![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Wednesday, September 14, 2005
- Author:
- Jason Wall
- Editor:
- Chris Morley
- Google +1
Gateway FX400XL Evaluation
Gateway's latest swing at the high-performance system industry comes packing the punch of Intel dual-core technology, a 6800 Ultra, and 5.1 surround. Does this system have a glass jaw or is it a contenderNULL
Part I - Product Overview: Purchasing, Packaging, and Presentation
Gateway, Round 2
The FX400XL is rather similar to the 9310XL with a few modifications. Primarily, the CPU is a dual-core Intel Pentium D 3.0Ghz, compared to the P4 650 3.4Ghz reviewed in the 9310XL. The FX still has 1 GB of RAM, but it is clocked at 533MHz compared to the 400MHz RAM seen in the 9310. We were originally shipped the same monitor and 5.1 speaker setup as was the case with the 9310, but were later shipped upgraded versions of both during testing of this system.
The Gateway website hasn't changed much since the last review, with the exception of the addition of the FX400 line. The FX400XL represents the most enhanced system of the family, and, concordantly, it carries the most enhanced price tag. Although the price listed is $1,999, the system in this review is priced between $2,500 and $3,000, depending upon what service plan and software package was purchased. It should also be said that this is the last system that will be purchased via non-traditional means. From now on, systems will be ordered either over the phone, or through the OEM website. We are committed to providing you, the readers, with the full OEM purchase experience, and we feel the only way to do this is if we purchase the systems anonymously so we can experience everything a normal consumer will.
Going Shopping
I took two avenues when evaluating the experience of purchasing a new Gateway system. The first was the online interface over their website. If you know what you're looking for, and you know pretty much what you want in your box, then it’s easy to accomplish those things quickly and easily. However, if you're just shopping around and are hoping to get lucky by finding just what you need, you're unlikely to have a good experience going through their website. A novice could probably not go onto the site and purchase the correct computer for their needs. However, given a consumer that was recommended a certain model, or that has at least a modicum of computer knowledge, you will find that your selected computer can be customized to a great extent. If you're like me when you’re on the phone with a salesperson, you usually say 'no' to anything extra. If purchasing via the website, you're probably more likely to say 'yes' to some of the deals. With the online interface, you can also remove/downgrade some components to save a few bucks here and there. However, the pricing is geared towards making the consumer think that it’s a better deal just to get the more expensive component.
When I called up Gateway and stated that I was interested in buying "A new Gateway for my home or office," I was directed to a young woman named Jennifer. She asked about my computer needs. As a homage to FPS Doug, I said that I wanted a gaming machine that wouldn't lag. Although she found this a little bit comical, it should allow her to narrow the playing field. It was apparent that she didn't know Battlefield 2 from Tetris, but she was courteous and inquisitive. She ended up working around to the FX400 line, but did not immediately recommend the XL. By asking more questions about my storage needs and whether I wanted a larger monitor, it was obvious she was trying to differentiate between the different FX400 models. In the end, I think, more than anything, Jennifer wanted to make sure that I wasn't disappointed with my system's performance in gaming, so she picked the best computer that they build. In walking through the potential upgrades, she made recommendations, but she did not have detailed knowledge of some of the components, such as what the difference is and how much faster SATA 150 is than IDE, or if its better to have more RAM, or faster RAM.
Overall, the web experience is a very streamlined system that allows for upgrades, downgrades, and multiple options for different potential applications. The phone experience was satisfactory, but less than efficient. Although Jennifer was very nice and cordial, it’s rather exhausting going through all of the motions of selecting the right computer. The customization stage can be quite tedious, even for someone such as me who knew what they wanted before they picked up the phone. I was on the phone for 53 minutes, including 4 minutes of wait time. Much of that time was due to Jennifer looking through the specs for all of the systems they had to see if anything was a match for what I needed. I'm not sure if it was inexperience on her part, or a lack of organization within Gateway itself, but I'd like to see things become a little more streamlined on the front end so that the salesperson and the customer can get to the meat-and-potatoes of the issue more quickly. Although it sounds a little ludicrous for me to criticize them on being too careful in making sure they select the right package for my needs, it still felt very discombobulated throughout the process. I felt slightly distanced from Jennifer because she didn't know what a person needed in a system in order to game effectively. Perhaps Gateway should consider better education of its salespeople for all of the facets of computer usage including gaming.
You're Packed?
Many of the salient features of the Gateway packaging scheme were outlined in the previous review, so I'll just touch on some things that warrant some attention.
First, I feel I have to comment on the shipping of the speakers. Primarily, the box is just far too heavy. As you can see from the picture below, a rather rugged box has undergone some damage around the handles. The same is the case with the box that contained the tower. To me, this just indicates that the boxes are too heavy. Alternatively, possibly to an engineer, the boxes aren't strong enough. Either way, this seems sub-optimal. There was an improvement in the second shipment of speakers. There was no damage to the handles, although the box was still quite heavy.
