pokey@uncmed.med.unc.edu (10/11/90)
I'm considering a Gateway 2000 25 mHz machine for purchase, and I'd like to hear from anyone whose had dealings w/them, good or bad. Also, if it is wise to make any specific upgrades at the time of purchase (video card, monitor, drive controller, etc.). Should I go the extra bucks for the 33 mHz or retreat to the 20 mHz? Thanks in advance, any reply is greatly appreciated. E-Mail to pokey@uncmed.med.unc.edu BOB Patrick O'Brien B B B
bicker@cbnewsi.att.com (The Resource, Poet-Magician of Quality) (10/13/90)
=> I'm considering a Gateway 2000 25 mHz machine for purchase, and I'd
=> like to hear from anyone whose had dealings w/them, good or bad.
=> Also, if it is wise to make any specific upgrades at the time of
=> purchase (video card, monitor, drive controller, etc.). Should I go
=> the extra bucks for the 33 mHz or retreat to the 20 mHz?
I haven't actually gotten my 386sx from them yet, but they seem to be
far more concerned about missing a 3 week delivery date than other
vendors appear to be. I've heard good things about how responsive they
are to problems when they pop up. I just wish they were perfect.
:>
--
Brian Charles Kohn AT&T Bell Laboratories Quality Process Center
Quality Management System E-MAIL: att!hoqax!bicker (bicker@hoqax.ATT.COM)
Consultant PHONE: (908) 949-5850 FAX: (908) 949-7724
kens@hplsla.HP.COM (Ken Snyder) (10/17/90)
comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware / pokey@uncmed.med.unc.edu asks: > I'm considering a Gateway 2000 25 mHz machine for purchase, and I'd > like to hear from anyone whose had dealings w/them, good or bad. > Also, if it is wise to make any specific upgrades at the time of > purchase (video card, monitor, drive controller, etc.). Should I go > the extra bucks for the 33 mHz or retreat to the 20 mHz? My 25MHz Gateway is a year old now and I can say without any reservations that Gateway is THE most customer oriented mail order company I've ever dealt with. When I ordered my system it was promised within 2 weeks. 1 week later they called me and said it might be delayed because the disc drive vendor backordered a bunch of drives. A few days later they called to say the drives had arrived. A day after that they called to say my system was in the mail. All in all it arrived 2 or 3 days later than promised. Problems I've had with the system have been dealt with immediately and well. A few months ago when I heard ATI had upgraded the bios on their VGA WONDER card I called them to ask about an upgrade. With no questions asked, 2 days later I had a new ATI VGA1024 card. In the past they did have some problems keeping up with technical support but their biggest problem (as seen on the net) has been not being able to keep up with demand in shipping their products. I personally would prefer to wait for delivery than to wait for service parts. They have bent over backwards and done things for me that I consider to be above and beyond the call. As for upgrades, I got the 512k memory upgrade ($50) on the ATI card and the monitor upgrade to the NEC 3d ($100). I also got the cache upgrade on the cpu board. When I got my system I was told I could upgrade at any time within the first year at the cost when I bought the system. I under- stand now that you cannot later do a cache upgrade because they use different motherboards for the cached and non-cached systems. I've also heard that the monitor they use as standard is very good. You'll have to read the reviews and talk to Gateway about that. BTW, their sales people (mine anyway) was pretty straight up about performance improvements/reliability etc. They were also more flexible about substitutions of equipment than many other vendors I called when I was doing my search. Most of the vendors I called said you took the package offered or nothing. Enough raving, The usual disclaimer: No affiliations with Gateway, I just love the heck out of the way they treat me and their machine. Ken
eakin@rsmas.miami.edu (10/17/90)
In article <1291@beguine.UUCP>, pokey@uncmed.med.unc.edu writes: > I'm considering a Gateway 2000 25 mHz machine for purchase, and I'd > like to hear from anyone whose had dealings w/them, good or bad. > Also, if it is wise to make any specific upgrades at the time of > purchase (video card, monitor, drive controller, etc.). Should I go > the extra bucks for the 33 mHz or retreat to the 20 mHz? > > Thanks in advance, any reply is greatly appreciated. > > E-Mail to pokey@uncmed.med.unc.edu > > BOB Patrick O'Brien > B > B > B Experiences with Gateway: 1) Bought 386SX system in May. Good machine, solidly built, Gateway2000 Crystal Scan 1024 is a very nice monitor. 2) Have had numerous dealing with Tech. support. It used to be great, although you did hold on the 800# for about 15 minutes. More recently, they have been overtaxed & are hard to reach. 