Why I hate Gateway

I have to say I am starting to agree wtih many of silverwolf's points.

Although my experience with customer service and tech support has been pretty darn good so far.

Originally my only real complaints were the heat on the left armrest and the low speaker volume during dvd playback...and the buzz when using headphones.

Now I've realized the keyboard is very insensitive to the touch...you have to put a lot of pressure down for each stroke to make it snappy.

In some spots it sounds like something is rattling now below the keyboard when I am typing.

I haven't tried to burn a dvd yet so I can't comment on that.

The armrest area scratches really easily just from my watch.

When the laptop is shut closed it really doesn't snap into place...it still wiggles with plenty of space for dust, dirt, or anything else to creep in.
It really does have a cheap feel to it after you get to know it a bit.

It seems my 1.73 Ghz with my 5400 100GB hard drive is not as fast as I had hoped...it will also hang up from time to time and I have to close programs in task manager to get it going again...to avoid this is why I thought I was upgrading from my old P4 30GB hard drive Toshiba notebook.

Yeah, it's a beautiful screen and a generally portable (fairly slim) 17" laptop, but really those are it's only true redeeming features.

yes at least someone aggres with me.

yea th3e gateway m680 is just crap crap crap crap crap. I would rather have anything but that shite notebook. Its just junky. Just sell it and buy a new notebook thats what i did.

gateway sucks

gateway sucks a$$ big time

Don't bash gateway. Quanta makes that one. Uniwill, Arima, Quanta, Gigabyte, Asus, and many other all have their moments.

Well, that sucks. I think most of the 74XXGX/M68XX/75XXGX users are happy. There were cracking hinge problems on early models, but it seems to be a done deal now. I'm pretty happy with mine. All ports work just fine, it burns DVDs just fine(not 1 coaster so far), doesn't get hot on the palmrest(I'm in a tropical weather and humidity has been on the low side for the past days).

Speakers aren't that good(can't even be compared to harman kardon ones on a Toshiba) but can be tolerated(I use a 2.1 Altec Lansing set though). It would be better if I could plug the my headphones/headset either in front or on the side.

moments

Gateway has moment every other tech support call, service, and in manufacturing. Gateway isnt in the same league as Asus, nor have I seen any gateway pentium laptops in working condition, they dont exist. You wont have a problem finding IBM laptops that old that still work. Gateway shovels cheap shit out the door to make a buck, bottom line.

Well, the old 405, 450 and 505 series were very good and were built by Wistron the very company who made many units for IBM.

I agree about their new series which are outsourced mostly by Arima. They tend to have more problems than good notes.

But it is not quite correct to say that GW never sold anything in good working conditions.

People experiences will vary and should not translate into one way of looking at things.

Regardless of GW quality bashing, one thing I would wholeheartely agree on is about their below STD customer services. They used to be pretty good 5 years ago.

Done

Gateway sells equipment thats built the to last a year tops. That says every thing about how the company as a whole and not to mention there lack support for what they sell. Laptops arent cheap and the joe that buys a laptop should get a fair product at a fair price, joe will most likely recieve a better product and service from one of the other top guys out there. Take your hard earned money elsewere kids, gateways prices are not that competitive anyway. I dont want to bash with a gateway sales rep tonight. Does any one have a pic of a working gateway pentium laptop? Done, flip this steak over.

Does anyone have a picture of someone who still wants to use a Pentium laptop? I haven't had a good giggle yet this morning.

Pentium 4 laptop is what you meant right? Because millions are wanting a Pentium M(Centrino Platform).

If so I'm with you. My neighbor has a P4 laptop and it runs so hot that you could trash many of your home appliances as it will take care of those functions as well. Boil water, heat up a room, fry some eggs, dry paint, etc.

The first thing I tell people NOT to go for on a laptop is a P4....

Need Your Comments On Gateway 3550gx

Hi there,

I just bought the 3550GX laptop and have 14 days to return it.

Can you please tell me what you folks think about it.

I bought it for $1299 Canadian (plus 15% tax).

The specs on it are:

14" widescreen
Centrino 1.7 Ghz
512 Mb ram
60 Gig HDD
32 MB video card
DVD Burner


I would LOVE your comments on whether or not this is a good notebook and worth keeping or if there will be further future problems I can expect because it's a gateway.

Thanks so much for your replies.

you can also reach me directly at: your_macdaddy@hotmail.com

That e-mail is checked 1000000x /day

betting

Im not a betting man, but i would bet within a year and a half something will break on that laptop and youll have a %60 chance of getting gateway to fix it. In reply top to the other post above, my grandmother is a preacher who has her 486 Laptop with win 3.11 perfect working order other than new batteries every three years, all she does is write her sermons on it. My Brother still has his IBM 166Mhz Laptop from college, works great! My Mother in law has the same IBM laptop, works great! I could not tolerate a Pentium that old my self but it sets the bar for what you should get from your purchase. If you like to bet, go with gateway.

