As I've been working my way through configuring this new Gateway convertible Tablet PC, I've experienced a few glitches - both in process and what's been delivered. Hardly surprising really - these are the first of a new line of machines and some bumps in the road are to be expected. But the point of this post is not to complain - far from it.

We've all read some horrific stories about other PC manufacturers failing to do right by their customers or honor their warranties in the spirit in which they were sold .

Can you connect the dots between a certain vociferous New York-area blogger whose first and last name begins with a "J" and a certain high-volume, diminished-quality box mover in the Lone Star State? Yeah, I thought you could.

I've had exactly the opposite experience over the last two weeks since I ordered the S7200. At every turn, Gateway has been responsive and accurate. I mentioned in a previous post that they beat their original shipping date by six days. The port replicator that was part of the configuration I ordered did not arrive last Friday. I sent Gateway Support an e-mail via their web site and received a response in about an hour that confirmed it had been shipped separately, would arrive on Monday (today) and provided a tracking number.

Yesterday (Sunday), I read a post on TabletPCBuzz.com's Gateway forum that indicated that a new model pen that tracked better was being made available upon request. While I have been pretty happy with the way the pen works, I did notice there's a bit of offset between the physical tip of the pen and the cursor on the display. I figured, what the heck - if a new pen could improve on the current performance I was getting - why not?

I sent another e-mail (remember this is on a Sunday) and got an answer in less than two hours asking if I had used the supplied cloth to thoroughly clean the screen. I replied immediately that I had, in fact. done a very thorough job of cleaning the screen but still had a noticeable alignment issue. Less than 15 minutes later I received confirmation that a replacement had been ordered (they're back ordered at the moment but on their way).

After receiving the port replicator, I've discovered that the VGA output is rather noisy - not unusable but not what I've come to expect (which is the same quality I get when connecting directly to the notebook itself). So I sent another e-mail today and have received not one but two replies in the past couple of hours attempting to diagnose what might be amiss. I'm confident Gateway will do right by me on this issue as well.

With all the bad news about reduced quality in support and lowered expectations on the part of consumers, this is a welcome change. Every one of the Gateway techs I've been corresponding with has been professional, courteous, and very motivated to help me with my issues.

What price tag do you put on that?

UPDATE: I had a follow up e-mail waiting for me at 5:00 a.m. when I logged on today to make arrangements for a replacement port replicator unit! Gateway seems to be running 24/7 high-quality tech support. I can't say enough about how good this makes me feel about my choice.

UPDATE 2: My replacement stylus arrived today (so much for being backordered) and is a dramatic improvement over the pen that shipped with the unit.