Gateway Reviewer's Comments
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Enjoy speedy edits, watch video or simply explore the Internet with the Gateway DX420B. Although this desktop totals under $600 it is loaded with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a NVIDIA GeForce 7300LE video card with turbo caching and takes our “TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award.”
This computer can perform beyond basic computing, comes with the Windows XP Media Center and is designed for home media use. This system is a good choice for managing family photos, editing home movies or recording your favorite TV show.
Gateway Screenshots. Click to Enlarge
Processor:
The DX420B has an Intel Core2 Duo E6300 processor that runs at 1.86 GHz with a fast system bus speed of 1066 MHz. This is one of the best processors you will find in a low priced PC.
Memory:
Considering that this is touted as a multimedia hub its hard drive is not as large as what we would want to see, but sufficient at 160GB. It has 512 MB of RAM.
Video/Audio:
This PC comes with a NVIDIA GeForce 7300LE 256MB (64MB discrete) video card with TurboCache that includes DVI, VGA and TV–Out. It has integrated Intel high–definition 7.1 audio. With this video card you can watch and record television and play most games.
I/O Devices:
Like most economy PCs this system does not come with a monitor but does come with a multi media keyboard, an optical wheel mouse, a 48x/32x/48x CD–RW/DVD combo drive and a 9–in–1 media card reader. In terms of ports it has 8 USBs (2 front, 6 rear), (2) IEEE 1394 firewire (1 front, 1 rear) and audio ports.
Price/Value:
This economy PC is priced a bit higher than many low end systems but offers a good configuration for the price.
Support/Warranty:
This Gateway comes standard with a one year parts and labor warranty or you can contact them by telephone, email or through chat. Online they post guides, drivers and downloads and more.
Summary:
For less than $600, this is a great PC. It can work with media as well as perform basic computing tasks with ease.
Upgrades to Consider:
For better real–time performance, we would recommend an upgrade to 1024MB of RAM for $79, for media storage increase the hard drive to 320 GB for $59 and if you want top TV presentation add the ATI Theatre 550 Pro TV Tuner for $99. However, if you are not a media enthusiast and just want a good basic system, no upgrades are required.
©2008 TopTenREVIEWS, Inc.
