horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) (03/08/91)
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. Jerry Pournelle and some mags wrote nice things about the Gateway, so they may not all be lemons. If you have any experience with those guys,` I'd appreciate any feedback. Please mail, I will post a summary. Thanx! Cay
cy5@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Conway Yee) (03/09/91)
In article <1991Mar8.011318.28717@mathcs.sjsu.edu> horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) writes: > >Jerry Pournelle and some mags wrote nice things about the Gateway, so >they may not all be lemons. The problem with most rags (esp. PC Magazine) is that they do not write bad reviews about anything. At worst, their reviews are middle of the road. I guess they can not afford to offend their advertisers. Conway Yee, N2JWQ yee@ming.mipg.upenn.edu (preferred) 231 S. Melville St. cy5@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (forwarded to above) Philadelphia, Pa 19139 yee@bnlx26.nsls.bnl.gov (rarely checked) (215) 386-1312
jc58+@andrew.cmu.edu (Johnny J. Chin) (03/10/91)
In summary ... I have to say DO NOT BUY THEM! ... I have heard from too many
people here (on campus) and back home in NYC who have bought a GATEWAY computer
because they are CHEAP. And that is exactly what they are ... CHEAP ... in
price as well as quality. Many of them had problems with right out of the box.
Things from not running protected-mode software properly (ie. freezing after a
few minutes) to system dropping dead altogether (things such as motherboards
and power supplies). My friends, who have used GATEWAY said that they will
never buy one from them again; and will spend a little more money and get a
much more reliable system.
I hope this will guide anyone of you planning on purchasing a new computer
someday soon.
__________ Carnegie Mellon University ___
/ \ / / /_/ / /\/
_/ / / / "Happy Computing ..." __/. /__ / / / / /
/ / / -- Computer Dr.
/ / Internet: Johnny.J.Chin@andrew.cmu.edu
/ ------- / 4730 Centre Ave. #412 BITnet: jc58@andrew
\__________/ Pittsburgh, PA 15213 UUCP: ...!uunet!andrew.cmu.edu!jc58wk0x+@andrew.cmu.edu (William Stephen Kish) (03/10/91)
Hello... I have a Gateway 2000 i486 box. The ONLY problem I've had with it was when my NEC 3D started flaking out on me after about a month. Gateway FedEx'd me a new one without any hassle. Their service is outstanding. I have never had ANY compatibility problems. I use DOS, Windows, and Mach, and my machine runs them all -- no protected mode problems whatsoever. I would recommend Gateway 2000 without hesitation. William Kish Carnegie Mellon University wk0x+@andrew.cmu.edu
gcook@horus.cem.msu.EDU (Greg Cook) (03/10/91)
From article <1991Mar8.011318.28717@mathcs.sjsu.edu>, by horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann): > 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 My Gateway 2000 has been up and running (hardly ever turned off) for two years now without a hitch! My experience with them back when I bought my machine was very good. They were a very good company to deal with. ========================================================================= Gregory R. Cook Chemistry IS life! Michigan State University Watch for the next generation of Enamines gcook@horus.cem.msu.edu coming to a Journal near you!
