Gateway: A Cheaper Way
Written: Nov 02 '02 (Updated Nov 02 '02)
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Pros: Price, Power, Performance
Cons: Shipping takes a long time; awful tech support
The Bottom Line: "The ends justify the means"--Machiavelli
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| waluigi's Full Review: Gateway 700 XL PC Desktop |
Why I needed a new PC:
I was in the market for a new computer. I was running a Dell P1 166MHz, 32MB ram, 2GB HDD with Windows 95 as my OS. Clearly I needed something faster. I had just bought a New Digital Camera (Nikon Coolpix 995) that required USB support, and a fast processor for using Adobe Photoshop. I had also just bought a new Digital Video Camera (Sony DRC-TV27), and needed a really powerful computing system to edit digital video. I needed a PC that would have the resources to allow me to do all that.
What lured me to Gateway:
I had a budget of 2500 – 3000 dollars. I knew that I would never let myself buy a Compaq. After working as a technical consultant for a public school for 2 years, I ran into all sorts of brands (IBM, Apple, Dell, Compaq, HP, etc), but the only computers that ever broke were the Compaq’s (unless of course there was intentional damage done). They may be cheaper upfront, but you end up paying in the long run. I was also very interested in purchasing an Apple. For my needs, it fit perfectly. Apples iApps (iphoto, itunes, iDVD, imovie) are first rate, and unfortunately, no one else matches the ease and power of them. But, I didn’t have the money to shell out to buy a Power Mac G4 with Apple’s gorgeous displays. Then there was Dell, the most reliable, and best computer company when in comes to PC’s. I had bought my first x86 PC from them in 1995, and have never had a problem. Dell is really the antitheist of Compaq; for Dell, you pay a lot up front, but in the long run, you save a ton of money. However, I had a budget, and when I priced out the computer I wanted, it came out to over 5000 dollars. That’s when I picked up an add one day from gateway. They took a whole page to advertise their 700XL. I couldn’t stop from drooling when I was reading up on the standard specs (2.2GHz, 1Gig Ram, 120GB HDD, 128MB Nvidia Geforce4 4600, Boston Acoustic 5 piece speakers, 18.1” LCD, USB 2.0/Firewire). But then I read 4 numbers that made up my mind: $2999. This was outrageous to think that the same system from Dell was over 5000 dollars. So I looked up computer manufactures in a recent issue of consumer reports, and it said that gateway was right behind Dell and Apple in service and support. This was it, one final trip to the gateway store, and I had just purchased my dream machine.
Delievery
All the fun stopped here. My sales man promised me that my computer would be at my door in absolutely no less then 2 weeks no matter what. Well, 2 weeks go by, no computer. So I call gateway (it takes 15 minutes to get a hold of a customer support person), and they assure me that it will be at my house tomorrow. Tomorrow comes, and still no computer. So, again I call gateway, and after half an hour of arguing, finally, the third manager I talked to said they would waive the shipping charge, and told me that there was a shortage of the Firewire cards, but my computer will arrive in 3 days, end of story. This sort of nonsense went on for about a month, and finally, my computer arrived at my house. However, when my computer arrived, there was just one problem, the 18.1” LCD was USED! That’s right, they shipped me a USED LCD! I had a strong urge to just return the whole thing and get my money back, but I realized that even though this is a real pain, it’s worth saving $2000. I am now on my 4th LCD from gateway, because the first 3 they sent me were either used or did not work. Overall, waiting for my computer was the worst experience thus far, and to this day I do not trust any employees working at the gateway stores.
Set up:
Set up was a breeze for me because I had just set up 500 computers over the summer, and knew the routine down cold. However, even I did have some trouble plugging in the speakers and microphone, but simple trial and error led me out of trouble. They give you a handy color coded diagram of your computer, so anyone (except the million people who are colorblind) can easily plug orange into orange and blue into blue. I do warn you though, when plugging in a PS/2 keyboard or mouse, do not force then in, because you can easily bend the fragile pins on the male end of the component, if not aligned properly, and that is a pain to fix.
Windows XP:
Note: I am comparing Windows 95 to Windows XP professional without factoring in performance because it is self evident that a 166Mhz machine will never out run a 2.2GHz one. Making a jump from Windows 95 to windows XP was really easy. Although Microsoft claims that windows XP offers an abundance of new ‘must have’ features, I have yet to use all but a handful. I find the new start menu a little awkward, however, Microsoft allows you to choose to use ‘classic’ mode, which lets you keep the look and feel of windows 95. I really like it when Windows XP automatically detects and installs new hardware for you with out any effort on your side. I also like a new game that comes standard called Spider Solitaire. It is really a fun little game, but it will only work on XP (I’ve tried putting it on my 95 machine, and it won’t work).
