Nov

Is Gateway still around?

It seems like only yesterday I watched my neighbor unpack a new Gateway PC. It’s cow design boxes were a dead giveaway to what UPS dropped off. Ironically the box is still visible in their garage, most likely housing Christmas lights or maybe some old dishes. The PC didn’t have as much luck. It died years ago. Although a few wires remain.

The Wall Street Journal technology guru, Walter Mossberg, wrote (November 2, 2007) about the new “Gateway One” desktop computer. It’s a one piece desktop machine built into a slim LCD monitor. Dell will soon offer model “XPS One” as a similar design.
Why has it taken the PC makers so long to develop a computer to rival the iMac? If you have not seen a 24-inch iMac yet you’re living in a cave. As a video compositor I’ve been impressed with the power of the iMac line, and I still look around for the processor box. No way can that much power exist in such a slick screen. It does almost everything a work station can, without a box.
The WSJ MarketPlace front page had a picture of the Gateway One, and it looks very nice with a wireless keyboard-mouse combo, lots of RAM and good size hard drive. That’s about it for the good news from Gateway. Here’s the down-side issues.
Only a 19″ monitor? Desktop real estate is more valuable than the Vegas Strip. My two Cinema displays measure 30″ and 23″, and I’m still wanting more. 19″ is just not going to cut it. And only 72 pixels per inch is so last century. Give me 100 pixels per inch resolution or nothing at all. Also, the One’s monitor sits on the desk which is very low by health standard. It least it will tip back a little bit.
Price? Wait a second. Wasn’t price the all time greatest PC selling point? My cousin bought a Dell to save a couple hundred bucks. Let’s try matching up internal components on a level playing field. Apple makes their components; maybe that’s why everything works? The Gateway One is one hundred bucks more than the entry level iMac. How can that be possible?
Windows Vista crashed during Mr. Mossberg’s testing. Maybe it didn’t like the bloatware that came pre-installed, like it or not, want it or not it’s on your hard drive. You know, those trial programs that never get tried?

Another tired PC argument: There is more software for the PC platform. How many programs can any body use? I’m a power uses and only use a select few, maybe six or seven. Maybe some folks may want a flock of work processors or a school of email programs. But Walter shouldn’t feel like the Lone Ranger in a crowd for getting the blue screen of death. I was in The Aladdin Center for Performing Arts when Bill Gates was introducing a new OS. Windows 2000 I believe. It crashed and had to be rebooted before a packed house of Windows technicians. He’s not good at standup. Fortunately we were in the back because I could barely contain myself while sprinting for fresh air.

Top of the line Gateway One is the same price as the 24″ 100dpi iMac which has far more power, a faster OS, and it can run PC programs with BootCamp™, now free in Leopard. Walter stated his older 20″ iMac is faster in his tests. The new whisper soft iMac is faster running VISTA than a new PC running Vista. Something is wrong with this picture.

Speaking of pictures… iMac comes with a built-in camera. The One has a clip-on that was rendered virtually useless. iMac comes bundled with enough multi-media software that can turn out very nice video and images you can burn to disc with iDVD.

Here’s the real kick-in-the-butt: Gateway One has an external power supply/ network box that sits on the floor. Wha, wha, wha, what? And a noisy fan. I though the fan was to cool the power supply, apparently not the case.

With all this being said I still suggest everyone buy a PC so I can remain competitive. Warning: Don’t listen to Mr. Mossberg! he’s a nice guy and smart, but please don’t listen to him. LOL
Regards,

Walter Mossberg answered a question about computer speed. Vista installed on a Mac with BootCamp is faster because it won’t have all the bloatware; you know, those memory robbing trial software programs that computer makers get install for money. Some of these programs are auto launch, meaning they load at startup. You might not even realize it.
His results: Mac booting Vista - 46 seconds. PC booting Vista - 1: 42 Reboot with a few programs running: Mac - 1:02 PC - 3:17 May as well use that unproductive time in the bathroom.

The recent blistering success enjoyed by Apple has been from the sale of Macintosh computers and not the iPhone as one might suspect. While Mac sales account for a small share of world-wide computer sales, they are growing three to five times as fast as the Windows based PC.
Regards,