v053qgzj@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (David M Snyderman) (03/10/91)
In article <wbqJ5Sm00Wg1M8hdpI@andrew.cmu.edu>, jc58+@andrew.cmu.edu (Johnny J. Chin) writes... >In summary ... I have to say DO NOT BUY THEM! ... I have heard from too many I disagree-- buy them (as you will see below) if you don't expect to need a lot of tech service. >people here (on campus) and back home in NYC who have bought a GATEWAY computer >because they are CHEAP. And that is exactly what they are ... CHEAP ... in Disagree. I have had no problems with mine-- I've had it since the end of November. Everything has worked fine and all of the components seem to be of high quality: I've popped the top off several times and everything looks good to me-- by that, I mean that the boards are well constructed, well soldered (if you've done any soldering, even if you can't do it yourself, you recognize it when you see it), without kludged circuits. In addition, everything seems solid. >price as well as quality. Many of them had problems with right out of the box. >Things from not running protected-mode software properly (ie. freezing after a Haven't tried any OS/2 (is that what you mean by protected-mode?) but everything that I have tried, has run fine, including Windows 3 in 386 enhanced mode (I have an uncached 386-25). >few minutes) to system dropping dead altogether (things such as motherboards >and power supplies). My friends, who have used GATEWAY said that they will I would. I think the quality for the buck is unmatched. I think that any manufacturer is going to ship a few duds; just because your friends have gotten them does not imply that ALL the machines Gateway ships are of poor quality. I sympathize with your friends, but the general opinion of Gateway on the net has tended to be positive. >never buy one from them again; and will spend a little more money and get a >much more reliable system. > >I hope this will guide anyone of you planning on purchasing a new computer >someday soon. My complaint about Gateway: Tech support is tremendously overloaded. That's why I mention the caveat above about not needing a lot of support. If you are new to PC's and think that you need someone to guide you through a lot of the first few steps, maybe youshould stick to someone with empty, 24 hour support lines (Zeios or Northgate) or a local office (like your local Compuadd store). It should be noted that Gateway has promised (to me and others) that they are training many more support personnell. They are also (supposedly) considering going to a 24 hour support system. Another *big* plus for Gateway: they shipped exactly on time. With all the complaints about other mail order houses.... Also, keep in mind that Northgate is supposedly on shaky financial grounds. And who knows about some of the other fly-by-night firms? Enough commercial. For the record, I don't work for Gateway and do not intend to. David M. Snyderman V053QGZJ@UBVMSB
klf1305@chensun1.tamu.edu (Kelly L. Fergason) (03/10/91)
In article <wbqJ5Sm00Wg1M8hdpI@andrew.cmu.edu> jc58+@andrew.cmu.edu (Johnny J. Chin) writes: >In summary ... I have to say DO NOT BUY THEM! ... I have heard from too many >people here (on campus) and back home in NYC who have bought a GATEWAY computer >because they are CHEAP. And that is exactly what they are ... CHEAP ... in Well, I am sitting here in a classroom with 19 of the Gateway 2000 386-20's. Except for one thing, I believe we got a very good deal. The first batch of 7 had a Seagate 4096 80MB hard disk. I believe 5 were replaced. I cannot fault Gateway for the Seagates breaking down. Of the other 12, one hard disk has failed, and one floppy drive has failed (disk media change, and just out of warrenty :-( ). Kelly Fergason Chemical Engineering Texas A&M University
am42+@andrew.cmu.edu (Alexander Paul Morris) (03/11/91)
Most people I know have been very pleased with Gateway. I know because
I'm one of them. I just bought a system from them and it was flawless.
They did send me the wrong monitor, but they were really good about the
whole thing. I was sent the correct one, and they sent FedEx to my door
when I was ready to send out the old one! And if you do have problems,
they have excellent tech support as well as ON-SITE warranty (TRW comes
to your apartment if it can't be resolved by their tech-support).
Alexander Morris "People die, things change...