With XP, there is also the stability factor. Windows 95 is a fairly reliable system, but it has its fair share of crashes, and blue screen of death time. However, in the 2 versions to follow 95 (98, ME), Microsoft actually got worse at preventing crashes. That is until they came out with windows 2000 professional (for businesses). I used that system at work, and it naver crashed; it also didn’t support any 3rd party software, or devices. Microsoft then decided to take a step in the right direction, and look at Mac OS 10 for some ideas on how to get it right, and they did. XP vastly improved OS compared to the dreadful ME. It is based on Windows 2000 Professional, and is easy to use, and has a friendly interface. I’m not saying that it changed the way that we compute, but it does have its advantages.
Performance of PC:
This baby flies! I can run as many programs as I want and never have the system crash or slow. At one point, I ran Adobe Photoshop, Primere, Golive, Inmotion, Aftereffects, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Freehand, Fireworks, Generator, Microsoft word, excel, PowerPoint, access, publisher, outlook, AOL AIM, Apple Quicktime, WinZip, and 7 windows of Internet Explorer windows, and checked my system performance on the Windows Task Manager, and was only using 75% of my computing power, and had 150MB of RAM free. That is absolutely incredible considering that running AIM and Microsoft word on my 166Mhz computer would slow it down to a crawl. Without a doubt this is a performance beast. It has 13 times the speed, 32 times the ram, 64 times the ram on the video card, 60 times the storage capacity, and the screen resolution is almost 100% larger. If you can increase your machine by 5 or 10 fold, I would definitely suggest you buy a new computer. However, I hope that you are aware of the ‘megahertz myth’, as well. Basically, megahertz does not equal performance. My 2.2GHz P4 does not work twice as fast as a 1GHz P3. There are numerous other factors that lead to overall performance, and megahertz is only one of the many. So, when buying a computer, make sure not to get freaked out over a 200MHz gap between 2 models, because it really makes no difference in performance that you’ll notice.
Technical Support:
I have had so much trouble and frustration with Gateway’s technical support that I really should start to see a shrink. It is amazing how much you have to put up with just to ask a simple question. I had a problem with my TV-OUT (and still do), and have spent hours trying to get some help from them. After all, I did pay the extra 200 dollars for lifetime tech support.
When you call up gateway’s 1-800 number, you go through a ridiculously long and boring menu, with as many options as possible that make it nearly impossible to talk to another human. Before you are connected to tech support, you have to listen to tacky early 90’s music for anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes (anymore, and I usually hang up). Once the person answers your call, you have to tell them almost everything about you and your computer (Name, owner of the computer, owner of the house you live in, street address, zip code, state, country, serial number of the PC, operating system, computer model, and so forth). Then, you can ask your question only for them to tell you “oh we’re customer service, that’s not our department, let me go ahead and forward you to technical support”. So, then you have to again go through the menu’s listen to the music, tell the operator all your information, and ask your question, and this time, the operator tells you that this is customer service’s area of expertise, and forwards your call to them.
I have all but given up on trying to get technical support, and that is why I still do not know how to use my TV-OUT feature, which I would really like to use.
Value:
I just want to reiterate that for 2999, this is the best deal on the market. You cannot beat getting a top of the line system, loaded with more then you’ll ever need for fewer than 3000 dollars. It is just unheard of.
Trade offs:
Gateway has cut some corners. The 5 piece speaker set (which I personally love, and see no problem), is technically out of date. There are speaker sets that have 6.1 and 7.1 surround sound meaning they have 1 and 2 more speakers respectively, and are ideal for newer DVD’s and games that take advantage of these extra speakers. Also, the 18.1” LCD isn’t a top performer when compared to others in its class. When set at it’s ideal screen resolution (1280 by 1024), text is crisp, and graphics are excellent. However, at the lower resolutions (1024 by 768 and 800 by 600) the screen becomes very pixilated, and looks like the old computer screens from the 80’s but in color. Also, even though my graphics card handles resolutions up to 1600 by 1200, it just won’t work with the monitor. Additionally, Gateway’s LCD’s tend to make everything lighter then it really is. This directly affects me because when I work in Photoshop, and make graphics for my company, I need to test them on other computers, to make sure they are not too dark (which has happened a few times, and cost me a lot of money).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2999
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
waluigi
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Location: United States
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 6 members
About Me:
I am still blocked by the community
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