Gateway: P4-2Ghz (512k L2 Cache), 256 RDRam PC800, 40GB HD ... $918 shipped

[mattlear]

Ok, I bit the bullet.

I ordered the machines. This was just too good of a deal to pass up.

I'll post back and let everyone know what the deal is with the parts on the ones I get, and my overall impressions.

Thanks!

-Matt

 

[mrbentley]

Here's a few sites with the $100 off code. Search for gateway:
www.dailyedeals.com
www.coupons-coupon-codes.com
www.xpbargains.com
www.techbargains.com
www.jumpondeals.com

 

[MarkieMark]

i maxed out three of credit cards now

how should i talk myself out of this one!

another grand!!!

kill me!!!

 

[TheBends]

Well, I ordered when I first seen the deal in another newsgroup. Just got the computer today. So far I am VERY pleased. I have been a "DELL GUY" myself so this is my first Gateway. I have built computers too. Generally don't care about Tech Support.

Some things to point out...

~ 3 Firewire ports (1 in front, 2 via PCI card)
~ 6 USB ports (2 in front that are USB 2.0 compatible, 2 via PCI card, 2 buit into mobo)
~ Modem takes up PCI slot
~ Ethernet buit into mobo


Anyway...I received all the emails after I ordered that I qualified for the $100 coupon. Got the emails saying my computer had been shipped. Got a call from my Discover Card confirming the charge (just bought 3 tivos on clearance at Walmart so they were just verifing). Never got an email from Gateway telling me my final total! I checked my Discover card all week and nothing! I was curious to see if they were going to charge tax. Well today the computer arrives and STILL no charge on my credit card. Wife calls me at work to tell me Gateway called and left a message for me to call regarding details of my order. Tried to call and the guy that left the message is only there between 12 and 2pm. So ANYWAY.....if you were planning to order this I would verify everything! I'm not sure what this is all about but I will keep you guys informed.

Let me know if you have any questions about the system. So far I am very happy. Thing seems very quiet too! That could be me though.

 

[MarkieMark]

guys, i just placed the order with GAYway, could not resist the temptation!

another grand!!!!!

anyone want to help out paying my CC interests?

love!

 

[RossMAN]

TheBends - I have a few questions, if you could answer them I would really appreciate it.

1) If you have a digicam can you take a few pictures of the tower outside and inside? How easy is it to open?
2) Running Windows XP Home on 256MB, does it feel sluggish? Is it possible to find out how much RAM is available for other applications while XP is running?
3) How's the keyboard and mouse? Can we get picts of those also?
4) What brand DVD and CD-RW drive? Any DVD or CD-RW software?
5) What do you not like about this system? There's gotta be a few things, details please.

 

[sleefer]

Nice deal jairocon, sent myself a quote on it. have to sell off some stuff to make room for it.

 

[ashneel]

I just heard the funniest thing I JUST called dell SALES to do a PM to gateway they told me gateway going OUT. He told me gateway just fired hell people and closed hell stores and like I didn't know that.

They say the cant PM because gateway is going out just because gateway closed some jobs to say profitable *uc*k dell.

Even though I have a dell 8100.


DELL IS SCARED VERY SACRED OF GATEWAY NOW DAYS I HOPE GATEWAY WIN"s.


GATEWAY RULES.

 

[jairocon]

I myself have not plunged in on this deal - as I am debating whether to get this or wait for a laptop deal to come out (it's been a loooooong wait on that one). I hear all this talk about gateway pricewar with dell, I have yet to see any significant results of this. I hope gateway can climb back up - it would only do us the consumers good to have competing giants... On the other hand today in doctor's office I saw Family PC magazine from November 2000, that sold P3-800 as a hot ass computer for almost $2k. I got a good laugh out of that

 

[ashneel]

dell sucks bad they could beat the gateway deal !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

they said they cant DROP 500 bucks. :disgust:

GATEWAY RULES.

 

[dealmaker]

This is so tempting! Man! Do you know what kind of mobo this is? How many memory slots etc? Jeez this is sweet!

 

[Slacker]

DAMN I WANNA BUT I CANT
BUT I WANNA
BUT I CANT
BUT I WANNA
I WANNA I WANNA I WANNA :|

 

[drooth]

It seems like there are a number of us who are waiting for details on this. A detailed report from someone who bought the system would be appreciated!!!

Can someone price a build-it-yourself system with comparable specs? How much more are we paying for the Gateway system vs. a home-built system?

The P4-2GHZ chip alone is quite expensive right now. Too bad Gateway doesn't use AMD XP chips.. faster and cheaper!

 

[TheBends]

Allright, I just woke up from a long night. Sorry it took me so long to reply. I'm not in front of that computer right now but let me see if I can answer some questions.

ROSSMAN:

>> 1) If you have a digicam can you take a few pictures of the tower outside and inside? How easy is it to open?

I'll try to have some pictues posted around 12-1pm eastern time for you. Just give me some time to drink my coffee.

>> 2) Running Windows XP Home on 256MB, does it feel sluggish? Is it possible to find out how much RAM is available for other applications while XP is running?