Carnegie Mellon It's sad."horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) (03/11/91)
In article <1991Mar9.000159.13295@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> cy5@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Conway Yee) writes: >In article <1991Mar8.011318.28717@mathcs.sjsu.edu> horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) writes: >> >>Jerry Pournelle and some mags wrote nice things about the Gateway, so >>they may not all be lemons. > >The problem with most rags (esp. PC Magazine) is that they do not write >bad reviews about anything. At worst, their reviews are middle of the >road. I guess they can not afford to offend their advertisers. > Especially those who buy those thick glossy pages... Have you seen Gateway's ads in PC Magazine? They are a far cry from those "cows and computers" ads they had two years ago. I got a few responses to my query, some of them stating "my Gateway runs fine..." and some stating "Mine doesn't and I know a bunch of other people whose doesn't either..." The consensus seems to be that Gateway has been cutting a lot of corners--cheap parts, less than professional assembly... That is all right--a lot of cheap clone makers do that. Nevertheless, I'd recommend that you go to your friendly neighborhood clone manufacturer if you live in an area with such enterprises. At least you can carry the broken machine to their doorstep if it fails and picket their store if they don't give you satisfaction. Cay
neil@ms.uky.edu (Neil Greene) (03/11/91)
I am pleased with Gateways service and machines. Enough said. -- Neil Greene --- University of Kentucky Mathmatics and Sciences University of Kentucky Computing Center neil@s.ms.uky.edu & neil@graphlab.cc.uky.edu (NeXT Attachments)
bicker@cbnewsi.att.com (The Resource, Poet-Magician of Quality) (03/11/91)
=> In summary ... I have to say DO NOT BUY THEM! ... I have heard from too many
=> people here (on campus) and back home in NYC who have bought a GATEWAY computer
=> because they are CHEAP. And that is exactly what they are ... CHEAP ... in
=> price as well as quality. Many of them had problems with right out of the box.
=> Things from not running protected-mode software properly (ie. freezing after a
=> few minutes) to system dropping dead altogether (things such as motherboards
=> and power supplies).
And I have had absolutely no problems like that with my Gateway. It has
performed absolutely flawless, except when I have Windows running, when
I experience sporatic occasions when the system locks up while running
my BBS. Serves me right for running such a home-grown piece of
software under Windows--it's not the fault of the Gateway.
I've received rather good service from Gateway, with the exception of
one or two occasions when I had to wait on hold for a little while.
So, I think your assessment is an isolated incident, like several other
incidents involving Gateway recently discussed. But just as in the
news, usually only the problems get notoriety. The reason why we see
more Gateway incidents than some others is because Gateway is one of
the best sellers. All-in-all, I bet Gateway does as well if not better
in terms of quality as any other clone manufacturer.
--
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
bicker@cbnewsi.att.com (The Resource, Poet-Magician of Quality) (03/11/91)
What was that? 8 votes for; 1 vote against? But who's counting?
;-)
--
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
eda@persoft.com (Ed Almasy) (03/12/91)
In article <wbqJ5Sm00Wg1M8hdpI@andrew.cmu.edu> jc58+@andrew.cmu.edu (Johnny J. Chin) writes: >In summary ... I have to say DO NOT BUY THEM! ... I have heard from too many >people here (on campus) and back home in NYC who have bought a GATEWAY computer >because they are CHEAP. And that is exactly what they are ... CHEAP ... in >price as well as quality. Many of them had problems with right out of the box. >Things from not running protected-mode software properly (ie. freezing after a >few minutes) to system dropping dead altogether (things such as motherboards >and power supplies). My friends, who have used GATEWAY said that they will >never buy one from them again; and will spend a little more money and get a >much more reliable system. This is ridiculous. Of the seven friends/co-workers of mine that have purchased Gateway 2000 computers in the past year, NONE of them have had ANY problems with their systems. To the best of my knowledge all of them have nothing but good things to say about Gateway 2000. Perhaps you've got Gateway confused with another company? Or maybe you're affiliated with some other computer manufacturer? :-)
horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) (03/14/91)