3) We have had them replace 2 parts under warantee. One was a multi-I/O card that turned out to have been misconfigured from the factory. The other was the mother board. But don't panic here, The problem was a bad battery on the board -- when we called them they told us they had discontinued using the board in our machine & would prefer to just replace our board for us. They authorized either walk in service at the local service rep. or would send us the board. We opted for the latter & installed it ourselves. 4) System has really worked well & except for the serial card configuration & a lame battery ont the board, we've been happy with it. So much so that someone else in our lab ordered one & another is considering it. Good Luck -- C. Mark Eakin Internet: Eakin@RSMAS.miami.edu Amateur Radio: N4SYK Packet Radio: N4SYK@AB4LU.FL.USA.NA USnail: Univ. of Miami, RSMAS-BLR, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy. Miami, FL 33149-1098
mahler@rouge.usl.edu (Mahler Stephen J) (10/17/90)
My Gateway 200 386SX is about 4 weeks old. Delivery was about 10 days late, BUT I was called or received WRITTEN notification as the situation changed! No problems with the system. Do be prepared for 15 minute holds calling the tech number ( I was told how long the holds were running and they offered a callback ) and remember its an 800 number, so just relax and wait on their dime. .... .. Steve
djbpitt@unix.cis.pitt.edu (David J Birnbaum) (10/18/90)
In article <10136.271c28f1@rsmas.miami.edu> eakin@rsmas.miami.edu writes: >In article <1291@beguine.UUCP>, pokey@uncmed.med.unc.edu writes: >> I'm considering a Gateway 2000 25 mHz machine for purchase, and I'd >> like to hear from anyone whose had dealings w/them, good or bad. > >Experiences with Gateway: > >2) Have had numerous dealing with Tech. support. It used to be great, although >you did hold on the 800# for about 15 minutes. More recently, they have been >overtaxed & are hard to reach. I'm not sure what "more recently" means here. I bought a Gateway 2000 386sx a couple of months ago. The equipment and technical support are both completely satisfactory, except that I sometimes spent as much as 45 minutes on hold waiting for a tech support person. They would take my number and someone did always call back; whether I went that route or stayed on the line, my questions were always answered satisfactorily. But on my last call about two weeks ago the receptionist told me that they had revised their telephone queue and that nobody should be on hold for more than five minutes. This was true on that occasion and I haven't had to test it since. So ... I concur with all the good things that have been said here about Gateway 2000, and add that what used to be their most serious service problem -- getting through to a technician -- seems to have been fixed. --David ======================================================================= Professor David J. Birnbaum djbpitt@vms.cis.pitt.edu [Internet] The Royal York Apartments, #802 djbpitt@pittvms.bitnet [Bitnet] 3955 Bigelow Boulevard voice: 1-412-687-4653 Pittsburgh, PA 15123 USA fax: 1-412-624-9714
gould@pilot.njin.net (Brian Jay Gould) (10/19/90)
We have purchased about 8 Gateway 2000 PCs of various configurations over the past four months. Very few problems so far. Tech support is above average. Even though we can buy systems from distributers and get special deals for volume purchases, we have found Gateway to have a very good product, with good support, at a reasonable price. -- -- Any disclaimers made for me, by me, or about me - may or may not accurately reflect my failure to be reflecting the opinions of myself or anyone else. ************************************************* * Brian Jay Gould - Professional Brain-stormer * *************************************************
pokey@uncmed.med.unc.edu (10/20/90)
As per the Frequently Asked Questions file, I have amassed a variety of responses to my query about Gateway 2000 computers. Postings are anonymous. Anyone interested in reading this file, drop me a line and I will gladly E-mail it to you. Thanks to everyone who sent me information. pokey@uncmed.med.unc.edu Patrick O'Brien
buck@granite.cr.bull.com (Kenneth J. Buck) (10/29/90)
In article <1990Oct12.174837.9606@cbnewsi.att.com> Brian.C.Kohn@ATT.COM (bicker@hoqax.ATT.COM) writes: >I haven't actually gotten my 386sx from them yet, but they seem to be >far more concerned about missing a 3 week delivery date than other >vendors appear to be. This isn't meant to cast any stones at Gateway 2000 or anybody else, but I read recently (I forget where) that mail order companies were _required_ to notify you if an order were to be delayed from the promised date by some number of days or weeks (something like 'greater than 3 weeks' or something). I believe this was some federal postal regulation or something. Of course, that doesn't mean that sleazy companies would comply...
horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) (03/26/91)
More news from my Gateway Saga... Instead of the new tape drive that I expected to receive, I got a drive in neutral white packaging (not in the Colorado box), with a scratched face plate. No documentation, no software. When I complained, I got the documentation. It was obviously used and dog- eared. Still no backup software. I complained again. I said I'd tell my credit card company not to pay and I'd hold the stuff that I already got hostage until I got a Colorado factory box. The tech said that was not possible. They open the Colorado boxes and test the drives. It is then not possible to repack the drive into the Colorado box and send it to me. What is going on there? Are they selling refurbished drives for new ones? Cay
phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Phil Howard KA9WGN) (03/26/91)
horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) writes: >Instead of the new tape drive that I expected to receive, I got a drive >in neutral white packaging (not in the Colorado box), with a scratched face >plate. No documentation, no software. >When I complained, I got the documentation. It was obviously used and dog- >eared. Still no backup software. You probably don't want their software anyway. >I complained again. I said I'd tell my credit card company not to pay and >I'd hold the stuff that I already got hostage until I got a Colorado factory >box. >The tech said that was not possible. They open the Colorado boxes and test the >drives. It is then not possible to repack the drive into the Colorado box >and send it to me. They should be able to send you everything that was originally in the box for the Colorado drive. Maybe you should just send back the drive you got and ask for a refund of your money for the price of the drive, and buy one and install it yourself. >What is going on there? Are they selling refurbished drives for new ones? It does sound fishy if the face is scratched. They should be able to replace that with the next one they open and test, unless they scratch them all. -- /***************************************************************************\ / Phil Howard -- KA9WGN -- phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu \ \ Lietuva laisva -- Brivu Latviju -- Eesti vabaks / \***************************************************************************/
feg@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (forrest.e.gehrke) (03/27/91)
In article <1991Mar26.065227.16558@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Phil Howard KA9WGN) writes: >horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) writes: > >>Instead of the new tape drive that I expected to receive, I got a drive >>in neutral white packaging (not in the Colorado box), with a scratched face >>plate. No documentation, no software. > >>When I complained, I got the documentation. It was obviously used and dog- >>eared. Still no backup software. > >You probably don't want their software anyway. > You DO want the tape drive software. The CMS software supplied with this tape drive is far superior to that supplied by third party support such as PCTOOLS for this drive. >>I complained again. I said I'd tell my credit card company not to pay and >>I'd hold the stuff that I already got hostage until I got a Colorado factory >>box. > Why do you expect this particular item to be supplied in the original equipment carton? Gateway sends you the monitor in their own carton and not that of the original equipment manufacturer; same goes for every other item such as the the Keytronics keyboard and the MS mouse. You shouldn't have to accept a scratched faceplate, however. >They should be able to send you everything that was originally in the box >for the Colorado drive. > Forrest Gehrke feg\@dodger.att.com
mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord) (04/01/91)
In article <1991Mar27.132658.25149@cbfsb.att.com> feg@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (forrest.e.gehrke) writes:
<
<You DO want the tape drive software. The CMS software supplied
<with this tape drive is far superior to that supplied by
<third party support such as PCTOOLS for this drive.
Really? In what way(s) is the CMS software superior to PCBACKUP 6.0 ?
Personally, I find that the PCTOOLS s/w is
a) faster, better compression, less unnecessary tape movement
b) mucho more reliable -- CMS error recovery is awful!!
