Product Description

Digital media enthusiasts, unleash your creativity with the Gateway DX4720-03 Desktop. Comfortably priced, this 2.5GHz multitasking performer offers Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit) SP1, dual-core power and 4GB RAM. NVIDIA GeForce graphics provide excellent frame rates and image quality for your casual games, online entertainment and DVD movies. A large selection of ports (6 USB, 2 IEEE-1394 Firewire, 1 HDMI) and a 15-in-1 media card reader make attaching to and downloading from devices easy. Look for the Gateway DX4720-03 Desktop, with its distinctive red chrome-branding strip, and get yours now. NVidia GeForce 7100 with up to 256MB Shared Video Memory 18x DVD+-R/RW Labelflash Drive 8-Channel (7.1) High Definition Audio 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN 15-in-1 card Digital Media reader Front ports - 2 x USB, IEEE-1394 Back ports - 4 x USB, IEEE-1394, 2 x PS2 ports (keyboard, mouse), RJ-11 (Modem), RJ-45, VGA, HDMI Expansion slots - 2 x PCI (One available), PCI Express x1 (One available), PCI Express x16 (One available) Monitor is not included

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2833 in Personal Computers
• Brand: Gateway
• Dimensions: 32.00 pounds
• CPU: Intel Core Duo 2.5 GHz
• Memory: 4000MB DDR2 SDRAM
• Hard Disk: 500GB
• Processors: 2

Features

• Box Contents - Gateway DX4720-03 Desktop PC, Keyboard/Mouse, USB Stereo Speakers; Software Bundle - Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition with Service Pack 1, Microsoft Works 9, Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 60-Day Trial, Norton 360 All-in-One Security 60-Day Subscription, 1-Year Limited Warranty
• Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 2.5GHz Processor
• 2 MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz Front Side Bus
• 4096MB DDR2 (PC2-6400) RAM Max - 4GB
• 640GB (7200RPM, 16MB Cache) SATA II Hard Drive

Customer Reviews

A very good PC for the money !
I saw the previous review above....

>We bought a Gateway desktop and Windows got hosed for some reason. We called 1-800-GATEWAY for support. Guess what? If you buy a Gateway anywhere but their website you must call a separate toll number. WTF!?

Don't know about that...

>Then we needed to restore it but the restore partition was bad.

You are suppose to use the Recovery Tools to create you own Recovery Disks BEFORE you HOSE the PC....

>Had to get the recovery disk. They charged me $20 for a $1 CD-R. Then it wouldn't work,

??? Get another one... should be free now....

>and they wanted to charge me to tell me how to use it.

Uh.... put disk in PC... start it.... press ALT-F10 and then follow instructions...

>Again WTF? These people are horrible. Save yourself a lot of trouble and get a Mac. Get HP. Get an abacus. Anything but Gateway.

Ok.. my turn...

No problems at all with the PC. Works great. and.....

with this much disk space, I also dual-booted Vista-32 Ultimate on the PC (I installed an older IDE 500 gig drive and used it for the 32bit Windows). I did this to run the only external USB hardware that did not have a 32-bit driver.

The 64bit Vista SCREAMS!!! And you can't hear a sound from the SATA drive that comes with it!!

I bought a 19 inch Gateway flat panel at the same time, and it looks GREAT with the images on it.

The only negative... the 300W power supply. I will probably replace it down the road with a 500 watt one and upgrade the video for my Videos I produce....
Also, I did not ever see an indicator on the front of the PC blink when accessing the hard drive.... kinda missed that!

But for casual gaming and regular video/work.... what a STEAL!!!

I'd buy another one in a minute....

ps.... make the Recovery Disks FIRST after getting booted up the first time and store them away safely.... a lot cheaper to do than what the other reviewer suffered!!!

Good home-office, work, and general serious-stuff machine
This is not a gaming machine. Buy it if you are running home-office applications, work stuff, or really anything that doesn't require high-end video performance. Buy it if you think you'll add or change out hardware down the line, or if you want a box where you can run 64-bit Vista - and be supported.

The good: Nice dual-core processor and enough memory and disk space for anything I'll be doing. Comes with fast network interface, which is good if your home or office is wired for 1000 gigabit per second transfers (which many offices, but currently not many homes, are). Machine is spacious internally and easy to work on, if you're inclined to do that sort of thing. So-so video performance and lack of DVI interface won't bother you if you're not doing anything high end. I find I can work from home, edit photos, and watch streaming television just fine. The machine has very quiet fans (something manufacturers often screw up). I appreciate the fact that it came with 64-bit Vista, because it allows me to take advantage of more memory per process than would otherwise be the case (important if you are doing geekly things, like running databases). The setup instructions were easy to follow, although if you know anything about computers you probably won't need them, because the connectors on the machine are well labeled and color coded.

The bad: So-so video performance, lots of extra software installed that most people will find useless. No DVI video interface (just analog and HDMI). The big box is a disadvantage if you don't plan on adding any devices or drives, and you have a cramped workspace. You also have to watch what version of software you download, to make sure you get stuff that can run on 64-bit Vista. Most 32-bit stuff will run just fine on 64-bit Vista. But you will run into some compatibility issues now and then (fewer over time, one would expect).

Bottom line: I really like this machine. Buy it if you're using it for office or programming/developmen work and if you plan on mucking with the insides. 64-bit Vista is great for me. The price is decent. Not a first choice for a total computer neophyte who doesn't read directions or manuals and who lacks a computer-savvy relative.

Caution: I'm fairly computer-savvy and so I haven't had to test out Gateway's support infrastructure. Check other reviews to see about how people fared when they had to call in. I simply don't know how good/bad their support is.

If it breaks-forget it!
We bought a Gateway desktop and Windows got hosed for some reason. We called 1-800-GATEWAY for support. Guess what? If you buy a Gateway anywhere but their website you must call a separate toll number. WTF!? Then we needed to restore it but the restore partition was bad. Had to get the recovery disk. They charged me $20 for a $1 CD-R. Then it wouldn't work, and they wanted to charge me to tell me how to use it. Again WTF? These people are horrible. Save yourself a lot of trouble and get a Mac. Get HP. Get an abacus. Anything but Gateway.