Customer Reviews

Gateway 550GR Desktop PC (3.20 GHz Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading), 512 MB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, DVD+/-RW Drive, CD-ROM Drive)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've had the Gateway 550GR for about three weeks now, and I'm completely pleased with performance and, especially, value.

After all, this system has a LOT going for it: A fast processor, Pentium class, with hyper-threading; a rather large hard drive; a DVD writer plus a second CD-ROM bay; a good video card (the ATI Radeon X300 SE PCI-Express, with 128 MB of memory -- it's not top of the line but it's a good solid card for the average user or even the occasional gamer). All of this plus your basic software packages (MS Works, MS Money), trial versions and basic versions of a few others. The DVD writer (dual-layer capabilities, no less) and the large hard drive alone, at this price, make this unit a bargain. Another perk: a bountiful amount of USB 2.0 ports, onboard FireWire, and a multi-format multimedia card reader, built in.

If I had to name a flaw here, it's RAM -- the system comes with only 512 MB of RAM, which is really the bare bones for new systems today. 1 GB would have been a huge improvement. The system's mainboard is constructed to support RAM upgrades to 2 GB, but of course this is an added expense for the buyer.

Obviously, with emergent technologies moving at light-speed, soon this model will be outdated and outpaced. But for right now, it's one of the best bargains on the market.

I got my Gateway 550gr from Costco in Seattle, WA in 2005. It's now 5 years later and I still have it. After using it everyday (like over 1800 days straight), I've found that I've replaced just about every component in it over the last couple years. The problems slowly began in 2007 when my hard drive crashed. Some time after that the fans went out. This year the DVD burner died, then graphics card had issues (I'm not sure what was wrong with it so I replaced it with something better), then the power supply, then shortly after that the power button and finally now the CD ROM and the keyboard are now having issues.

Overall it's been a great computer the first two years and it's taken a lot of abuse, been left running constantly, survived a lot of long distance moving, it's been bumped around (not dropped though), it's survived many power outages and storms, and it's still going (well the motherboard and the CPU that is).

I've replaced the operating system (Windows XP that came with it) with Ubuntu 10.04 so it's running fast and can still do amazing things. This computer has a long life ahead though it's going to live it inside a new case with it's numerous upgraded components.

If you want something that's going to last a long time and that can be upgraded fairly easily, get a Gateway.

I've upgraded the RAM to 2GB, Power Supply to 500 watts and the video card to 256MB.

This will be good to go for a while still, although I am planning on adding an external drive to support the demands for vista.

This system modified as above rates as a 4.3 core for vista.

BTW, Vista costs way too much and is too demanding for most people's PC's,
and if you're looking for a new computer, I would suggest taking a look at a Mac before you make your decision, particuarly after the new Leopard OS X 10.5 is released.