Looking for Gateway laptop reviews

[HomerJS]

Anyone have any experience with Gateways? Looking at i5 Laptop NV76R24U. Can't find reviews for this or any of their laptops. Walmart has it for $528. Just want general purpose unit, no high power computing. Specs...

Processor Type: Intel Core i5-3210M Processor
Processor Speed: 2.50 GHz, with a Max Turbo Speed of 3.10 GHz
System Ram: 4 GB
Maximum Memory Expansion: 8 GB
Hard Drive Size: 500 GB
Laptop Screen Size: 17.3 inch
Screen Type: LED Backlight, Ultrabright Widescreen HD+ Display
Resolution: 1600 x 900
Graphics Card: Intel HD Graphics 4000 with 128MB
Multi Media Drive: 8x DVD-SuperMulti Double-Layer Drive
Card Reader Type: 5-in-1 card reader 1 x (SD Memory Card), 1 x (MultiMediaCard), 1 x (Memory Stick), 1 x (Memory Stick PRO), 1 x (xD Picture Card)
Battery Life: 4 hours 30 minutes
Battery Type: Lithium Ion
Network Connection: 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet & 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN
Connector Type: 1 x DC-in, 1 x Ethernet, 1 x HDMI, 1 x Headphone, 1 x Microphone, 1 x USB 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x VGA
Operating System: Windows 8

 

[Ketchup]

I had a Gateway laptop, won't buy another one. This was back when Vista first came out. Had it 3 to 4 years. During that time:

1. The hinges wore out; it would only stay open if set to a couple locations, and let it "fall" to where it decided to stop.
2. the battery was useless after 2 years (lasted about 10 minutes). Bought a refurb battery which did a little better, but that didn't last long. We just started using it plugged in all the time.
3. The screen was never all that bright, but really got dim the last year or two.
4. The final straw was the power connection. I think the soldering finally come loose on the motherboard power connector, as for a while you could use enough force to get it to charge, but eventually that was not enough. Wasn't worth the effort to dig into it, so we bought a new Lenovo laptop.

The Lenovo is about 3 years old now, and is the best laptop I have ever had (sale for $400 from TigerDirect). Still looks and runs pretty much like new, very good brightness and color, and still has plenty of battery life.

 

[AustinInDallas]

just look up acer reviews. if you cover the logo, side by side you cant tell them apart.

 

[raildogg]

We've had a Gateway for more than a year and it's been running well. Even soda was spilled on the keyboard and it is still running very good. They're good as far as I can tell.

 

[ther00kie16]

There are better models and worse models.
For example, this model is rated pretty well at a nice price. Just wish they continued with smaller models when everyone else went small.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2932/intel-core-2-culv-roundup-who-needs-atom-/4

Btw, have had it for 3 years and everything is fine. Hinges almost too tight, screen at full brightness way too bright and no problems what so ever.

Most times, durability and reliability of a laptop has more to do with the user's habits.
I'd still prefer a Dell or Lenovo though. They've been having decent outlet sales recently.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Personally I had a very poor experience with gateway. This was several years ago. I bought the unit at best buy, and it would not even power on when I took it out of the box. Instead of taking this as a sign to get my money back, I exchanged it for another unit which also had intermittant problems and died totally after just over a year.