Gateway GT5658E Desktop Computer Review

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bkovacs
Annandale, VA

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Amazing desktop computer value

a PC User, a techie, a gadget geek

Pros

fast, built-in card reader, 1 TB hard drive, display card

Cons

no parallel port, no FireWire port

JAN

2008

With my main computer approaching five years old, it was time to look for something new. I regularly read a PC magazine, so I've been keeping up with the latest trends and had some idea what I wanted. I shopped and looked, and finally chose a Gateway GT5658E desktop computer, which cost $850 at Office Depot. There was a $150 rebate, so my net cost will be just $700.

What it is

The Gateway GT5658E is just a computer with a keyboard and mouse. It does not include a monitor or any peripherals such as a printer. The computer is in a mid-size tower case and it sports some excellent specs. Included is a one terabyte (1 TB) hard drive, 3 GB of RAM and an AMD Phenom 9500 64-bit quad-core processor. It's not the fastest computer around but it's a lot faster than my old computer.

The GT5658E has a display card made by ATI. The front panel has a card reader for all the popular memory cards used in digital cameras, MP3 players and GPS systems. The front panel also has a couple of USP ports and an audio in/out.

Although this computer seems pretty well equipped, it does not have a couple of interesting things. For example, there is no FireWire (also known as iLink) port and no parallel port. Since I have peripherals that use FireWire and parallel ports, this put me in a little bit of a jam.

The computer came with a P/S2-style keyboard and a USB mouse. Its operating system is Windows Vista Home Premium.

Using it

I've had the computer about two weeks and it has given me no problems. It set up and loaded itself quickly, and I could use it within 30 minutes of first switching it on. I wanted the computer mostly stripped down, so I selected "Custom" when it loaded software, and I loaded the minimum number of things I needed.

Since then, the computer has run very well. I mostly use it for Photoshop and video editing, and it is MUCH faster at both than my old computer. I moved around 120 GB of image files onto the GT5658E from an external hard drive and that took around 25 minutes -- pretty quick, I thought.

I have two older printers, both of which use parallel ports. (All new printers use USB ports, but mine are at least eight years old now.) Unfortunately, the Gateway GT5658E does not have a parallel port, which makes it hard to use my printers. I could buy a parallel card for about $20 or so, which I may yet do. However, for the moment, I move the files to my old computer and print from it.

The only other thing I've done with my new computer was to burn a data CD. That went well... no problems.

Summary

For a net price of $700, the Gateway GT5658E is a crazy value. One terabyte hard drive? Three GB of RAM? Those are heady numbers. I also like the fact that it has a display card and does not use the computer's main RAM for display memory. However, I miss my FireWire and parallel ports, even if I will use neither in another year or so.

In the meantime, this is a really fast computer that will work well for nearly any household. I recommend the Gateway GT5658E desktop computer.

Last edited on Jan 31, 2008

Gateway GT5658E Desktop Computer is recommended by bkovacs

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Comments about bkovacs’s Review

TheBard wrote on Apr 24, 2008 at 11:11AM

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Just stumbled upon your review; another great one!

bkovacs wrote on Feb 1, 2008 at 12:44PM

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Thanks for all the nice comments! Yeah, Jolie, it's me. Trying to rub two sticks together...

--Bob

mrkstvns wrote on Feb 1, 2008 at 9:45AM

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Those hard drive and RAM numbers might impress you today, but you haven't seen the "minimum system requirements" that Microsoft has in mind for its next Windows "update" ;-)