Solid Price, Solid Performance
Written: Jan 04 '03 (Updated Jan 04 '03)
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Pros: Very easy to use. Great for everyday home use.
Cons: Purchased Microsoft Office XP pre-installed, but did not include Powerpoint.
The Bottom Line: The best deal your money can get for an outstanding PC. Great performance, good speed, unbeatable quality and service.
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| Captainsoon's Full Review: Gateway 500 XL PC Desktop |
I purchased my Gateway in October of 2001. It was my first PC (I was formerly a Mac user), and it has served me well and has never let me down.
The reasons why I wanted to buy a PC were simple:
1: I needed to use Microsoft Word and Excel at home.
2: I wanted a better variety of PC games to play.
3: I was becoming ever more frustrated at the poor performance and constant crashing of my G4 PowerMac.
4: I prefer Windows to Mac OS (don't ask why).
The reason why I decided to buy a Gateway? I guess brand recognition was the main factor. I always see commercials for either Dell or Gateway on TV. I see Gateway ads all over the city and have heard positive things about Gateway from friends. My brother also bought a Dell computer a few months before I decided to buy my PC. He was not happy with what he received. His DVD player was very buggy, his PC came with Windows ME, which crashed on him too often, and he wasn't happy with having signed-up with Dell's ISP when he bought his PC.
I looked over Gateway's website extremely carefully before I decided what to buy. I decided to get the Gateway 500SE, Pentium 4, 1.8 Gigahertz processor, 256mb or SDRAM, 40 Gig hard drive, DVD drive and CDRW drive, Boston Acoustic speakers, Nvidia GeForce Max graphics card and a 19" monitor, Window XP Home edition and Office XP (this was even before Windows XP was officially launched) for $1600, it sounded like a great deal. I'm currently using only 23 gigs of hard drive space of the 40 gigs available.
I ordered my computer by phone (you could also order it at the Gateway Country store or online), the customer service was great. The operator who took my order was extremely thorough in making sure I knew what I was ordering and reviewing my order and answering all my questions. He was not in a hurry and definitely was focused on delivering a positive experience for me.
I received my Gateway about 7 days from the day I ordered it. I was given the delivery date by Gateway and a tracking number for UPS. It was delivered on time and everything was packaged well.
It took me approximately 3 hours to set it up. It had simple visual instructions on how to hook up the monitor, the speakers and modem to the PC. I was surprised to find a webcam and and microphone included, because I did not order these.
After hooking the PC up I turned it on, took a quick Windows XP tour, and my PC was set and ready to go.
Since purchasing it over a year ago it has not let me down.
I work as a freelance illustrator, web designer and word processor and I'm working on my computer 8 to 10 hours a day, 3 days a week. When I'm not working on it, I turn it on to check emails or listen to music, I have about 3 gigs of MP3 music on my PC (NONE of which I downloaded illegally!) and Windows Media Player is a dream.
I regularly run programs such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Internet Explorer and Netscape, Adobe Illustrator 10 and Photoshop 7, Flash MX, Dreamweaver MX and they run flawlessly with no slow downs or crashes. I also have PC games such as The Sims, Emporer Rise of the Middle Kingdom, Unreal Tournament, Chessmaster and Zeus installed. Some of them were made for Windows 98, but they run very well on Windows XP.
I sometimes have IE running while working with Photoshop, Illustrator and Windows Media Player (to listen to music) and every program runs beautifully.
My Gateway has not crashed or given me a single error message in the 14 months I've owned it! I'm also automatically notified by Microsoft and Norton Antivirus whenever I need to update anything.
Bottom line: Gateway has really impressed me with this fine piece of work. I plan to purchase from Gateway again if I should ever need a 2nd PC and I always recommend Gateway to my friends who are looking for a great deal.
The Best part? I paid $1600 for my system, but as of January 2003, the same system would cost just around $1000.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1600
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 41-50
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Epinions.com ID:
Captainsoon
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Member: Greg Soon
Location: Long Island City, NY
Reviews written: 45
Trusted by: 5 members
About Me:
I'm from California. I live in New York.
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