Doesn't feel sluggish at all. I've been running a PIII 550 overclocked to ~600 with 256megs RAM and XP Professional with no problems. With this new GateWay P4 I am AMAZED and boot-up time! Very fast.


>> 3) How's the keyboard and mouse? Can we get picts of those also?

Didn't even open them. Just plugged in my wireless crap to get the thing going real quick befoe I had to leave last night. I did see the mouse. It's OPTICAL. Has the GateWay logo on it. Seems decent quality. I'll snap you some pitures.


4) What brand DVD and CD-RW drive? Any DVD or CD-RW software?

Comes with Roxio's EZCD Creator 5. Comes with DVD software but not sure what it is. Notsure if these are "Full Versions" either. I'll take a closer look later.

5) What do you not like about this system? There's gotta be a few things, details please.

All the preinstalled CRAP that comes with a prebuilt computer! Gargage software thats just on there for you to hopefully purchase in the future. PLUS I HATE IT WHEN AOL IS PREINSTALLED ON MY COMPUTER!! SEEMS I CAN NEVER FULLY UNINSTALL AOL AFTER IT IS LOADED-ON. Always leaves some little crap behind when you uninstall.
Otherwise I really haven't fully tested this for many hours to see what bugs me.
Oh, one other thing that bugs me is it seems all but one or two of the PCI slots are used up. I'll probably take the modem out anyway.


Talk to you guys later.

 

[TheBends]

Ok, I took some quick pictures of the system. Don't give me any crap about the quality or shots. I did this real quick. Here is the Link:


Link to PICTURES


It's a sweet case by the way. Screwless. Side door comes off very easily to get inside.

Here are the Drive Specs:

CDRW = LITE-ON LTR-24102b
DVD = MATSHITA DVD-ROM SR-8587

By the way..I was incorrect on the USB PORTS.... 2 Regular USB on back, 2 USB 2.0 on BACK, 2 USB 2.0 on front.
None of the USB's take up a PCI slot....I was wrong.

Let me know if you have any further questions or need different pics.

 

[pigseye2]

The Bends,
Great pics! Thanks. Looks like a very nice PC

Germyboy,
Thanks for the quote number. I used the gateway quote sending service and let me friends know about it.

Pigseye

 

[Jackhamr60504]

The mouse is made by logitech. The case is a driverless case - you dont need a screw driver to install anything. The motherboard is made by Intel. Let me know if you have any other questions, I have a friend that works at Gateway and can get me all the tech information.

Edit: Actually all six USB ports are on-board. The two front and two on the back are 2.0, while the other two on the back are 1.1. The other two ports on a PCI card are Firewire (IEEE1392). There is also a firewire port on the front.

 

[nekote]

Last summer I got the Gateway 6400 "Hot Deal"

Gateway's hardware - good machine, no complaint there.

However, sales / ordering / billing were seriously confused / brain dead - could just have been the hot deal.

My 2¢:
Gateway does seem headed for bankruptcy. ;(

Thought RDRAM was turning out to be another BetaMax type loser?
Even expensive, has RDRAM sprung back to life (vs DDR?)?
Or are Gateway and Dell selling off their "Betamax" inventory?
If so, that's OK, so long as buyers know why they are getting "sucha deal".

I'm running WinXP Pro w/256MB, speed seems fine, to me.

 

[HerrHarry]

Does anybody know what monitor the FPD1810 is or what quality it is?

 

[Austin5]

While it is a good deal for a PIV 2.0 I will not ever buy another Gateway PC. Reason being, I won the Gateway Challenge and got $2500 towards the purchase of a Gateway PC. I ordered the Best I could get within that limit. It is a PIV 1.8, I upgraded the RAM to 512megs, I got the best video card I could which was only a GF2 MX400 with 64megs of DDR which is nice but a GF3 would have been great. So it takes them 2 1/2 months to get me everything...hey its free and that was fine. So I started benchmarking this thing with 3DMark2001. What a let down. 2477 best score with the default settings. I have around $8-900 in my main system and scores on it are in the 7800 range. So if your going to get a new PC build or have someone you know do it for you. I did get a Mitsubishi 22" Dimondtron with the deal though and its great

 

[RossMAN]

TheBends - Thanks for the pictures, they're not crappy at all.

 

[dealmaker]

Have you reformatted the Gateway hardrive and put a fresh copy of the o/s on without all of the gateway "enhancements". Often the OS from these systems have too many built in apps and such. If it is an intel board then it should be fine. I know HP uses Asus mobos in some models. Anyone Sysmark this yet?

 

[MarkieMark]

GAYway charged me $130 "monitor adjustment." they really SUCK, bumping the price up to $1025 shipped. i am torn between cancelling it or argue over that amount. what do you guys think? any ideas?

thanks thebends, bery nice pix! i think i am going to have hard time arguing over the difference. but again thanks for the info!!!

 

[bobofjb]

Just ordered mine. Hate myself, :frown:

On their website, it says no merchandise sale tax in PA for home and home office, but I was still charged tax. Any idea??

 

[smartt]

MarkieMark, did you also order a monitor? What was the 'monitor adjustment' for?