c) easier to use, with mouse point-and-click directory tree,
and multiple set-up files
--
MLORD@BNR.CA Ottawa, Ontario *** Personal views only ***
begin 644 NOTSHARE.COM ; Free MS-DOS utility - use instead of SHARE.EXE
MZQ.0@/P/=`J`_!9T!2[_+H``L/_/+HX&+`"T2<TAO@,!OX0`N1(`C,B.P/.DS
<^K@A-<TAB1Z``(P&@@"ZA`"X(27-(?NZE@#-)P#-5
``
endfeg@moss.ATT.COM (Forrest Gehrke,2C-119,7239,ATTBL) (04/02/91)
In article <6299@bwdls58.bnr.ca> mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord) writes: >In article <1991Mar27.132658.25149@cbfsb.att.com> feg@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (forrest.e.gehrke) writes: >< ><You DO want the tape drive software. The CMS software supplied ><with this tape drive is far superior to that supplied by ><third party support such as PCTOOLS for this drive. > >Really? In what way(s) is the CMS software superior to PCBACKUP 6.0 ? > >Personally, I find that the PCTOOLS s/w is > > a) faster, better compression, less unnecessary tape movement > b) mucho more reliable -- CMS error recovery is awful!! > c) easier to use, with mouse point-and-click directory tree, > and multiple set-up files Perhaps I should have said "CMS software has greater versatility". PCtools is essentially concerned only with the usual backup configurations from a hard disk. For instance, it has no facility for doing a tape search for a given file; no automatic backup (CMS will do a backup of all modified files whenever the PC has been idle for 5 minutes--if so configured). You can't just ask for a status of the tape, or get a listing of the files without committing to a backup, etc. As for speed--try CMS TC-15 board (hardware compression/tape controller) 40MB average group of files can be backed up in 10 minutes, about half the time using software compression and the floppy drive controller. CMS software allows multiple setup files. They can be tagged or listed in a separate file list. Also backups of files before or after any date can be done. With today's larger capacity floppy diskettes, the CMS software isn't limited to reading only hard disks. I find this handy for archiving floppies. And BTW, here is where the TC-15 or the FC-10 controllers shine because operation doesn't have to be divided between tape and floppy drive. These are just some of the things the CMS software can do. Nearly every command as a long list of available options allowing all sorts of variations of backup, restore, search, etc. As for reliability, I have never encountered an error, so I can't comment on that. Forrest Gehrke feg@dodger.att.com
horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) (04/03/91)
More on the Gateway Saga... As regular readers of this column may remember, Gateway promised me to send a Colorado drive. It came, but sans documentation or backup software. It was also pretty scratched up. I complained and got some dog-eared documentation, but still no software. I complained again and told them they better send me a new drive in a factory carton. I was told "I am afraid we cannot do that..." The guy at the phone said that they take the drives out of the cartons, test them and then it is impossible to put them back into the carton or something. I began to suspect that the Colorado drives they sell are not new but REFURBISHED. I still have not gotten my drive. When I last called, I was told that they had problems with the last shipment, with controller cards gone bad, and they couldn't mail me one until the next shipment came in. This sounds truly bizarre to me--if I can get a Colorado drive from my local computer dealer, surely Gateway isn't on allocation. If they are NEW drives, that is. Does anyone know the scoop on that? I don't want to create the impression that Colorado is God's gift to tape backup. They are pretty slow. But they seem to have a somewhat better durability record than the CMS drive. Cay
stone@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Glenn Stone) (04/09/91)
This is a summary of responses about Gateway2000 computers. One person
informed me that a summary had been posted before, but I'm posting this
anyway because there is a lot of interest in these systems. Raymond Chen
sent me a list of postings on this topic, which I have included in part
at the end of this summary.
Gateway2000 systems enjoy a generally good reputation among owners. The
two areas which draw some fire are the hard disks and access to tech
support, although most like the support once they get through. I asked
two of the people who had hard disk trouble what kind of disks they
were; both were Seagates.
The first response is the only horror story.
Glenn Stone
-------------------------------------------------------
From: bt garner <bt@eng.auburn.edu>
OK, here's my horror story regarding Gateway2K. ... .
I purchased a 386/20 Machine from them about 1.5 years ago, and quite frankly
the first year was hell. The machine was supposed to have come equipped with
an 80Meg hard drive, it didOB not. They had placed a 40Meg drive in it (all
the documentation, and even the "official system verification checklist" had
it marked as an 80, I wonder how many people got ripped off that way?). After
dealing with their Tech Support line (several calls to *convince* them that
it was THEIR error), I was promised a replacement drive (which was supposed
to have been formatted and partitioned at the factory) which was defective.
Again sever calls to tech support to get another 80M drive out. It took
about 10 days from the time I received my computer til the time I got it up
and running...
...my 1.44M floopy drive would only recognize 720K floppies
...I had the wrong type of disk drive. A replacement came, same problem...
...they sheepishly admitted that my motherboard was an old model that
couldn't handle 1.44Meg floppies. A replacement mother board was send that
had defective memory chips...finally a third mother board was send out.
This one had another problem (I still don't know what it was). I finally
took the memory chips out of the third board and put them in the second one,
...So, during the first year, my computer was down for about 20% of the time
...Now, with this in mind, I will say one thing, since I have gotten (finally)
the system that I paid for, and got it all set up (correctly), I have had
no problems with it. However, I would refuse to do any further business
with Gateway2000, and as an independant consultant (recommending systems
and software) I would NEVER, under ANY condition recommend Gateway.
From: Neil Greene <neil@ms.uky.edu>
I am a happy owner of several of Gateways machines, towers and desktop models
(25 and 33MHz machines) and have had no problems with them.
