Why hurted Gateways reputation long time ago?

Hello,

I swear, everyone told me not to ever buy Gateway's computer. That was couple years ago. But, I never understood why people wanted to avoid buying Gateway's computer at all cost. Now, Gateway has one of the most powerful and cheapest laptop. Can someone explain?

Thanks.

 

I heard that the eMachines were the PC's to stay away from and that Gateway computers overheat to fast. Not quite sure if this is true, though.

 

Yea i heard emachines too, but i heard they use crap PSUs and after the stock psu from the emachines i had fried my mobo, i believed it.

 

i always heard bad stuff about emachines too.
as far as gateway i think they're okay. you can always ask around in the gateway thread and do reviews

 

Companies change. Gateway almost went bankrupt a year or so ago, if I'm not mistaken; they certainly couldn't keep getting away with shoddy products.

The eMachines model quickly went out of style as consumers become more and more knowledgeable of what they're buying. eMachines was just BLEH...

One reason the Gateway PFX-blah-blah is so cheap is because it's a stock configuration that Gateway can mass produce. There's no customization as offered by brands like Dell and Sager. A couple of the drawbacks of the Gateway are the lower-res screen (unchangeable) and the processor (easily remedied). It's still a pretty awesome deal, especially the refurbs that are priced below $1k; I don't think anyone who bought one would be dissatisfied with their purchase.

 

you can change the screen?

 

I don't get it - the P-7811FX has a 17" WUXGA 1920x1200 LCD panel, as does the Dell XPS M1730, as well as the Alienware M17x.

I'm curious as to what exactly you're basing your comments on?

Add to that, others have mentioned that changing the CPU on the P-7811FX is relatively trivial, and you could probably get it for less than what Dell or others would be charging!
It comes with a P8400, Dell's default is a T8300, but isn't even 1066mHz FSB, like the P-7811FX.
The Dell and Alienware don't even HAVE a Centrino 2 CPU option yet, although I'm unsure if P-7811FX is a true Centrino 2 solution.

P-7811FX also comes with 4GB of DDR3-1066mHz RAM, the Dell and Alienware both use DDR2-667.

I think a little more research was in order, before you made those comments.


T

 

I think he was basing his comments on the pre-7811FX era

 

I would assume so...
But that era has already ended - definitely a sign that more research was in order!

What's being sold NOW is the P-7811FX!

T

 

Quoted for the truth.

 

And what, exactly, was the point of this thread?

So far the only thing I've seen is a bunch of "I heards" and a blurb quoting mis-information.

 

Not sure if anyone said this but I'm pretty sure Gateway was bought by Acer a few years back and thats when it started to turn out good gaming computers. Regardless, the one consistent thing about them is that their customer service blowssssss (one man's opinion).

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/08/27/Gateway-brand-to-expand-after-Acer-purchase_1.html

 

low-pricing and great support, do NOT go hand-in-hand.
SOMETHING'S gotta give.

Maybe now that they are going retail-only, and seem to be upping the support, it will improve.

Time will tell.


T

 

Until 2001 Gateway was a large and profitable producer of reasonably reliable computers. Unfortunately, Gateway never was internally very efficient, and burdened with the overhead of both 300 or so Country Stores and also an expensive California headquarters, simply was outcompeted by Dell on price.

As Gateway floundered, they began to cut corners in a desperate attempt to get new product out--including a whole new line of plasma TVs and other consumer electronics. Finally, when Gateway purchased emachines, they switched over to emachines suppliers and let emachines management run the company.

In my humble opinion, emachines notebook ODMs did not produce very reliable notebooks (although some were very powerful for that era).

Now Acer owns the Gateway brand and has dumped Gateway direct sales. Expect Acer to position the Gateway brand to achieve optimal profit. How they do this, of course, is up to Acer.

 

By laying off people at Gateway call centers. The call center in Sioux City, SD has been in the local paper a few times in the past year or so because of the announced layoffs at that call center. Acer first announced they weren't going to layoff any Gateway personnel when they bought Gateway. I'm sure Acer is doing the same thing at other Gateway buildings. Really what did they expect...they had to reduce overhead somehow. It's better for the company in the long run and I guess another reason for the layoffs was the shift to indirect retail sales.

 

its true. they only last for 6 months. sorry guys.

the screen is fine on these, you have to take the time to calibrate it with NVIDIA control panel and use the most of digital vibrance.

 

Well I have had a "old" 6831-FX since it first launched and it runs as cool now as when it was first brandnew.Lasting 6 months I don't think so,I have used mine daily for almost a year with absolutely NO problems,and thats with some heavy duty gaming(6-8 hours at a time)
Gateway has come a long way and now make quality products.
The only upgrade I did was install a T9300 and everything runs fast and smooth.

 

Umm dude he was talking about the old eMachines desktops and laptops...just saying

 

Just to clarify . . . my Gateway 310 Desktop has gone four years without a single hardware failure. Gateway has produced quality product, and I apologize if I was too rough on Gateway and their ODMs regarding reliability.

Regarding Gateway's tarnished reputation, as they continued to lose money in the early 2000s, they sought to reduce costs by outsourcing tech support and repair. I am not here to knock outsourced tech support per se, but like any change made under fire, they clearly could have handled the transition better.

 

All i am saying is Gateway has come a long way DUDE!
And if you can carry a guitar you can carry this laptop.

 

I have a Gateway E-4600 Desktop and its still chugging there. Im pretty sure this computer is 8+ years old and it is the only computer I have.

Intel Pentium 4 1.5GHz
256MB RAM
32MB Matrox Millenium G450 Dualhead
20GB Harddrive.

****. I need an upgrade.

 

He was talking about the e-machines line and that's still a ridiculous thing to say. I'm sure all the people still using their emachines from years ago, including my roommate and her brother will be surprised to hear their machines only last 6 months!