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From: pburke@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Peter Burke, MIC, 263-7744)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: INFO ON NEW GATEWAY 2000 COMPUTERS??
Message-ID: <1991May13.150220.14651@macc.wisc.edu>
Date: 13 May 91 14:23:46 GMT
Sender: news@macc.wisc.edu (USENET News System)
Distribution: na,comp
Organization: University of Wisconsin Academic Computing Center
Lines: 62

In article <1991May10.013708.6059@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu>, james@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (James Alfred Monschke) writes...

>In article <11889@uwm.edu>,
>bnk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Bob N Keenan) writes: 
>> 
>> Hello-
>> 
>>   I install computer systems on the university campus here and I usually
>>   install GATEWAY 2000's.  I also own a 386-20MHz from Gateway.  Today
>>   I installed a couple of NEW gateway 386sx's and learned that they have 
>>   dramatically changed their machines.  The footprint is much smaller,
>>   the color is different, and the shape is contoured - like.  (I dont like
>>   any of these changes - it all looks TOO PLASTIC), but one thing I noticed
>>   that these 386sx's 16MHZ just blow my 386/20 away when it comes to WINDOWS!!
>>   It is noticably MUCH FASTER, and my question is how is this done??? and
>>   why are these SX's faster than my 20mhz dx????  any info would be appreciated.  thanks....
>> 
>I believe that this is explained by Gateway's "Diamond Scan" video card.  To 
>put it simply, it's stinkin' fast.  One magazine's review (I don't have it 
>with me) benchmarked the card as being twice as fast as Compaq's VGA (compaq's
>VGA was tightly integrated on the motherboard for speed).  Other reviews 
>have noticed simialer gains to differing degrees, probably differing because
>of the reviewerss testing the cards speed on different operations.
> 
The Speedstar really is extremely fast, but it doesn't come with the new 
20MHz SX machines.  These units have a built in paradise chipset card - 
interlaced and not very exciting.  In our demo room we are currently 
testing 2 Gateway machines - a 25MHz DX (no cache) and the 20 MHz SX.  
The DX comes with the Speedstar and is far faster running windows - even 
in 1024x768x256.  The SX isn't bad, but once you switch to that 
resolution (in 16 colors) it becomes oily. The worst video mode on the SX is 
800x600x256.  It is so slow that one loses the cursor when moving the 
mouse. Absolutely unusable. In 800x600x16 it is fast and sharp, though.
   The design of the SX is quite a deviation from Gateway's older 
machines. The motherboard is now made by GATEWAY - scary? A technician 
at Gateway told me it really was a Texas Instruments board, but it sure 
isn't a Micronics. (They still sell the old Micronics-based 16MHz SX 
machines, although they don't advertise them anymore). The built-in 
video card means that if you want to upgrade to the Speedstar it will 
take up one slot and cost you a bundle (since you can't drop the 
built-in video).  It does have five slots, though.  There is no open 
drive bay, so if more HD-space is required, one drive has to go. 
   Experiences:  When we received the machine it died on us whenever we 
used the turbo button while running Windows. One day it just didn't die 
anymore and has been running fine since.  As already mentioned above, 
the video is not very exciting. The 80MB HD is quite fast.  We installed 
an ethernet board and got the machine to work on our novell network 
within two hours. (Same for the 25MHz DX).
   The design: hideous was one of the first responses.  Especially how 
they changed the MAG computronics monitors - as if they rented a wind 
channel for a week :-)  It looks like pretty cheap plastic, but behind 
it is still one of the best monitors one can get.
   The keyboards we received were a semi-tactile kind - not a northgate, 
but far better than the old keytronics that Gateway used to ship.  The 
new design that they are advertising in the latest PC-magazine (and ship 
with any machine as of last week) look like the omnikey from Northgate 
but I haven't been able to get my hands on one of them. I don't like 
that the inverted cursor T is gone. I hope they give you the option to 
still by a 101 key keyboard.

Any specific questions on those two machines - just email me.
Peter