We did have a problem with a bad hard disk, but Gateway shipped us a new one
in 2 days time and I installed it that very day. There service technicians
have been very helpful even during over the phone conversations, walking you
thru every troubleshooting possibility.
From: TPMONAI@MARS.LERC.NASA.GOV
I know of 12 people here at Analex, NASA LeRC and Boeing Computer Services
who have bought Gateway 2000s in the last two years. I bought mine last
month. Everyone I know is very happy with Gateway. My Gateway worked
fine, right out of the box, as did everyone elses.
From: eda@persoft.com (Ed Almasy)
I, and six of my co-workers/friends have purchased Gateway 2000 386
systems, and as far as I'm aware nobody has any complaints.
From: ebker@software.org (Keith Ebker)
I currently own 2 Gateway 2000 machines. My oldest one is a
15 month old 386SX system with SVGA, 65 meg hard drive, both floppies,
Crystal Scan monitor w/512k and 4 megs RAM. My newest is their
386/33 cache system with 8 megs RAM, 200 Meg hard drive, both
floppies, Crystal Scan SVGA (non-interlaced) with 1 meg video memory,
MS mouse, and their 2400 baud internal modem.
I have been *very* pleased with these Gateway machines and with
Gateway in general. I have had _NO_ problems with the machines. My
only complaint is that sometimes it takes awhile to get through to
tech support, BUT they have great tech support hours and have been
able to answer all of my problems/questions.
If you do order their machines (and I recommend that you do) just add
two-three days to their delivery date. From my experience, and that of
my friends, they are usually optimistic by about two days!!!
From: Mark Kern <mek4_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu>
I have a Gateway 386 system, and I am one of those users who "love" it.
I've had no problems, and my salesperson was both knowledgable and curtious.
I called several computer companies, and most representatives were incorrect on some basic terminology, or down-right liars. For instance, Zeos insisited that there was no such thing as a trinitron tube (like the Sony I'm using now), and
tried to sell me their monitor, which they said would be just what I wanted.
When I asked if it was non-interlaced, they fed me some baloney that I would
never be able to tell the difference. When I said I could, they didn't believe
me.
There is one problem with Gateway, technical phone support. It can take
a long time to get through to them, but they have always been good about
calling me back. This is one aspect that Gateway really needs to work on.
BTW, the problem I had was not with the computer, it was with a virus I had.
Even though it was not a hardware problem, Gateway told me exactly what to do
and helped me get the software I needed to solve the problem.
P.S. In the Zeos case, I called several times to different reps, all were
marginal to incompetant. If you don't get Gateway, definitely don't
get Zeos.
From: n-dillier@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
About 11 months ago, my wife and I bought a 386/33 loaded to their
(then) standard specs. They delivered it within the period they specified;
however, internal delays were caused by the lack of the standard monitor.
In order to ship on time, Gateway upgraded the monitor from whichever
crystalscan model it was to the NEC 3D. Whereas this monitor was an
optional upgrade for $100 extra, we were not charged.
The computer worked right out of the box, with no hassles. Some months
later, however, we started to get a "disk cache shadow ram error." Since
it was no big deal, I basically ignored it. For several months.
However, the realization that our one-year warranty was about to expire
made me decide to take care of it. Dealing with Gateway's service people
meant dealing with pleasant, informed technicians. The tech I spoke to
decided that the cause was either the hard drive controller card itself, or
the motherboard; we first tried swapping out the controller with one they
sent fedex. No go. So an on-site motherboard swap was authorized using a
TRW technician. Everything went smoothly. End of problem.
It took about 4 days to receive the motherboard and make arrangements
through TRW. Since this problem concerned a home-use, non-business machine
which was functional throughout the period until the technician arrived, I
don't know if the total response time would be less for a computer in a
critical business application.
In all, I have been EXTREMELY pleased and very satisfied with the
company. I have had little need for their service reps; our computer is
quite reliable. In talking with a tech rep about math coprocessors,
however, I learned that the Cyrix chips are incompatible with the
motherboards/roms they use. I suspect that calling Gateway while
contemplating add-ons will help avoid costly mistakes.
I have no hesitations in recommending this company to anyone. If we buy
another dos box, it will certainly be through them. I just hope they move
to an EISA bus system by the time we are in the market again.
From: rgreen@cs.widener.edu (Randy Greenspon)
I currently own a Gateway 386/25. I have owned it for a year without
any problems. If you have any questions I will be happy to answer them,
I do recomend Gateway to people.
