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General discussion

gateway AMD 64 at best buy

Dec 26, 2004 10:50AM PST

hi what do you think about this system, I was going for HP zt 3000 but they have removed the 5400 rpm HDD,which was available for only 25$ more, apart from that, and its lightweight it did not justify its price now that the 100$ rebate is not there.

Its available at Best Buy now for 150 $ instant rebate.
Reg. Price: $1,399.99
You Save: $150.00
Sale: $1,249.99

Product Height 1.6" b (thinner than HPzv3000 1.8")
Product Weight 7.5 lbs ( lighter than HP at 7.9 lb)
Processor Brand Mobile AMD Athlon 64
Processor Speed 2.0GHz
Display Type Ultrabright WXGA
Screen Size 15.4"
System Bus 1600MHz
Cache Memory 1MB on die Level 2
System Memory (RAM) 512MB
Type of Memory (RAM) PC2700 DDR SoDIMM
Hard Drive Size 80.0GB
Optical Drive Multiformat DVD

Discussion is locked

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Gateway is good deal if you buy retail or hpshopping.com
Dec 27, 2004 7:55AM PST

The Gateways are very good buy right now (both their Pentium M and Athlon 64 models) as they are being very competitive with HP/Compaq at least at retail (Best buy).

Note that you get a multiformat DVD burner on the gateway (DVD + on retail HP's only but you can get multiformat DVD burners at hpshopping.com custom) and also you get an ATI 9600 video card which is superior to the ATI 9200 at the same 64mb dedicated video (and will give better gaming and video program response).

Note that Costco has a Gateway model similar to this ()Athlon 64, 15.4" widescreen) for $1199 but it does not have the DVD burner (has DVD-ROM, CD-RW instead which is worth about $100-$150 less). Costco has a 6 month return policy while Best buy and most retailers is 14 days with a restocking fee unless defective.

So, if you like the Gateway consider that. If you want to consider the HP/Compaq (any model) you should price it at hpshopping.com which has a 30 day return policy (and they pay return shipping) for any reason. Also, there are a ton of discounts like 6% student APP, mail in rebates, coupon codes, etc. See R3000forums.com (Compaq AThlon 64 and sister HP model) for best pricing and specs.

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thanks
Dec 27, 2004 11:01AM PST

hi KEN, thanks for the reply, I was looking up costco but could not find any gateways. Maybe it is under the regional plan( under which they do not ship to AR ) or it is out of stock. the 6 mo return sounds real interesting, esp with mobile AMD and 64 bit pentium M about to hit the market.

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Gateway Athlon 64 notebook $1199 is Costco retail not online
Dec 27, 2004 11:07AM PST

Costco.com has HP/Compaq and Dell custom ordering on their website which gives you the Costco 6 month return policy on top of the HP/Compaq 30 day return policy on hpshopping.

The Gateway model Athlon 64 I was referring to is an in-store item (you buy it and leave immediately -- not online).

Best Buy seems to be the only retailer that has Gateway products in high concentrations in their stores and websites (as they bought most of the retail Gateway Country store stock) but as I said that AMD 64 model is in the Costco retail stores themselves.

You get the 6 month return policy whether you buy a prebuilt model in Costco retail or you order a Costco.com computer (and 6 month return is to the retail stores so you don't have to ship it back).

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Is there a catch with this Gateway model (AMD 64 3400+)
Jan 18, 2005 8:29AM PST

I saw an Ad is bestbuy for a Gateway notebook
Looks like it has everything I need for working video editing and Java IDE tools

It is priced at 1249 $
AMD 64 Athlon 3400+
1GB
80 GB
Dedicated video card (64 MB)
S-Video TV out
CD/DVD burner (Dual layer)
4 USB ports

Looks like great a deal. Is there a catch involved ?
Has anybody bought this.

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Gateway Athlon 64 very competitive at Best buy RETAIL
Jan 18, 2005 10:22AM PST

No, there is not a catch other than the fact that Gateway/E-machines have merged (formerly these AMD models were E-machines) and they are trying to build market share.

The only competition, the Compaq R3000 (see R3000forums.com) and HP sister notebook are the only real competition for the AMD 64 from larger companies and Gateway is trying to undercut that (at least at retail if not necessarily by ordering through hpshopping.com)

Try custom building a Compaq R3000 or its HP counterpart as a custom build and see how it stacks up but Gateway should be less at retail.

Also, the new Athlon 64 low voltage notebooks are coming in 2005 and the Intel Sonoma Centrino specification is out officially tommorrow -- 1/19/05 --so you may want to wait for either of those unless you absolutely need the notebook now ........