RE: Gateway comparisons. . .
The computer from Gateway configured by Webdrone shows the price and feature list to be nearly identical to the iMac. Basically for the same price point, the iMac offers:
a larger HD, better quality monitor, ethernet, and better industrial design
while exchanging for a
slower processor and lack of a disk drive.
*But*, as webdrone mentioned, the "real steal" is the better Gateway model, the 400SE. Here, we take the base price of $1,599 for this 400 mhz PII computer and add $64 for Ethernet and $150 for a Banshee graphics card (to equal the RAGE 128) for a total of $1,813.00
With the Apple blue G3 line, we take the base 300 model and add DVD ($100), a modem ($100), and a 17" monitor from someplace else ($300) for a total of $2,099.00
So is the G3-300 comparable to the PII-400? Maybe, maybe not. Choosing the G3-350 model adds $300, but it also brings the cache up to 1 MB--higher than the GTW's 512k.
We also need to take into account the Mac's firewire ports and superior industrial design.
Overall, depending on how you compare processor speeds, the Gateway 400SE might not be such a steal after all. . .
Andrew |