From: kabra437@pallas.athenanet.com (Ken Abrams)
This, like lots of other questions, has been asked and answered 100
times on the net in the last 6 months alone (and has been summarized
at least 20 times too). The summary of the summaries is that the
responses seem to run about 100 to 1 in favor of Gateway.
There have been a few negative comments but VERY few, both in sheer
numbers and in relation to the number of negatives expressed by
owners of other well known clones. Go for it!
(Yes, I am a satisfied Gateway owner).
From: dlm@dlogics.dlogics.com (DAVE MAUSNER)
I bought a gateway2000 386sx in the standard config of the time (a year ago):
2Mb + 65Mb + 2 flops. Today the same machine is $200 cheaper and you get 4Mb,
and faster, smaller HD (40Mb).
Anyway, can I use a 4-letter word? I l*ve my 386sx. You cannot beat the package
for performance/price ratio. The Tatung OEM monitor ("Crystal Scan") gives good
video, IMHO; the OEM VGAWonder board is a reliable, if controversial, choice.
I only had to call the service hotline once, to obtain PROM config settings
that were not doc'ed in the DTK motherboard manual.If you don't use the machine
as a punching-bag it will doubtless run until the dawn of the next century.
My office buys these machines, my friends buy them; I recommend them. Don't
hesitate just because a net-bozo flames out.
From: "Olynyk, Roman J." <ROMAN%WVNVM@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu>
I got the 386-25 Mhz Gateway last November and am very satisfied with
the hardware. The hardware has had no problems. QAPLUS diagnostic software
that came with the system benchmarks its performance as quite high, better
than an IBM PS/2 model 80. The Diamond Speedstar super VGA graphics card
with 1M memory allows me to do all the graphics I desire.
A co-worker, who got the same machine I did, had monitor problems last month.
Gateway sent a service rep to his home, and he replaced the power supply,
graphics card and monitor -- the shotgun approach to fixing an unknown problem,
but a nice touch.
From: gould@pilot.njin.net (Brian Jay Gould)
Our office has about a half dozen Gateway 2000s from SX16 to DX33.
We have had a few problems with the hardware in the early days, but
everything was resolved to our satisfaction.
From: dag@persoft.com (Daniel A. Glasser)
I have a Gateway-2000, (33 MHz 386) and am pretty happy with it.
From: "T.C. Zhao" <svec5@Menudo.UH.EDU>
Well, I bought a Gateway 386 about one year ago
(33Mhz, ATI 1024, 150M HD, 4M RAM) and NEVER had
ANY problem with this machine. I am extremely satisfied
with the machine.
From: raymond@math.berkeley.edu (Raymond Chen)
S: Computer, Gateway 2000
R: MHS108@psuvm.psu.edu (Mark Solsman) 9 Apr 90
>There [sic] salespeople are fantastic!
R: yjkim@milton.acs.washington.edu (Yong Kim) 7 Apr 90
>Their salespeople don't seem to be great, but their computers are good.
R: keegan-edward@cs.yale.edu (Edward Keegan) 9 May 90
>PC Resource magazine rates the Gateway as a best buy in the May 1990 issue.
R: kens@hplsla.HP.COM (Ken Snyder) 27 Jun 90
>about a gazillion people have bought Gateways and 99.9153% of them are
>happy customers. I am included in this group.
R: torkil@psivax.UUCP (Torkil Hammer) 20 Jul 90
>It is great. Telephone service is difficult to get, like with all mail
>order places.
R: verket@venice.SEDD.TRW.COM (Paul Verket) 24 Jul 90
>We bought a 33MHz 386 ... and it has worked very well. My only complaints
>were a case that was sloppily put together and an off brand of hard disk.
R: fs@uwasa.fi (Filip Sawicki) [summary] 24 Jul 90
>In all of [the replies] opinions were absolutely positive.
>[Though a common complaint was that some troubleshooting was necessary,
> but technical support was very helpful.]
R: jsims@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (J. Robert Sims)
R: kens@hplsla.HP.COM (Ken Snyder) 16 Oct 90
>Gateway is THE most customer oriented mail order company I've ever
>dealt with. They have bent over backwards
>and done things for me that I consider to be above and beyond the call.
R: gould@pilot.njin.net (Brian Jay Gould) [positive] 19 Oct 90
>Very few problems. Tech support is above average.
R: lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Greg Lee) 6 Nov 90
>Aside from the fact that it is not working right now, I have some minor
>reservations about the system.
R: dve@mace.cc.purdue.edu 7 Nov 90
>I'm having very bad luck with Gateway 2000.
