The Bottom Line
Pros
- Larger Hard Drive
- 64-bit Version of Vista
Cons
- 300W Power Supply Limits Potential Video Card Upgrading
Description
- Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 Dual Core Processor
- 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 Memory
- 640GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
- 18x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner with Label Flash
- GeForce 7100 Integrated Graphics
- HDA Audio with Stereo Speakers
- v.92 56Kbps Modem, Gigabit Ethernet
- Six USB 2.0, 2 FireWire, 15-in-1 Card Reader
- Vista Home Premium 64-bit, Works 9, Norton 360
Guide Review - Gateway DX4720-03 Budget Desktop Personal Computer
10/20/08 - Most of the budget desktops on the market seem to favor using the older generation Pentium Dual Core processors as a means of reducing cost. Gateway has elected to use this processor with the DX4720-03 but they are using a newer higher speed E5200 version. This gives it a bit of a boost in performance compared to systems using the lower grade Pentium Dual Cores but not quite to the level of the Core 2 Duo desktops.
One nice aspect of the system is the inclusion of 4GB of memory. While this is becoming fairly common now with budget desktops, the majority of the systems still ship with a 32-bit version of the Vista operating system. This limits the systems to just 4GB of memory rather than 8GB that they can generally support. The cost difference between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions is also quite negligible to the manufacturer.
Another bright spot for the Gateway DX4720-03 is the hard drive. The industry seems to have settled on using 500GB hard drives. Instead of using this size, it comes equipped with a larger 640GB drive that provides it with 25% more space for applications and data and at a very competitive price. The DVD burner also supports burning labels directly to Label Flash compatible media similar to what LightScribe based drives can do.
On the downside, the system may be disappointing for those that would consider buying it and upgrading the graphics for a low cost PC gaming rig. The 300W power supply is fairly small and will not support many of the higher performance graphics cards that require a large amount of power. Still, this will likely only affect a small group of consumers.
