Profile of a computer - What's New?

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), March, 2003

* Beginning with their shipping cartons emblazoned with random black spots on a white background to resemble the hide of a cow, the people from Gateway, Inc., North Sioux City, S.D., have marched to the beat of a different drummer. Many companies have used a symbol on their logos, advertising, promotional material, etc. that has carried through their entire line. With Gateway, however, the cow symbolism begins and ends with the box, with no further explanation to the public as to what it signifies. Having cleared that up, let's move on to the modus operandi of the company--designing computers to fit a customer's specific wants and needs. So, when a consumer opens his or her cow-like box, the components form a customized unit, rather than the one-size-fits-all mentality that predominates throughout the field. This is not to say that Gateway does not start with certain parameters to begin building the customization upon. With that in mind, we set out to assemble exactly the unit we wanted within its Profile 4X line.

In keeping with the mania for thinness sweeping America, the Profile has eliminated the bulky cathode ray tube that traditionally ran the monitor and replaced it with a 17" flat screen. Even with the built-in Intel Pentium processor, you've already saved about a foot of desk space, and cleared a large amount of floor space as well. The processor is cantilevered over the multifunction keyboard that, along with the sleek Logitech USB Optical Wheel Mouse, constitutes the rest of your visible components, the entire setup measuring an economical 16.59" wide x 18.2" high x 7.87" deep and weighing just 23 pounds. In short, the Profile profile is slim, not bulky. Would that be but so for its operator.

In keeping with the Gateway scheme of things, we explained to the sales representative who walked us through the ordering process exactly what we wanted the computer for. (In our case, it was a confirmed 20th-century Luddite reluctantly conceding the point and accepting 21st-century technology, admitting that computers are here to stay. Having mastered the VCR and then the DVD, we figured that we no longer could use the Blanche du Bois technique of depending on the kindness of strangers, or family members, every time we wanted to go online, send email, or utilize any of the other services a computer offered.) So, we explained, we were seeking simplicity and really didn't need all the bells and whistles electronics store salesmen insisted we had to have. We got a knowing nod at the other end of the phoneline, admittedly a Zen-like concept, and a suite of features that would fit our needs without being so barebones as to having us operating a Model T system in a sports car age.

By the time we were through, we had ordered a trio of drives--hard, floppy, and optical--and a Microsoft Windows operating system that included Word and Encarta. The specifications--such as 120GB UATA100 7200RPM for the hard drive--seemed daunting, until we convinced ourselves that the technological gobbledygook, while it would keep computer mavens enthralled, was not important so long as we understood what each component did. Once we were assured that the video graphics were excellent and that we had access to the various programs we felt we needed, we were content.

Upon delivery, the thought of installation filled us with deep-seated dread, so we brought in our "tech staff"--our children, belong to a generation that seemingly was born with such a knowledge already implanted. Rather than take over and do all the installation, as they had with the aforesaid VCR and DVD devices that came into our home, they offered to talk us through the operation instead so that we would have a concept of how everything came together. Following a remarkably lucid, oversized four-step graphic that accompanied the components in that familiar cow-like box we found that set-up was a snap: Simply (1) connect the keyboard; (2) connect the mouse; (3) connect the modern; then (4) connect the power cord and start the system. To our utter amazement--with approving nods from the tech staff, who ultimately proved to be unnecessary--we had installed our Profile. (Actually, if we had decided we did not need the optional modern, it would have been a mere three-step operation.) Even the admittedly technologically challenged like ourselves can handle plugging things in!

A profusion of external ports and jacks permit complementary components--printers, fax machines, scanners, etc.--to be added as effortlessly. Meanwhile, the multimedia package provided integrated stereo sound and the capability to play DVDs, CDs, and the various combinations and permutations they are engendering in dizzying profusion seemingly every day. Moreover, we found that special promotional software had made us masters of the virtual Sims universe, enabling us to control the lives of these fictional characters in case we do not have a life of our own. Such godlike powers threaten to introduce an overdose of megalomaniacal omnipotence and destroy our crumbling Luddite persona!