R: bicker@cbnewsi.att.com (Brian Kohn) 7 Nov 90
>Most of the comments, including my own, have been overwhelmingly positive.
R: brian@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Brian Hoffman) 7 Nov 90
>I received about 20 responses from satisfied Gateway 2000 customers and
>only one are two negative reviews.
R: ESR@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU (Ed Russell) 7 Nov 90
>September 25 issue of PC Magazine [contains a survey of Gateway owners]
S: Re: Gateway 2000 [another positive vote]
R: rmf@bpdsun1.uucp (Rob Finley) 9 Nov 90
>I recommend them. The other's aren't necessarily worth the extra cost.
R: draper@buster.cps.msu.edu (Patrick J Draper)
>[a friend] Gateway Fed Ex'd a new monitor the next morning at their cost.
>He didn't even have to return the defective monitor first.
R: tdtyl@hubcap.clemson.edu (theodore d taylor) 11 Dec 90
>I am quite impressed with one exception:
>Occasionally I get a HDD failure on startup.
>Technical support is great, though it may take some time to get through.
R: afzal@cui.unige.ch (Afzal Ballim) 12 Dec 90
>I think the Gateway is a great machine, and would thorougly
>recommend it to anyone.
R: tedyoung@panix.uucp (Ted Young) 15 Dec 90
>Although they advertise on-site repair along with overnite
>replacement parts, they neglect to say that it can take 4 days for it to
>get out the door!
>you can bet Gateway2000 won't be getting my recommendation.
R: clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long) 16 Dec 90
>I've had absolutely no problems with them, and ditto for most of the
>people I've talked to.
Q: csran@warwick.ac.uk (Mr S J Russell) 28 Nov 90
R: ekman@wdl1.wdl.loral.com (Donald Ekman)
>I would certainly buy again from them.
R: uunet!hub.ucsb.edu!6500boo%ucsbuxa (William Bushing)
>Based on what I've seen and heard, I don't think you can go wrong with Gateway.
R: uunet!waii.COM!rob (Rob Freyder)
>A Great Machine. Go for it.
R: uunet!iti.org!john (John Sauter)
>I am really pleased with the product and the prices.
R: uunet!bighorn.uswest.com!rml (Robert Lund)
>I have been very satisfied with their system and service.
R: joec@Morgan.COM (Joe Collins) 28 Jan 91
>So far I am quite happy.
R: arc@reef.cis.ufl.edu (Anthony Cherry) [summary posted] 5 Feb 91
>I'll be glad to offer further help if anyone needs it, just mail me
R: jin@spdcc.COM (Jerry Natowitz) 6 Feb 91
>I love it. I feel that Gateway gives you about the best bang for the buck.
>Though I feel they are getting sloppy. I did not receive all the manuals, etc.
R: neil@ms.uky.edu (Neil Greene) 24 Feb 91
>I have contacted this company several times, concerning parts, and each time,
>new parts have arrived over night.
R: kaufman@eecs.nwu.edu (Michael Kaufman) 3 Mar 91
>Almost everyone (~20 people) I know that has purchased a Gateway computer
>has been sorry in the long run. I would strongly advise against Gateway.
R: 6500boo%ucsbuxa@hub.ucsb.edu (William Bushing) 3 Mar 91
>I'm not in the least bit disappointed.
R: philhowr@unix.cie.rpi.edu (Bob Philhower) 3 Mar 91
>I have mixed feelings. Their tech support lines are always busy; once you
>get through, they are helpful and send out replacement parts before you send
>back the old one.
R: labraham@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Lisbi Abraham) 3 Mar 91
>I bought a Gateway 386sx and I love it. I've gotten great service from them.
>The only problem is that when you call for service, you end up waiting a lot.
R: pbanerji@libserv1.ic.sunysb.edu (Pratip K Banerji) 4 Mar 91
>I haven't had a problem with them. Great machines, a wonderful repair policy,
>and great customer support.
R: psm@manta.nosc.mil (Scot Mcintosh) 4 Mar 91
>I bought one of their 486/25 systems and consider it to be a phenomenal deal.
R: bollard@hpspkla.spk.hp.com (Lee M. Bollard) 4 Mar 91
>Gateway is a good company with a good product. The only problem is
>getting ahold of tech support. They normally have to call you back
>(which they DO). They are very helpful and federal express the parts if
>replacements are needed.
R: smsmith@hpuxa.acs.ohio-state.edu (Stephen M. Smith) 4 Mar 91
>You can't go wrong with Gateway.