There's a difference between using what you have and using what you want. I did specifically say someone who wants to use a Pentium laptop. Let your grandmother have access to a current model laptop and see which one she would prefer to use (truthfully of course, I know my grandmother would insist that the one she's got is just fine, but beneath all that you can tell what she really wants), then get back to me.

For as much extra money as IBM does and always has charged for their equipment, they better outlast everything else on the market. There was a time when you could buy three of anyone else's for one of a comparable IBM, and the pricing still isn't close enough today for me to justify getting the flat-out fugliest looking thing on the market today regardless of how long it will theoretically live. I'd rather buy two from a competitor and put one on standby and pocket the leftover savings from not buying an IBM. But, I would put up any Gateway desktop versus any IBM Craptiva sold during the same time period. These things were so crappy it's a wonder any of them even survived the shipping process. Not only that, but every time you called IBM for support on a Craptiva, their one and only answer, regardless of your problem, was "reformat and call back if it doesn't work", even if you were calling back for the fourth time about a station that wouldn't even turn on. I suppose who has the better longevity, durability, and support depends on your perspective and which models you're talking about.

BTW, my Dad has three Gateway servers and four Gateway desktops in production use at his facility that are 486's and Pentiums. He wants better but the company sees no need to replace what's working... no matter how slow they are.

I have had no problems with my 7405GX. No hinge crack, no problems playing games, no heating issues. It has been the most stable, solid laptop I have ever owned. It seems to me that "gxenakis" is trying to say that because he had one experience with Gateway that everyone else will have the same. That's not the truth. Sure, not every one has been happy with Gateway's tech support - but you can say the same about Dell, HP/Compaq, even IBM. The majority of people I've talked to that own an M680 like their machine, despite the claims of "silverwolf0" & "Laptop<3"

It's also futile to blame Gateway directly for many of the problems with its notebooks. The M68xx/74xx/75xx series are all made by Arima, not Gateway. So if there's a problem in manufacturing, it's Arima that has to actually do the repairs, not Gateway.

DieselGuy,

As far as should you keep the laptop or not, it depends on what you are using it for. It's a good model for internet browsing, writing papers/doing research, etc. - but not really suitable for gaming, as evidenced by the 32MB VRAM. If you're planning to use it for the former, then it is a good buy.

No deal

Sorry, but that’s not the way it works. If there is a problem with the laptop, Gateway is to be blamed (and rightfully so) and whoever the manufacturer is is irrelevant. Just like when you have a problem with your car. For example the X3 is built by Magna Steyr in Austria for BMW. So if you have a problem you will call Steyr? Do not think so.

If it says Gateway on the lid, it is Gateway’s problem. End of story.

He didn't say it wasn't right to blame them, he said it was futile.

2 gateways

Ive had two gateway laptops. A 9300 and an M675. Both have consistant problems with quality. Gateway has always had quality control problems with the products they sell. If some of those products are contracted out to another copmpany to save a buck and over 5 years they have yet to resolve the issues by contracting to someone else then obviously they dont care. They outsource their tech support to companies that get paid per call, they will hang up on you after 20 minutes whether or not they solve your problems. There are far better companies out there to deal with and spend your hard earned money on, I gave them two chances and next time I'll take my money to a more reputable company that carea to provide quality products and service.

I can't say Gateway doesn't have its problems, but I'm coming up short on a list of far better companies. Some will say IBM, but then my response would be that it's hardly reasonable to crack on Gateway for shortcutting to save a few dollars if you bought a Gateway instead of an IBM to save a few dollars yourself. I'm not convinced that any evidence of IBM's quality being that much higher than Gateway's is anything more than anecdotal; I've been less than impressed by the IBM products I've encountered.

I can guarantee that Gateway is far from alone in outsourcing the building and support of their products. Hardly any OEM makes anything of their own beyond motherboards and some specialized software. One thing you may not know about Gateway's outsourced support is that they do indeed get paid per call, but only the first time a call is placed an a particular issue. They have to support the second and all subsequent calls on the same problem for free. It is far from a wonderful system, but Gateway has at least made an attempt to put some responsibility on those outsourced companies. I do believe that the best move Gateway could make would be to bring its support staff back in-house. I mark the beginning of their outsourced support as the true decline of Gateway as a company.

If you've had problems with Gateway in the past and are determined to take your money elsewhere, that's perfectly OK. I can't say I'd feel any differently. I would strongly caution you to be careful in your quest for the greener grass, though. I deal with multiple PC OEMs on a regular basis, and the only reason I continue buying from any of them is because I simply do not have the time to whitebox those units myself. One OEM's weakness is another's strength, but not a single one of them is even approaching perfection.