Gateway Services.

Well, whenever my mother gets the chance, I plan on obtaining the 7801u or 7805 (leaning towards the latter). The only thing thats holding me is how is Gateway Support Service/Building quality? And do they sent back up CDs and whatnot? I heard that they don't... just curious.

 

Their support: It sucks.

1) It is extraordinarily hard to contact someone who can help you.
2) Sending it in for repair takes 4-6 weeks before you get it back.
3) You can get it back with the same or more problems than before.
4) There's a good chance they will downgrade your screen to 1400x900 or change your hard drives to a larger size/smaller rpm, sometimes they will do it even if you specifically tell them not to.

Their build quality isn't the best but it is fine as long as you take moderate care of your laptop and don't drop it/spill on it.

Even with these two things, their laptops are such an amazing value that they're too good to pass up.

 

I'd have to disagree with your first point a little bit Jakamo, as I've always been able to talk to someone on the phone when I needed assistance and their e-mail response time is reasonable.

1) They do charge for recovery discs, but there's no reason for you not to do them yourself. I had no Gateway Recovery Management on my open box 7811, so they were nice enough to send me some recovery discs free of charge.
2) My CD-ROM failed me a couple of weeks ago and I contacted them about it. The only solution is to ship them my laptop for them to replace the optical drive; I asked if I could ship the drive only and they said it was not possible because it wasn't "user replaceable". They don't cover shipping fees, except when they send it back and I fear to ship them my unit since of the stories I've read like the swapped LCD that wasn't WUXGA.
3) The dead pixel policy is a minimum of 5 dead pixels.

I like the build, although the multimedia buttons are kind of unresponsive. The obvious fact is that Gateway makes the most amazing laptops for the price.

 

I haven't had any problems that required me to turn mine in (yet). Their build quality COULD BE BETTER, I think they are sleek little laptops, though holding it it just seems a bit flimsy around the screen area.

 

lucky you, I have to wait on hold 30 minutes before I get someone on the phone, and then I have to wait 30 minutes for them to transfer me to someone who can help. when I email them, they give me a number to call. when I call it, I have to wait 30 minutes... (you know the rest)

 

I just contacted their online tech system to ask for a new OS CD... mine came corrupted. Really nice people sending me another one complete with recovery (didnt ask for one)... told me that my refurb comes with a warranty up to 10/13/2009... more than 3 months.

 

I've never personally been impressed with gateways Customer Service. BUt saying that i've always had helpful people. They were almost worthless in their help, but they generally did want to try and help me so that gets them alot of brownie points

 

To be short, Gateway beat out HP for Worst Support in pc mags yearly review.

 

Nyah... this scares me.

Any other similarly 17" priced/value notebooks? Gonna broaden my choices before I make the final decision.

 

Ok, I have bought 5 of these Laptops, grated I know my way around computers so I have no need to call for support except for hardware issues, but I have not needed to call support once. Most computer support calls are due too user error or lack of knowledge, this site is better support than you could have from a company or buy. All of that being said, this is a great Laptop in its price range, or for that matter $2,000.00 range, I would not hesitate in recommending a Gateway FX of any model. Most hardware problems will happen within your 14 day return policy also.

 

i just got another ac adapter sent to me due to hissing issues with my current one. Told me to keep the old one and dont use it... so far 2 positive experiences with technical staffs for trivial items

 

the best alternative to a gateway would probably be a sager, although it will be pricier for the same specifications, you would be paying the extra money for some of the best quality and service available in the laptop industry. despite the higher price, it is still comparably a good value too, just not as good a value as a gateway.

 

Sager you would be sacrificing ALOT of features or giving up ALOT more money for the same general specs.

But you are getting a sager which is always nice (though the Arima is the current top dog of laptops)