The boxes themselves took a fair amount of abuse during the shipping process, and I'd like to highlight the excellent internal packaging job that Gateway did to protect the equipment. From the images below, you can see that there is a fair amount of clearance between the equipment and the box afforded by the packaging. The packing on both the original and the later speakers was outstanding.
The only exception that I would make is for the first monitor packaging. First and foremost, the box wasn't even taped. I had to ask Chris if he had already opened it. The Styrofoam regime they used was not impressive and I had some concerns as to how an item packaged such as this would fare in the shipping process when you consider the volume of hardware that Gateway ships. In contrast, the second monitor was shipped fully assembled (you had to connect the base to the neck on the first one) in an appropriately sized box with much better packing. However, on both monitors, the Styrofoam frame essentially only covered the sides of the monitor. Due to the uncertainty of shipping conditions and the trauma that a box could undergo, I'd like to see much more care taken to protect the LCD screen itself. As of now, a sharp object could pierce the side of the box and go right into the screen. Perhaps an additional piece of foam or hard plastic to protect the screen would be a wise move.
A Look on the Inside
Inside all of the boxes, there is a brief graphical flow-chart for setting up your PC, or setting up a particular component to run on your PC. I believed that I was given two identical instruction pages for the main CPU box, but one of them contained the extra step of creating your own Restore Disk while the other did not.
This made me think to ask if a Restore Disk was included. Sure enough...
We'd like to point out that this is an improvement made by Gateway since our last review. Although this is not a full OS, which of course is always preferred, this is definitely a step in the right direction. Thanks for listening, Gateway!
Among the accessories and peripherals included in the main CPU box, I wish to comment on just a couple of items. First, there is a short phone line included in the accessories box. While this is nice and unexpected, I can't help but feel like I should expect a CAT5 cable as well. With onboard 10/100 and this machine being geared towards high-performance, I'm not sure if it’s too much to ask to throw in an Ethernet cable so that the consumer doesn't have to buy one to get online. I think that we can also assume that a person that can afford the cost of this machine has probably already splurged for some kind of broadband. Also of note in the box is a sealed version of Microsoft Works Suite and all of the paperwork for the system, including warranty information and the manual.
The first speaker set utilized the red/black wire system that the user had to connect to the speakers and the sub-woofer manually. We were given mountains of this speaker wire, which is the same as what you would find in a home entertainment setup. All of the satellite speakers had notches in the base for wall mounting and the flow-chart graphic that was shipped with them explained the mounting procedure. The second speaker set (Logitech Z-5300e 5.1) also came with wall-mounting capability, but had an AV-type of connector that plugged into a color-coded port on the back of the sub-woofer. Assembly and setup of the Logitech speakers was far easier and faster. Both speaker systems came with a control that could adjust volume, sub-woofer, center channel, and fade settings. (More details on the speaker comparison and presentation to come in Part III.)
The final point for this section is a discussion of the monitors. First of all, these are beautiful LCDs. The colors are vibrant, images are crisp, and the adjustment controls are on the side - allowing for a clean display. While I thought that the first LCD (FPD1960) was good, the second LCD (FPD1975), which is available in an upgrade package, was even better in that it was adjustable. The neck has a spring installed that allows the display to be raised and lowered with the pressure of a single finger. The screen can also be swiveled from side to side about 45 degrees and tilted up and down about 30 degrees. The first monitor lacked all of these adjustment features. Below, the new monitor is on the left, highlighting its ability to raise and lower, and the original monitor is on the right.
However, I have to raise a small point, and it may be a detail that was overlooked by Gateway. All of the LCDs that can be purchased with the FX400XL have an analog (VGA) input, and all of the video cards in the FX400 family have an analog connector; all except the FX400XL, of course. The XL has a dual DVI output on the 6800 Ultra, which is fantastic if you have a single or dual LCD monitor setup. However, Gateway only shipped an analog cable, and was remiss in shipping any kind of adapter. In plain terms, given the equipment that was sent, it would be impossible to hook up the monitor to use the computer because the 6800 Ultra that the consumer paid for does not have an analog connection. Of course, one could use the analog connection that comes on-board every mainboard since the 1800's, but Gateway was user-friendly enough to block off that connection with a message that refers the consumer to the flow-chart graphic for monitor installation instructions, which you can see in the left image. To me, I see this as a significant failure on the part of Gateway to ensure that the product runs out of the box. The fact that even the new monitor did not include this component (whether it be a DVI cable or an adapter) only validates and exacerbates their failure.
Furthermore, it’s about time that Gateway offer the NVIDIA 7800 GTX in their top end system. The part has been on the market for a while, and other OEMs like Dell have begun to offer it. In Dell’s case, they even offer SLI (dual video cards working in tandem). While the 6800 Ultra is a fine card, if Gateway seriously wants to break into the high-end gaming market, a requisite step is being able to offer the best gaming components such as the 7800 GTX.