In article <1991Mar11.154133.20168@cbnewsi.att.com> Brian.C.Kohn@ATT.COM (bicker@hoqax.ATT.COM) writes: >What was that? 8 votes for; 1 vote against? But who's counting? > > >;-) > Count mine against as well. Seriously, a company would be in BIG trouble if more than a small fraction would call their product CHEAP (Brian) or POORLY ASSEMBLED FROM CHEAP PARTS (myself). Of course the failures are isolated incidents. I do not have the data on Gateway or other manufacturers on failure rates. I am happy to hear that you and others are satisfied with your machines--chances are excellent that they will give you trouble-free service for a long time. Nevertheless, some of us Gateway users had grief, in my case expensive grief. Once the warranty is over, there is little Gateway will do. They didn't service our tape drive which died--they had switched vendors in the mean time. (According to the guy I talked to, they had their share of problems with the vendor, i.e. their customers had that share of problems.) They didn't stock the DMA controller chip that failed on our motherboard, making a $100 repair into a $950 affair. As their glossy ads state, they are your friend in the business, but the friendship is strictly limited to one year. They are your acquaintance for a bit longer, as they will talk to you afterwards on their 800 line, but when something fails, that is your problem, not theirs. In all fairness, that is typical in the business. Cay
bobf@intermec.UUCP (Bob Folline) (03/15/91)
In article <1991Mar10.180547.2682@mathcs.sjsu.edu> horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) writes: >In article <1991Mar9.000159.13295@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> cy5@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Conway Yee) writes: >>In article <1991Mar8.011318.28717@mathcs.sjsu.edu> horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) writes: >>> >>>Jerry Pournelle and some mags wrote nice things about the Gateway, so >>>they may not all be lemons. >> >>The problem with most rags (esp. PC Magazine) is that they do not write >>bad reviews about anything. At worst, their reviews are middle of the >>road. I guess they can not afford to offend their advertisers. >> >I got a few responses to my query, some of them stating "my Gateway runs >fine..." and some stating "Mine doesn't and I know a bunch of other people >whose doesn't either..." The consensus seems to be that Gateway has been >cutting a lot of corners--cheap parts, less than professional assembly... > >That is all right--a lot of cheap clone makers do that. Nevertheless, >I'd recommend that you go to your friendly neighborhood clone manufacturer >if you live in an area with such enterprises. At least you can carry the >broken machine to their doorstep if it fails and picket their store if >they don't give you satisfaction. I would recommend you go to gateway and ask them about their guarantee. 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. Our company has many of the gateway 386/33 machines and is especially satisfied with them. The company is founded on mail order satisfaction and they will ship you a replacement for any defective component by FED next day air. They have in one case sent us an entire new central unit when the problem couldnt be found over the telephone. We have had a few monitor problems but both were due to shipping, (it seems), and both were concluded to our satisfaction. I contacted several other companies in the area and all were satified with the service and product. The mother board is micronix and well proven in the 386 and 486 systems. the components are all top quality. By the way when compairing with your local clone`s make sure they have fully configured systems. By the time I added in a good drive and monitor to what the locals were pushing I was well over the price of the Gateway system whic has an excellent drive. And the local was using a no name board in their product with a 24ms hard drive. A nice bottle neck for a 486 or 386/33 system. Another good source for a 386 or 486 is surprisingly COSTCO. They have a packard Bell FORCE system (Intel motherboard) for under $4000.00 in a full development system. good luck Bob Folline Disclaimer: My opinions cannot be bought or sold so Ill keep them myself!
mmshah@athena.mit.edu (Milan M Shah) (03/15/91)
If anyone is still interested :-) I had a sour experience with Gateway myself, way back in summer 1988. At the time, they were selling a 386 MB from some totally bizarre source; after confirming with the sales rep that it would run windows 386 (for which I was a developer), the machine basically barfed on all software that did anything past 640K. After wasting 29 days opening up the damn thing and replacing parts that had been fed-ex'd overnight (about 3 different HDs, VGA board, Memory board, everything but the MB), I told the tech I was fed up. They refunded my money with no trouble, but it did cost me shipping. (And please, DO NOT SEND ME MAIL INFORMING ME OF HOW *YOUR* GATEWAY 386 RUNS EVERYTHING JUST FINE. Please read my first line about a bizarre MB and the following paragraph). 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. Milan .
