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Gateway FMC-901X Family Room Media Center (3.0 GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, DVD-Burner)Platform: Microsoft XP Media Center Edition
Brand: Gateway
Binding: Personal Computers
Release Date: 2004-02-05
Noticeably better than the Dell unit [Posted on 2004-04-17]
TV quality using the Hauppauge TV tuner card is substantially better than in other Media Center Edition PCs. It does do Tivo-like functionality, which is highly addictive once you have it. The system is still a little louder than I would like due to the cooling fans, but no louder than my Tivo box. The sleek design is what really makes it stand out from the competition. The 901 looks like an A/V component and not a clunky PC.
Now if only there was support for multiple HDTV tuners or multichannel SACD, it would be nearly perfect.
A fine-tuned media powerhouse. [Posted on 2004-04-17]
Finally a piece of gear that looks like it belongs in an AV rack. I've been Very pleased with the appearance and usability of the system. Be aware that although it looks and performs like a component, it's also a PC. It comes with Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004. That means music- and photo-playback features are excellent, and the PVR functions are a close match for a dedicated TV recorder. Since it's a computer and not a TV it takes a couple of minutes to boot-up. To power the media center, you need the remote control unit and the wireless keyboard and mouse. I've taken to leaving the system on all the time. The mouse uses a new motion-sensing technology that lets you control it with natural hand movements. Unlike most wireless mice, this one actually has range. I can still operate from outside the house through the window, 25 feet away, as long as I stay in the line of sight. The AV-component look of the FMC-901X is helped by the flip-down panel on the front, which hides many of the myriad of controls and ports: FireWire port, two USB 2.0 jacks, and slots for Compact Flash, SD, Memory Stick, and Smart Media memory cards, making it easy to move digital photos & MP3's into the system. Bottom-line: this system is perfect for any true media enthusiast
A nearly perfect living room PC. [Posted on 2004-04-17]
The Gateway FMC-901X blends an innovative case design with high performance components. The first thing that strikes you about the Gateway Media Center is that it looks more like a piece of stereo equipment than a computer. In fact the stackable design computer is fits perfectly on top of a VCR or stereo. This was a big selling point with my wife. The next best feature is that it comes a super-sized 250GB hard drive with a personal video recorder that lets you record TV shows and watch them on your schedule. The advantage over Tivo is there's no monthly fee or any way for some corporation to keep track of what you watch and when. Now from the comfort of your couch, you can watch video, TV, play digital music, watch digital video, surf the Internet, play games, arrange digital photos and play or record DVDs.
Convergence is a reality [Posted on 2004-04-17]
I got one as an all-in-one center for images, video, TV, music, etc. It does the job well. TV image quality is excellent, and so is TV recording. Burning your favorite shows to DVD with a few button clicks is incredibly easy.
If you want something for your den, this is a machine that should definitely be on your list for consideration.
the only honest review that wasn't written by a gateway rep [Posted on 2007-01-11]
first off, you should ignore all other 4 reviews. Not that they don't have some valid things to say, it's just that they're all obviously written by Gateway reps or someone who had a lot of stock in this product. Notice:
1) they're all written on the exact same day.
2) none of the reviewers have written about anything other than gateway products.
That aside, this is great concept machine. My main two issues:
1) it's buggy and quirky
2) gateway support was completely unhelpful, and declined to support this product after they shipped it
As mentioned, the concept is great. It's a beautiful looking machine. It has good specs to do the job (good speed, good memory, nice hd space, great tuner, good graphics). Gateway put (almost) everything into this you'd need in a media pc: very nice remote; excellent gyration keyboard & mouse that let you do everything from your lap (the "air" mouse function is fantastic); plenty of front ports (media card slots, usb, firewire); dvdrw for recording; digital audio out (when it functions); front display (when it functions); all the video connections you need.
the downsides that make this product barely usable: the one-touch dvdr recording from tv never worked. went through two systems with no luck, ended up having to buy nerovision express to do the job; optical audio failed within days on both systems; front display intermittently flickered and died until restarted (constantly, and on both systems). No support at all for the release of media center 2005 (which was released shortly after the debut of this product). No front display drivers for mce2005 (although this renders it useless except for the time clock, the display no longer flickers with mce2005). Frequent mce software problems include "no recorded tv found" (restarting the media center app fixes the prob), and occasional complete loss of audio (requires system restart). With mce2004, video recording was sometimes choppy. mce2005 fixed the problem, but of course, Gateway won't support the OS on this system.
With all that, I still have a love/hate relationship with this system. When it functions, it's a dream. But the numerous bugs and complete lack of support make it difficult to recommend. And Gateway support was the worst I'd ever experienced (long wait times, completely unknowledgeable staff who rarely knew what a media center was). I would never, ever, ever buy another gateway product. EVER. But humorously, I'll be hanging onto (and part-time lovin') this system for as long as it continues to work. It's a little bit of unsupported, buggy genius. Too bad it's a Gateway.
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