Joel Strauch
Gateway 500XL
An entry in Gateway's midrange consumer line, our 500XL arrived with the company's handsome 15-inch FPD 1520 LCD monitor. Text looked sharp, but we were most impressed with the rich colors displayed in our photograph test and by the sharp, smooth playback in our DVD movie screening. Curiously, we didn't observe the oversaturated colors that showed up on another Gateway, the 700XL, sporting the same LCD monitor. (We checked all the settings and even swapped the monitors between the two systems, but the quality of each LCD didn't change.) The white-and-gray minitower case is solidly constructed and easy to work on without the need for tools. The side panel pops off easily, a single thumbscrew anchors a tab that holds the PCI cards in place, and sliding green tabs lock the drives in place. Adding peripherals is easy, too, thanks to the six USB ports (including two located on the front panel).Game play was unimpressive, with images in Quake III Arena appearing cartoonish.
Our 500XL, with a 1.8-GHz Pentium 4 processor, 256MB of DDR SDRAM, and Windows XP Home, earned a score of 100 on our PC WorldBench 4 tests--about what we would expect for this configuration. The three-piece Boston Acoustics BA745 speaker set delivered full sound with strong bass; but to get full surround sound, music and movie fans may want to upgrade to the five-speaker BA7800 set for $150 more. The system's 16X/10X/40X CD-RW drive quickly burns audio or data discs, and the included CD Stomper Pro kit lets you apply labels to your creations. Meanwhile, for working at home or keeping track of personal finances, you can use the bundled Microsoft Works Suite 2002 and Money 2002. Setting up our Gateway was easy, thanks to a helpful instruction poster and well-labeled, color-coded rear ports. The thick manual includes information specific to this model and plentiful color illustrations. In addition, we received Musicmatch software, along with two digital-music manuals (and an instructional CD) covering everything from editing MP3s to burning audio CDs. Though the keys on the Gateway keyboard wiggled slightly, we could type smoothly and accurately on it; the keyboard offers a dozen multimedia and Web shortcut buttons as well.
Gateway's 500XL works well for watching DVD movies and burning CDs, and it offers enough power for home office use.
| Buying Information |
| Gateway 500XL PC WorldBench 4 score of 100, 1.8-GHz Pentium 4 CPU, 256MB of DDR-266 SDRAM, Windows XP Home, 40GB hard drive, 16X DVD-ROM drive, 16X/10X/40X CD-RW drive, MSI GeForce2 MX 400 graphics card with 64MB of SDRAM, 15-inch Gateway FPD1520 LCD monitor, Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live Value sound card, Boston Acoustics BA745 speakers, network adapter, V.92 modem, minitower case; Microsoft Works Suite 2002. One-year parts and labor warranty; free, unlimited, 24-hour daily toll-free tech support. $ 1219 PC WorldBench 4 score of 100, 1.8-GHz Pentium 4 CPU, 256MB of DDR-266 SDRAM, Windows XP Home, 40GB hard drive, 16X DVD-ROM drive, 16X/10X/40X CD-RW drive, MSI GeForce2 MX 400 graphics card with 64MB of SDRAM, 15-inch Gateway FPD1520 LCD monitor, Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live Value sound card, Boston Acoustics BA745 speakers, network adapter, V.92 modem, minitower case; Microsoft Works Suite 2002. One-year parts and labor warranty; free, unlimited, 24-hour daily toll-free tech support. http://www.gateway.com 800/846-2000 |