stephenc@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Stephen Chung) (03/17/91)
In article <wbqJ5Sm00Wg1M8hdpI@andrew.cmu.edu> jc58+@andrew.cmu.edu (Johnny J. Chin) writes: >In summary ... I have to say DO NOT BUY THEM! ... I have heard from too many >people here (on campus) and back home in NYC who have bought a GATEWAY computer >because they are CHEAP. And that is exactly what they are ... CHEAP ... in >price as well as quality. Many of them had problems with right out of the box. >Things from not running protected-mode software properly (ie. freezing after a >few minutes) to system dropping dead altogether (things such as motherboards >and power supplies). My friends, who have used GATEWAY said that they will >never buy one from them again; and will spend a little more money and get a >much more reliable system. 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. From what I heard, the favorable/unfavorable ratio (Internet, Magazines etc.) is about 50:1. Yes, I live in NYC, and all the people I know who have Gateways like it very much. I have never heard of Gateway computers being faulty right out of the box, at least so far. I suppose that the students in CMU are not using computers in the right way? - Stephen
kodiak@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Bryan Nehl) (03/17/91)
stephenc@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Stephen Chung) writes: >In article <wbqJ5Sm00Wg1M8hdpI@andrew.cmu.edu> jc58+@andrew.cmu.edu (Johnny J. Chin) writes: >> [ bunch of gateway horror stories ] >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. From >what I heard, the favorable/unfavorable ratio (Internet, Magazines etc.) >is about 50:1. Yes, I live in NYC, and all the people I know who have >Gateways like it very much. I have never heard of Gateway computers >being faulty right out of the box, at least so far. I suppose that >the students in CMU are not using computers in the right way? Currently 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. Bryan. /* === Bryan Nehl ========= kodiak@Kodiakpc.Manhattan.KS.US =======+ [ Software Engineer -- USDA -- WERU ][ bdn@chepil.weru.ksu.edu ] [ (913) 532-6233 or 532-6495 ][ kodiak@matt.ksu.ksu.edu ] +_________ ...!rutgers!ksuvax1!matt.ksu.ksu.edu!kodiak __________ */
rickc@pogo.WV.TEK.COM (Rick Clements) (03/17/91)
We have reciently ordered three machines. One is fine. One monitor has the jitters. The owner of that machine tried for a week to get though to their serivce department. I think he has given up and let the purchacing department try to get though to them. The third machine had the power supply go. He decided it wasn't worth the effort fighting with them. (Based on the experience the other person had.) He just call our PC repair department. As always, your milage may very. -- Rick Clements (RickC@pogo.WV.TEK.COM)
jc58+@andrew.cmu.edu (Johnny J. Chin) (03/17/91)
Excerpts From Captions of netnews.comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware: 16-Mar-91 Re: Gateway 2000 Computers Stephen Chung@cunixf.cc. (1244) > [ lots deleted ] >being faulty right out of the box, at least so far. I suppose that >the students in CMU are not using computers in the right way? > >- Stephen Stephen: Please do not "cast stones" at everyone in a computer community. We all know that some of us are better at computer than others. And I believe that I am one of them that knows these computer. I've been in this industry for quite some time, about 10 years. __________ Carnegie Mellon University ___ / \ / / /_/ / /\/ _/ / / / "Happy Computing ..." __/. /__ / / / / / / / / -- Computer Dr. / / Internet: Johnny.J.Chin@andrew.cmu.edu / ------- / 4730 Centre Ave. #412 BITnet: jc58@andrew \__________/ Pittsburgh, PA 15213 UUCP: ...!uunet!andrew.cmu.edu!jc58
davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) (03/18/91)
In article <1490@intermec.UUCP> bobf@orca (Bob Folline) writes: | >That is all right--a lot of cheap clone makers do that. Nevertheless, | >I'd recommend that you go to your friendly neighborhood clone manufacturer | >if you live in an area with such enterprises. At least you can carry the | >broken machine to their doorstep if it fails and picket their store if | >they don't give you satisfaction. Watch yourself on that one! I dealt for five years with a local clone maker, for the reasons you cite. I bought as a dealer, secure in being able to take the machines back locally. The sixth year he close his doors with no warning. Poof! Even large companies which advertise nationally can do that, but it's less likely. I would not buy an off brand motherboard unless I could afford to replace it if the support vanished. I use so no-names, but I do so only where I don't have to depend on repairs, and can afford to toss the part if I must. -- bill davidsen - davidsen@sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen) sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc and 80386 mailing list "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me
gp310ad@prism.gatech.EDU (ROBERT DUCKWORTH) (03/19/91)
My buddy has one. He has been waiting weeks for promised PAL upgrade.
(required to add memory)..........He has spent over 2 hours total on hold.
--
Bob Duckworth -everything you know is wrong-
Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, 30332
uucp: ...!{allegra,amdmhplabs,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!gp310ad
Internet: gp310ad@prism.gatech.edu 404-894-3890(o) 874-5051(h) 313-0095(m) horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) (03/19/91)
As you may recall, I posted a report on grief with Gateway a few weeks ago (fried motherboard and broken tape drive after 2 years of light to medium use, $1500 repair bill). Well, I bitched to one of their supervisors and after two weeks of discussing the matter with his superiors, he offered to send me a new tape drive (120MB Jumbo Colorado) for $200. I took him up on it. I just got the tape drive. NO DOCUMENTATION, NO BACKUP SOFTWARE, NO INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS. This is getting pretty ridiculous. Cay
jdb@reef.cis.ufl.edu (Brian K. W. Hook) (03/19/91)
In article <24578@hydra.gatech.EDU> gp310ad@prism.gatech.EDU (ROBERT DUCKWORTH) writes: |>My buddy has one. He has been waiting weeks for promised PAL upgrade. |>(required to add memory)..........He has spent over 2 hours total on hold. |> |>-- |>Bob Duckworth -everything you know is wrong- As far as I know, Northgate is the company that has implemented the "buy our PALs or don't upgrade your computer" concept. Read it in PC Sources letters column. Brian
edanlx3@venus.lerc.nasa.gov (Wayne Harris) (03/22/91)
In article <1991Mar14.045637.15262@mathcs.sjsu.edu>, horstman@mathcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) writes... >In article <1991Mar11.154133.20168@cbnewsi.att.com> Brian.C.Kohn@ATT.COM (bicker@hoqax.ATT.COM) writes: >>What was that? 8 votes for; 1 vote against? But who's counting? >> >> >>;-) >> >Count mine against as well. > >Seriously, a company would be in BIG trouble if more than a small fraction >would call their product CHEAP (Brian) or POORLY ASSEMBLED FROM CHEAP PARTS >(myself). Of course the failures are isolated incidents. I do not have the >data on Gateway or other manufacturers on failure rates. I am happy to >hear that you and others are satisfied with your machines--chances are >excellent that they will give you trouble-free service for a long time. > >Nevertheless, some of us Gateway users had grief, in my case expensive >grief. Once the warranty is over, there is little Gateway will do. They >didn't service our tape drive which died--they had switched vendors in the >mean time. (According to the guy I talked to, they had their share of >problems with the vendor, i.e. their customers had that share of problems.) >They didn't stock the DMA controller chip that failed on our motherboard, >making a $100 repair into a $950 affair. > >As their glossy ads state, they are your friend in the business, but >the friendship is strictly limited to one year. They are your acquaintance >for a bit longer, as they will talk to you afterwards on their 800 line, >but when something fails, that is your problem, not theirs. In all fairness, >that is typical in the business. > Count me against. We are now 3 for 3 in Motherboard replacemnts in our Gateway 2000s. Add in a 1.2 mg ESDI floppy, a controller card, and a 2nd MB replacement because one of the replacements was bad. Never Again. I would recommend Macintrash over Gateway, and I hate Macs. =================================================== = Why is it called "common sense" when so few = = people have it? = ===================================================
hp0p+@andrew.cmu.edu (Hokkun Pang) (03/22/91)
why is it that people either hate Gateway or love it to death? as a Gateway onwer, i think i'm being fair to say that "yes, Gateway computers are not of high quality, but that's a pretty good deal for the amount of money you paid".... although, if i can do it over again, i will spend a little more to get a better quality machine.