R: wjyoung@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Bill Young) 4 Mar 91
>I have had no problems at all. They are a very good company.
R: OOGLA@VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU 5 Mar 91
>They have lifetime toll-free tech support (it does get busy sometimes, taking
>as long as 20mins, but they will call you back if you don't want to wait).
>And if anything breaks on your system, they will send you a replacement
>NEXT DAY AIR with only a credit card number (in case you don't mail the
>defective part back to them).
R: horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) 8 Mar 91
>I have had some pretty depressing problems with my Gateway 2000 system.
>The motherboard and the tape drive both broke, 6 months or so after the
>warranty expired. They weren't helpful, and it was an expensive mess to
>fix. There were a number of other problems with the machine too.
R: jc58+@andrew.cmu.edu (Johnny J. Chin) 9 Mar 91
>DO NOT BUY THEM! ... I have heard from too many people that they are CHEAP,
>in price as well as quality. Many of them had problems with right out of the
>box. My friends, said that they will never buy one from them again.
R: wk0x+@andrew.cmu.edu (William Stephen Kish) 9 Mar 91
>I have a Gateway 2000 i486. The only problem was solved via FedEx.
>Their service is outstanding. I have never had ANY compatibility problems.
>I use DOS, Windows, and Mach. I recommend Gateway 2000 without hesitation.
R: v053qgzj@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (David M Snyderman) 10 Mar 91
>The quality for the buck is unmatched, but tech support is tremendously
>overloaded. Buy them if you don't expect to need a lot of tech service.
>All of the components seem to be of high quality.
R: gcook@horus.cem.msu.EDU (Greg Cook) 10 Mar 91
>My Gateway has been up and running for two years without a hitch.
R: klf1305@chensun1.tamu.edu (Kelly L. Fergason) 10 Mar 91
>I am in a classroom with 19 Gateway 2000 386-20's. Except for one thing,
>I believe we got a very good deal. (Faulty hard drive.)
R: am42+@andrew.cmu.edu (Alexander Paul Morris) 10 Mar 91
>Most people I know (and myself) have been very pleased with Gateway.
>A shipping error was corrected via FedEx.
R: neil@ms.uky.edu (Neil Greene) 10 Mar 91
>I am pleased with Gateways service and machines.
R: horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) 10 Mar 91
>The consensus seems to be that Gateway has been cutting a lot of corners,
>cheap parts, less than professional assembly...
R: bicker@cbnewsi.att.com 11 Mar 91
>It has performed flawlessly, except under Windows, when it hangs
>sporadically while running my BBS. But that might be my BBS' fault.
R: eda@persoft.com (Ed Almasy) 12 Mar 91
>Of the seven friends that have Gateway 2000 computers,
>NONE of them have had ANY problems.
R: horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) 14 Mar 91
>Count mine against as well. Some of us Gateway users had grief, in my case
>expensive grief. Once the warranty is over, there is little Gateway will do.
>When something fails [after one year], that is your problem, not theirs.
>In all fairness, that is typical in the business.
R: casey@gauss.llnl.gov (Casey Leedom) [summary posted] 14 Mar 91
R: bobf@intermec.UUCP (Bob Folline) 14 Mar 91
>They guarantee that if for any reason you are dissatisfied within 30 days
>of purchase you can return the unit for a full refund. The only thing it
>will cost you is the shipping.
R: mmshah@athena.mit.edu (Milan M Shah) 15 Mar 91
>I had a sour experience with Gateway myself, way back in summer 1988.
>I told the tech I was fed up. They refunded my money with no trouble, but it
>did cost me shipping.
>My opinion of Gateway: They are a screwdriver technology company, and I
>believe they change their vendors more often than their proverbial underwear.
>However, their honesty and their understanding that to stay in business they
>must make sure that customers are satisfied and must not, under any
>circumstances, be antagonized, has gone quite a long ways to build a
>reputation.
>So, if you buy from them, you will probably end up with a 'cheap' machine,
>but chances are very high that you will not get burnt, money wise.
R: stephenc@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Stephen Chung) 16 Mar 91
>I have a Gateway 25MHz 386 and there is *ABSOLUTELY NOTHING* that I
>am not satisfied with. It did not give me any problems at all.
R: kodiak@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Bryan Nehl) 16 Mar 91
>We have 4 386 gateways at our site. The two that are older
>386-20's we have had lots of problems with. Basically *everthing* has
>been replaced in these machines at least once. But the two new ones that
>are 386-25's have been running perfectly with no problems at all. From
>looking at them I think the new machines are a lot nicer quality machine.