Gateway Quad-Core Compact Desktop

A word of caution to anyone hoping to snag one of these and do some upgrading.

I bought a very, very similar PC with that very thought in mind. While it has an open port, the way the interior is laid out ensures that you’ll never find a card that actually fits. Even laptop cards. You’re stuck with whatever this machine has in it for the life of the machine.

Great PC. But it is what it is.

5400 RPM drive is considered slow.

If you want to have a better computing experience (even for just using basic software like browsers), you might consider upgrading to a small SSD, as long as you can easily reinstall the operating system (which is not always the case).

The Mfg website specs are 7200RPM, but Woot’s posted specs are 5400.

Who is right: the OEM or the seller?

BTW My Friend, the Drive bays are occupied, so adding an SSD drive requires more skill than just dumping.

Gateway was acquired by Acer Inc. in 2007

Any help would be appreciated. I am looking to do just basic computing on this computer. Some business applications : Word, Excel etc… watch video streaming…social media…video conferencing Skype…web surfing things of this nature. No heavy games. Do you think this is a good system for what i am interested in using this applications or should I what wait for another computer value?

I’m happy Gateway has gotten better, as they flat-out lied to me when I had a national radio show during the dot-com era.

I covered tech and bought a Gateway specifically for digital audio recording (which was still a challenge back then).

Their unit made a buzzing noise any time the mouse was moved!

They claimed they had never run across it, but a quick check online revealed dozens of the same complaint about the same model.

If it hadn’t been for the nationally syndicated show, they would never have refunded my money. Haven’t touched a Gateway since then.

Try not to reward any company that is deceptive with further business.

My how times have changed! Your idea of “basic computing” includes some items that (not long ago or even now?) required pretty robust components. Basic used to mean word processing and checking email!

I’ll be interested in other responses. Good luck.

In short yes it is… form your description this will be very capable of handling what you intend to throw at it.

I agree so much I must jump in!
This is a very good deal on a computer that will exceed the needs of the majority of computer shoppers.

You are the consumer for whom this computer was created!

Amazon price is 439. Read the reviews there from people that actually own it.

It’s hard for the average user to ignore the Whiners on woot, but the whiners are not you.

Did the $500 include the price of buying a windows license?

Too bad this doesn’t come with a blu ray drive. I’d buy this in a heart beat if it did

>Gateway
>AMD
>6GB DDR3 on a desktop

LOL goodness. This is not just worth anyone’s hard-earned $350. Avoid.

What exactly is occupying the 3.5" bay?

How difficult is it to change power supply? 400 watt and which brand?

Experience with HP refurbs make this a way better deal. True, a nicely setup i5 is a pretty decent machine, but an HP refurb? YMMV.

This will work fine.

The hard drive. The 5.25 holds the CD-ROM.

I would not even go there. Space limits what you can put in the open PCI slot. If powered USB is a concern add an external powered USB bus, which is probably all this would ever need to run woot lights, powered keyboard, external UB drive, whatever.

If you are thinking about adding a GPU, many of these have a BIOS that will not let you shut off integral graphics, so if you don’t plan on using as-is then consider something else. Not meant to be brutal, but true.

Thanks, I use an asus laptop for my stay at home pc right now. I think this will do a great job, with less stress on the dell than on the asus. Can’t beat the price with all the features.