Performance 933 a Beauty!!! (Gateway Performance)

Member Name: lankmasta

Product:	Gateway Performance
Date:	10/07/01 (585 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well kitted out, Good Software

Disadvantages: Short warranty

You're not the type to tinker and expand your PC--you want something you can plug in and start using, and you're more likely to replace it someday rather than upgrade it. If this description fits you, the Gateway Essential 933 is your kind of computer.

Out of the box, the Essential 933 includes a reasonable set of basic capabilities for its price tag. Along with a 933MHz Pentium III and 64MB of RAM, you get a 17-inch monitor, a DVD-ROM drive, and a nice set of speakers. In addition, this PC is very novice friendly. With a detailed instruction sheet, even newbies will have it up and running in minutes. Connections are color coded, and Gateway doesn't skimp on details like a phone cord and microphone. The manual is a generic book that covers all of Gateway's PCs, but it's thorough, well organized, and very accessible.

If you're looking for a computer for typical word processing, Web browsing, small-business accounting, and other basic applications, the Essential 933 will do the job, although rather slowly. Though the system sports a 933MHz Pentium III CPU, the processor better serves to provide a nice big number for Gateway's marketing department than as a real indicator of performance. In fact, a number of PCs running at a mere 800MHz bested the Essential 933 in our performance tests. (And we tested with 128MB RAM for benchmark consistency--this configuration is only available with 64MB. With less memory, expect performance to degrade even further.)

The lackluster performance is a result of a combination of factors. The Essential has no dedicated video card, instead using the video capabilities built into its Intel chipset. This provides enough power for typical productivity applications, but gamers and other power users will definitely be disappointed. Also, this model uses slower 100MHz memory; the pricier 933plus model uses faster PC133 RAM. Finally, the small Quantum Fireball hard drive is rather pokey.


As a DVD player, it performs admirably, although you'll have to drop the screen resolution to 800 by 600 or the DVD player shows only a black screen. The monitor has a 15.9-inch viewable area and looks good at 1,024-by-768 resolution; a low refresh rate at its top resolution of 1,280 by 1,024 makes viewing uncomfortable. The bundled Boston Acoustics BA265 speakers are better than you'd expect, providing surprisingly rich audio.

The compact case can be configured for either tower or desktop use. In tower mode, the CD-ROM (or, in our case, the optional DVD-ROM) drive is vertical, which forces you to set retaining clips every time you swap discs. The tool-free case is extremely easy to open. Inside, you'll find one available memory slot and two open PCI slots; all three drive bays are already filled. The PCI slots have very little room around them, and we couldn't even squeeze a half-sized SCSI card in the cramped case--the back of the case obstructed the card's bracket. There are five USB ports, two of which are used by the keyboard and mouse. Ports are otherwise limited to parallel and SVGA, with a serial port conspicuously absent.

Among the useful titles included in the software bundle are Microsoft Works Suite 2001 (which includes Word and Money), Quicken, and Norton Antivirus. The warranty only lasts a year.

Of course, if you're looking for expansion potential, Gateway has plenty of traditional full-sized models. But if you're looking for a basic system for productivity and family use, and price is more of a factor than performance, the Gateway Essential 933 fits the bill.

Summary: