I like this computer.

My main reason for getting a new computer was that my piece-o-dung Hewlett Packard just wasn't cooperating with me anymore. I'd see more crashes sitting in front of my computer than I would . . . well, considering a racing legend has recently died, I won't make any insensitive puns. Anyway. So when I was bestowed with income taxes, it was new computer time. Initially I wanted to build my own computer, but I didn't really have the time or the patience (or the knowhow, haha). I got advice from a computer guru friend who said to go with Dell, and I planned on doing that, but a big reason why I wanted to get rid of the HP was because the sound and video cards were integrated onto the motherboard, and the video RAM was eating a lot of my system RAM and my MP3's NEVER played correctly (they crackled ALL THE TIME), and the Dell had the sound and video cards onboard, so I said never mind that. I looked at Compaq (ewww!), I looked at Sony, I even considered the dark side (Apple). Then I said what the heck, and ordered a Gateway, and I've never looked back.

First of all, this computer is AMAZINGLY stable. Sure, it crashes. Show me a computer with a Windows-based OS on it that DOESN'T crash from time to time and I'll show you my "OH!" face, heh. I read reviews where Win ME slowed the whole thing up and Win ME isn't that stable and yadda yadda yadda, and overall I've actually been really surprised, and really satisified, with Win ME. This computer is also very easy to upgrade, which was another big plus. When I first got it, I thought it came with a network card (to hook up my cable modem to), but lo and behold it didn't, so I had to gank the one out of my HP. I was wary of this because I thought there was something screwed up with the settings of that card, but it's been working just fine and dandy. It took me forever to figure out how to get the darned case open (I actually called tech support *embarrassed*) but once I did I was impressed. There are no screws to muss with, the side part just snaps on and off. Inside the case it is all very clean and neat and orderly and you have a lot of room to work with. I was very impressed. All the wires inside are bunched together. I ordered this computer with just a CD-RW and I wanted to add a regular CD-ROM, so I went with a Creative Labs 52x and putting it in was pretty simple, especially for a dummy like me. Unfortunately I had the jumpers set to MASTER and not SLAVE (like I was supposed to) and when I first installed it I had NO cd-rom drive at all and that freaked me out, but it was a simple human error and easily remedied:)

I like the keyboard it came with, it's got all those neat Multimedia buttons that I never use, except for the volume ones. Can't say much about the mouse, because I had a Logitech Wireless mouse that I brought over from my old HP. I like the way the keyboard 'handles', so to speak. The speakers that came with it are these huge freakin' Boston things, and they sounded pretty good, but I upgraded to some pretty, boomin' Altec Lansing speakers with a subwoofer (that I added after I got the computer). I didn't get a monitor; the one I have works just fine, it's a 17", and I had the HP running at 1152x864. Much to my chagrin, the video card on this computer won't let me set it to 1152x864, I can either go 1024x768 (too big, ugh) or 1280x1024. I tried 1024x768, and my monitor started . . . whining . . . at me. I have a 'net friend who has this same computer, got it at the same time as me, and her monitor does the same thing. Don't know what that's about. But my monitor doesn't whine at all when it's set to 1280x1024. I think I'm killing my eyes though, but oh well, they're bound to go eventually and then I can just wear glasses all the time instead of not wearing glasses except for at work where I have to wear safety glasses (god I hate those things).

This computer comes with a ton of crap, most of it I didn't even play with since I only use stuff like IE and Outlook Express and Photoshop. It comes with MS Word, which is nice . . . and Easy CD Creator version 4 . . . On my Hewlett Packard, I had an archaic, slothlike external parallel port CD burner, and that had Easy CD Creator 3 with it. With 3 you have to convert all your MP3's to WAV files when burning a music cd (a pain!) but with version 4 you don't have to. I was rather pleased when I learned that tidbit of information. The burner that came with my computer is 8x, and it gives me errors occasionally, I think all burners must . . . but overall burning is also no problem. I ordered my Gateway with a 40 gig hard drive, and I figured it'd take me forever to fill it up, but I already have 9 gigs worth of stuff on it (which is shocking because the HP only had a 8 gig hard drive total). I suspect that's because I've been ripping a lot of high-quality MP3's lately, though . . .

Overall, I love this computer. I wish I could run at 1152x864, but I've gotten used to being at a resolution of 1280x1024. The biggest gripe I have about this computer is the sound card. Thankfully I can play MP3's (no crackling!) but somehow all my wav's and MP3's and cd audio are integrated into the same output deal on the sound card, meaning wav files play right over your MP3's. Pretty cool, I figure, that way if I'm on AIM and someone sends me a message I won't miss it due to not hearing the sound. But that makes my MP3's skip, and also when I'm playing a CD it'll just skip and stutter sometimes, and you'd think that CD audio should be the smoothest playing audio on this system. Also, I've noticed an annoying trait where if I've been running my system for a while or if I've had my webcam software on a while, whenever a sound event goes off (an IM or something) the whole computer will lock up for about 3 seconds and then you'll hear the sound file and everything will go back to normal. I don't know why that is, I'm not Kreskin :) maybe I need a new sound card, which isn't that big a deal, I can upgrade someday right? Since it's not on the motherboard? And that's the biggest deal to me.

So yeah. Even though I was told to beware and all, and I was a bit wary about buying Gateway, I'm overall very happy with it. Especially after having that HP; I was lucky to go for a day without crashing it at least three times.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 1100
Operating System: Windows
Processor: AMD Athlon (K7)
Processor speed: 801-900
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-RW
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40