Gateway One ZX4800-02

Editors' note: This review is part of our 2009 Retail Laptop and Desktop Holiday Roundup, which covers specific fixed configurations of popular systems found in retail stores.

The good news about the Gateway One ZX4800-02: it's not a Nettop. Nope, instead this is a full-fledged, $750 all-in-one desktop, complete with a touch screen and wireless networking. It suffers from the curse common to most all-in-ones, that you can buy a more capable standalone PC and monitor combination for the same price, but if you value the self-contained convenience of an all-in-one, this Gateway is one of the best for less than $800.

The Gateway One ZX4800-02 is an attractive all-in-one with a respectable display and most of the basic features we expect at this price. Its glossy, rounded, black chassis creates a friendlier profile that we usually see, and the bundled wireless mouse and keyboard help you maintain a clean desktop.

We don't expect the world from a $750 all-in-one, and you'd be wise to keep your expectations in check if you're considering such a system. The Gateway One ZX4800-02's touch screen is its most non-traditional feature, but with limited supporting programs, the touch input has few practical benefits. You can navigate around easily enough with a finger or two, and icons for a touch media player, a touch notepad, and a touch photo browser sit on the main Windows desktop.

"Peel" back the upper right corner of the system and you get Gateway's TouchPortal, home to a handful of other touch-specific programs, most of which come directly from Microsoft, such as Microsoft's 3D interactive globe. Unlike HP, Gateway hasn't invested in any substantial touch programs. The few that are here do no harm, so you don't lose anything because this is a touch PC, but we can't say you gain much either.

We haven't reviewed any other touch PCs in this price range, although both Dell and HP offer touch-based PCs around the same size as the Gateway One ZX4800-02 that cost substantially more, component-for-component. The Gateway's specs next to the Acer Aspire Z5610 aren't unreasonable, although it's worth noting that you get a faster CPU and a much larger screen with the Acer for only $150 more than the Gateway. One of the Gateway's most standout features is its large hard drive. Even Apple's $1,199 iMacs don't have a 750GB hard drive. Gateway might have kept the costs down by sticking with a smaller display and a slower CPU, but at least it made up for it by giving you plenty of storage space out of the box.

Cinebench
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Rendering Multiple CPUs

Rendering Single CPU

Gateway SX2800-01

10,085 

2,773 

Acer Aspire Z5610

5,446 

2,976 

Gateway One ZX4800-02

4,525 

2,397 

Averatec D1133 All-in-One

2,396 

1,235 

Lenovo C300

1,551 

544 

With no other $750 all-in-ones in our test results database, we have a broader spread of PCs than we might normally compare with this review. We still think the results are instructive. The Gateway stands out from Nettops from Averatec and Lenovo by a dramatic margin. The Averatec goes for $450, and the Lenovo sells for $549, so there's a clear price difference, but the benefits of spending a bit more for a real computer are clear. The Acer system surpasses the Gateway, as expected, but to drive home the point we made earlier about all-in-ones, the $450 Gateway SX2800-01 slim tower desktop blows by even the Acer. As long as you understand that the Gateway One ZX4800-02 isn't the fastest computer you can buy for $750, you should be satisfied enough with its performance in day-to-day productivity and light-duty digital media tasks.

Aside from the touch input, the Gateway One ZX4800-02 offers very little in the way of extra features. Its Webcam and 802.11n wireless networking are more or less expected in all-in-ones at this price, but there's no TV tuner, no Blu-ray drive, and no dedicated HDMI or other video inputs like we've seen on some higher-end systems. We didn't necessarily expect to find any of those advanced features, but with a lot of hype about all-in-ones recently, it's easy to conflate features between different models.

We were disappointed in the number of ports that you get in the Gateway, though. The left side features two USB 2.0 jacks; the right edge provides an SD Card input and a pair of analog audio jacks; and on the back you'll find a few more USB ports, an Ethernet jack, and a single audio output. We don't expect to find everything in a $750 desktop, but with no FireWire, eSATA, or even digital audio, this system is without features common to desktops that cost much less. Most of you probably won't miss those extra ports, but you'd be right to feel disappointed when the FireWire port you assumed would be there at this price is nowhere to be found.

Juice box
Gateway One ZX4800-02
Off (watts)	0.27
Sleep (watts)	2.98
Idle (watts)	24.9
Load (watts)	65.2
Raw (annual kWh)	107.5071
EnergyStar compliant	Yes
Annual operating cost (@$0.1135/kWh)	$12.20

We wish the Gateway offered more connectivity, but we have no complaints about its power consumption. At $12.20 on the year, the Gateway One ZX4800-02 is just as efficient as the Averatec Nettop, yet Gateway offers a larger screen and twice the performance. We can't ask for much more than that, so kudos to Gateway for putting together one of the greenest PCs we've seen since we've started testing for power efficiency.

The warranty for the Gateway One ZX4800-02 gives you one year of parts-and-labor protection, backed by toll-free phone support 24-7. Gateway's Web site also offers a reasonable level of support by way of driver downloads, a support FAQ and other resources, and a few diagnostic programs on the system itself should help with any self-support efforts.

Find out more about how we test desktop systems.

System configurations:

Acer Aspire Z5610
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.6GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core E5300; 4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570; 320GB 5,400 rpm Seagate hard drive

Averatec D1133 All-In-One
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (32-bit); 1.5GHz AMD Athlon X2 3250e; 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 512MB ATI Radeon HD 3200; 250GB 5,400 rpm Samsung hard drive

Gateway One ZX4800-02
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.1GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300; 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 32MB (shread) Intel GMA 450M integrated graphics chip; 750GB 5,400 rpm Seagate hard drive

Gateway SX2800-01
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.3GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200; 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 32MB (shared) Intel GMA X4500 integrated graphics chip; 640GB 7,200rpm hard drive

Lenovo C300
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (32-bit); 1.6GHz Intel Atom 330; 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4350; 640GB 5,400 rpm Western Digital hard drive

See pricing