computer-less for about a year and a half, and as a senior in college, majoring in Dramatic Writing, that was kind of a problem. My PowerPC Mac decided to die on me after only two years, and whatever happened to it was irreparable...or so I was told. I was tired of borrowing laptops from people, only to have to return them at a moment's notice for some reason or other, so I decided to get a new desktop.
I'd shopped around for a couple of weeks, looking into packages from PeoplePC and Dell, as well as looking for new/used systems. When I originally came across the deal from Gateway on their website, they were offering a Pentium 3 system, complete with printer and CD-RW drive for only $1099 (before tax and shipping). I was amazed at the price, so when I called to ask about it, I was a little annoyed when I was rerouted to an actual Gateway store to order it....but I quickly got over my annoyance.
My mother and I walked into the store and were immediately greeted by smiling faces and cheery dispositions. The store layout was done in a manner so that just about every package deal/model was on display so that the customers could see exactly what they were going to get. When we asked about the package deal I had seen online, we were informed that the deal had ended just the day before. I was a little disappointed, but our salesperson was quick to inform us of the newest one, and even printed out a quote sheet for each one so that we could compare the two side by side.
Our salesperson was very attentive and asked me questions about what I wanted and what I was looking for so that I could choose what was best for me. I told him that I was a writing student who spent a lot of time on the computer, but that I was also into composing music and having a little fun on my computer. He answered all of mine and my mother's questions very thoroughly, pointing out every detail and benefit of the system we were looking at. He pointed out to me that if I wanted to compose music on my computer, I could easily hook up a keyboard/synthesizer to the computer to do so. We were told that whatever system we chose would be built in the Gateway warehouse and then shipped to me directly within a week.
In the end, the package we chose was only $1299 (before taxes and s/h) and consisted of: 1400MHz Pentium 4 Processor, 128MB RDRAM, 20GB hard drive, CD-RW drive, Canon printer, 17" monitor, M64 graphics card, PCI audio/soundcard, 10/100 Ethernet card, plus a microphone and two digital speakers with subwoofer. The system came with Microsoft Windows ME, with Microsoft Works 2001, 1 year of AOL access, 3 year warranty, 1 year of onsite service, hardware and tech support, and a 50pk of CD-R discs. After the purchase was made, he gave me a tracking# and a customer ID# so I could call and check on the status of my computer if it didn't arrive on the expected delivery date, which was 7 days from date of order. As it turned out, I never had to use them, because the computer arrived two days early.
All in all, I got a lot more than I was expecting. Even though he showed me all of the components to the system so that I would know what it was going to look like, I was still impressed with the actual package. It took me only an hour to set everything up, from the time I opened the first box until I was sitting at my desk logging into my email account. As I was excited and impressed with my computer, that made it easier and more fun for me to do the work that I had to do...and when I'm done working, I play with the different games and programs....all while listening to the CD's that I burned. Thanks Gateway.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1566
Operating System: Windows
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-RW
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Epinions.com ID:
princess2000
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Member: Stephanie Little
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 9 members
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