Having recently revamped its line of consumer desktop PCs, Gateway has introduced the budget 3200 series, which is available only through the company's direct sales channels. The $650 3200XL sits toward the top of the line but is priced and configured for first-time buyers or for anyone looking for a cheap, general-purpose PC that includes all the necessary peripherals: monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse. With a budget Intel Celeron D processor yet ample memory, the Gateway 3200XL turned in respectable performance among its budget brethren on CNET Labs' tests, and it would make a suitable desktop for basic office apps, e-mailing, and light photo-editing tasks.
On the outside, the Gateway 3200XL retains Gateway's familiar black-and-silver color scheme, but the minitower's rounded edges and front bezel bear a resemblance to those of the eMachines T3256 that we reviewed last October (Gateway acquired eMachines last year). The systems are similarly configured inside, too, though the T3256 uses an AMD Athlon XP processor rather than the Gateway 3200XL's Intel Celeron D. But each serves up 512MB of 333MHz memory, a roomy 160GB hard drive, and a double-layer, multiformat DVD burner. Dell's budget contender, the Dimension 3000, lags behind both the 3200XL and the T3256: though it uses a more recent Intel chipset than the 3200XL, its 40GB hard drive is a quarter the size, and the 3000 doesn't include a DVD burner.
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The biggest difference between the Gateway 3200XL and the eMachines T3256: for $50 more, the 3200XL includes a 17-inch CRT. Nonetheless, we still favor the eMachines T3256 for its Nvidia chipset and graphics subsystem, which provide slightly better performance than the 3200XL's aging Intel 845GV chipset and Intel Extreme Graphics. Additionally, the T3256 has an AGP slot for future graphics upgrades. Without such a slot on 3200XL, you're stuck with Intel's two-generation-old integrated graphics. We find it curious that GatewayÂ’s less expensive 3250S-QS system is based on the newer 915 chipset, which offers IntelÂ’s GMA 900 video with up to 128MB of memory.
Without an AGP slot on the 3200XL, your internal expansion options are limited to two PCI slots (the third is occupied by a 56Kbps modem card) and one memory slot. You'll also find one free 5.25-inch bay located below the 3200XL's versatile DVD burner and above the equally protean 8-in-1 memory-card reader.
For external expansion, the Gateway 3200XL gives you four USB 2.0 ports on the rear of the system, along with a 10/100 Ethernet port and jacks for the integrated SoundMax audio controller. Front-mounted connections are limited to a single USB port and headphone/microphone jacks. Unfortunately, there are no FireWire ports to be found.
Unlike Gateway's new retail models, the company's direct-sale systems can be customized to some degree on the company's Web site. Customization options for the 3200XL include a larger hard drive, a SoundBlaster Audigy2 card, and an additional optical drive, but there are no provisions for upgrading the system memory or the processor without stepping up to the 3250X Media Center model, which resides at the top of Gateway's 3200 series.
The 3200XL ships with the aforementioned, decent 17-inch CRT display and a very basic two-piece speaker set that's adequate at best. We recommend spending the extra $50 for GatewayÂ’s 2.1 speakers if music is your thing; at least youÂ’ll get some bass from the included subwoofer. Also included is a multimedia-style keyboard and a ball-type scroll mouse, but weÂ’d be happier with an optical mouse. In addition to Windows XP Home, the 3200XL ships with Microsoft Works 8.0 and preloaded trial versions of Napster 2.0 and Norton AntiVirus software.
GatewayÂ’s standard Desktop Value Service Plan warranty coverage for the 3200XL is sparse, providing 90 days of parts, labor, and telephone technical support, but no onsite service. For an extra $60, you can extend the parts, labor, and telephone support to an industry-standard one year.
The Gateway 3200XL turned in predictable scores in our productivity benchmarks tests when compared to other recently reviewed value-based systems, falling between the eMachines T3256 and the Dell Dimension 3000, with an overall SysMark 2004 score of 125. Although the Dell uses a slower Celeron D processor, its faster 400MHz memory--compared to the 3200XL's 333MHz--gave its performance a boost.
Our 3D gaming tests confirmed what we already knew: value-class systems such as the 3200XL are not up to the task of running graphics-intensive applications. On our Unreal Tournament 2003 tests, the 3200XL scored a measly 9.7 frames per second. The Dell Dimension 3000 and the eMachines T3256 certainly won't find themselves on any gamers' wish lists either, but their marginally better frame rates illustrate that integrated graphics via Nvidia's GeForce4 MX chip and Intel's 865G chip are a bit more powerful than what you get with the 3200XL's integrated Intel Extreme Graphics, courtesy of the Intel 845GV chipset.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 | BAPCo SysMark 2004 rating | | SysMark 2004 Internet-content-creation rating | | SysMark 2004 office-productivity rating |
To measure application performance, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's SysMark 2004, an industry-standard benchmark. Using off-the-shelf applications, SysMark measures a desktop's performance using office-productivity applications (such as Microsoft Office and McAfee VirusScan) and Internet-content-creation applications (such as Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Dreamweaver).
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| Unreal Tournament 2003 Flyby-Antalus 1,024x768 |
To measure 3D gaming performance, CNET Labs uses Epic Games' Unreal Tournament 2003, widely used as an industry-standard benchmark. We use Unreal to measure a desktop's performance with the DirectX 8.0 (DX8) interface at a 32-bit color depth and at a resolution of 1,024x768 and 1,600x1,200. Antialiasing and anisotropic filtering are disabled during our 1,024x768 tests and are set to 4X and 8X, respectively, during our 1,600x1,200 tests. At this color depth and these resolutions, Unreal provides an excellent means of comparing the performance of low-end to high-end graphics subsystems. We report the results of Unreal's Flyby-Antalus test in frames per second (fps).
Find out more about how we test desktop systems.
System configurations:
Dell Dimension 3000
Windows XP Home SP2; 2.66GHz Intel Celeron D 330; Intel 865G chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 96MB (shared memory) integrated Intel 865G; Seagate ST340014A 40GB 7,200rpm
eMachines T3256
Windows XP Home; 2.2GHz AMD Athlon XP 3200+; Nvidia Nforce-2 chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; 64MB (shared memory) integrated GeForce4 MX; WDC WD1600BB-22GUA0 160GB 7,200rpm
Gateway 3200XL
Windows XP Home SP2; 2.93GHz Intel Celeron D 340; Intel 845GV chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; 64MB (shared memory) integrated Intel 845G; Seagate ST3160021A 160GB 7,200rpm
Systemax Ascent 64
Windows XP Home; 2.0GHz AMD Athlon 64 3000+; Via K8T800 chipset; 256MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; 64MB ATI Radeon 7000; Samsung SP1203N 120GB 7,200rpm
ZT Group ZT A5305
Windows XP Home; 2.0GHz AMD Sempron 2800+; Via KM400 chipset; 256MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; 64MB (shared memory) integrated Via/S3 Unichrome Graphics; Seagate ST380011A 80GB 7,200rpm