Gateway GM5442 Desktop PC Core 2 Duo E4400 (2.00GHz) 2GB DDR2 500GB HDD Windows Vista Home Premium

Pros: Fast system, especially with upgraded ram. Plenty of storage.

Cons: As stated before, the MoBO and the built in audio are not playing well together - about every 3rd boot the sound is not working.

Pros: Nice case cooling, keyboard, mouse. The tuner is definitely an Avermedia with remote and IR blaster(repeater) (only single tuner though). I wasn't able to get QAM working so the IR blaster was required -- skinny wire with a head that sticks directly to the front of the satellite/cable box. I haven't tried with HD hardware but I doubt it supports HD.

Cons: The onboard audio kept failing in Vista32 -- I think it was hardware because the equalizer was alive but no sound came out. I ended up getting an Audigy SE 7.1 for thirty bucks and all is good.
I think the Aero experience is smooth but Vista's performance monitor gives it the score 3.2 where as all the other scores in the computer fall between 4 and 5. The user won't be gaming but I'm going to have him get a 7600gs anyway.

Other Thoughts: I would never buy a prefab pc for myself, but this was for a newbie. Normally I handhold newbies through the purchase of a Dell, but I found that Dell is rapeing people on the options -- about as bad as buying a new car. I took a chance on Gateway and I was *VERY* happy with the results. At the same time I had another newbie newegg an HP at almost twice the cost thinking he was going to get something more akin to a "workstation". That was a mistake. Gateway beats Dell and HP for the money.

Pros: looks nice

Cons: squirrelly behavior since receiving, including trouble with usb, trouble with sound - sound device is there sometimes, gone other times - call Gateway for support, go through a shared session (that was impressive, btw) they say it's hardware, send it back in (the return also handled very well), tech reinstalls software (no hardware change), comes back, same problem - sound card there, then not there. Couldn't be more disappointed - think it's time to go to Apple store. And, Newegg phone lines not available on weekend. Extreeeeemely disappointed. Always liked newegg, but forget about it for a PC - build your own, you'll end up spending less time. My suspicion is that Vista is the problem. No idea what to do at this point, looking at weeks of UPS & Fedex just to get a PC that works out of the box.

Pros: Great system, everything in the box was great except for the video. 500gig hd was a plus.

Cons: The system was working fine for me until I restarted it for the first time. The onboard audio wasn't working properly and had to fix enable/disable it through the bios which led me to purchase a sound card. Overall, its a great bargain.

Pros: Nice system for the money. Hard drive is a fast sata 3Gb/s and a decent size of 500GB. System comes with tv tuner, 2GB of RAM and runs Vista Premium great.

Cons: Integrated Intel GMA is the only con. It's adequate for Vista but invest in a better graphics card. I added the XFX GeForce 8600GT to this system and it runs great.

Pros: Its Really Good
Everything Work OK
But Its Not For Gaming :P

Cons: - Likes Recording Games and Tutorials -
Have Problems With Recording
I Found Out Theres No " Stereo Mix "
So I Cant Record Sounds From Tha PC
But Meh..

Other Thoughts: Tha Loud Hard Drive Doesnt Really Bother Me :)
But Yea Its a Lil Loud

Pros: Everything already noted

Cons: Hard Drive is very loud. However Gateway sent me a replacement. Interesting part is in is not the same as the original, different mnfg. It is now whisper quite.

Pros: I bougth this system for a friend to use as an all-around family pc, plus the occasional gaming machine. I like some of the other reviewers upgraded it right out of the box. The onboard graphics are insufficient at best. I bought the 8600GT from XFX, and the Hans 19" screen and the Thermaltake 430 watt power supply which I wasn't able to fit in the case ( more about that in the other thoughts). Windows video experience went from a rating of 1 to 5.9 with video card. I only installed a couple games to test it out, but UT2004 maxed all settings ran awesome. Rainbow Six Vegas, which is extremely graphics hungry also ran maxed out, which was very impressive. This was all with the stock PSU. Now this even 10 cheaper and free shipping, that's an unbeatable deal for what you get. This was first try with Vista and I personally would go back to XP Pro.

Cons: The Seagate harddrive is extremely noisy, probally the loudest HDD I have heard.

Other Thoughts: If you plan to change the PSU, make sure you buy a right angle SATA power cable because there is no room between the case and the back of the HDD for the standard stright plug-in cable. Definetley plan on buying a video card for this if you want to do any gaming of video.

Pros: It's a very good basic system with plenty of memory and storage. Of course it does have onboard video and sound, but those can both be upgraded. I put in a Radeon X1650Pro 256MB for under $80. Everything works great right out of the box!

Cons: There's a restore partition and a Vista install CD. If you wipe out the partition then there's no way to get the Gateway software that comes preinstalled without BUYING A $20 CD from Gateway, but at least you can reinstall Vista. Good luck on finding hardware drivers for XP for this thing. I have yet to find drivers for the TV tuner or chipsets. Intel doesn't support this board because it's a Gateway OEM version so don't go looking to them for anything but NIC drivers.

Other Thoughts: I'm running XP Pro on it right now and I have no complaints. I don't watch TV anyway and as far as I can tell I'm not losing out out any other functionality. All things considered I'm happy with this purchase.

Pros: This system is the best value there is!! No problems. Buy it while they still have it or you will be sorry. I am like the last guy I bought the HannsG 22" monitor at the same time. They both kick ***.

Cons: None except I did not buy it sooner.

Other Thoughts: Stop reading and buy this thing.