Is there a better deal than this Gateway?

[Toro 45]

Gateway MX6025

Warranty Terms - Parts 1 year
Warranty Terms - Labour 1 year
Product Height 1.4"
Product Width 14.1"
Product Weight 6.3 lbs.
Product Length 10.4"
Processor Brand Intel® Celeron® M
Processor Speed 1.4GHz
Display Type WXGA widescreen TFT LCD with Ultrabright technology
Screen Size 15.4"
System Bus 400MHz
Cache Memory 1MB on die Level 2
System Memory (RAM) 256MB
System Memory (RAM) Expandable To 1GB
Type of Memory (RAM) PC2700 DDR SoDIMM
Hard Drive Size 40GB
Optical Drive DVD-ROM/CD-RW
Optical Drive Speeds 8x DVD-ROM; 24x24x24 CD-RW
LightScribe Compatibility No
Digital Media Reader or Slots Yes, digital media card readeGraphics Intel® Extreme Graphics 2
Video Memory 32MB (shared)
Personal Video Recorder (PVR) No
TV Tuner No
MPEG Yes
Modem 56 Kbps* ITU V.92 *Capable of receiving 56 Kbps downloads. However, current regulations limit download speed to 53 Kbps.
Networking Built-in 10/100 Mbps Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)
Wireless Networking Built-in high-speed wireless LAN (802.11b/g) with 125 Mbps high-speed mode and SecureEasySetup Technology
S-Video Outputs None
Audio AC '97
Speakers Built-in stereo
PCMCIA Slots 1 Type I/Type II
USB 2.0 Ports 4
IEEE 1394 FireWire Ports 1
Parallel Ports None
Serial Ports None
Game Ports None
Notebook Weight Standard (more than 6 lbs.)
Battery Type Lithium-ion
Pointing Device Touchpad with vertical scroll zone
Operating System Windows XP Home SP2

Included Software Microsoft Works 8.0, Money 2005, Windows Media Player 10; Adobe Acrobat Reader 7; CyberLink PowerDVD; Nero 6 Suite; QuickTime; RealNetworks RealPlayer; Gateway BigFix and more


$579.00 no rebates involved. at Best Buy. Staples had it last week for $599.00 and I almost bought it but wanted to look around a bit more. I checked all the Dell Deals and liked the 6000 Deal but it was still $668.00 with 512mb, almost a hundred dollars more basically same specs except the extra 256mb ram. This won't be a primary comp, more for just playing DVD's and web surfing around the house with the wireless. So It doesn't have to be super powerful. Anyone have one or know of a better deal out there?
Best Buy link

 

[inhotep]

I think the gateway is a better deal compare to the dell 6000. I don't how you came up with 668 for 512 but when I customized it, it came out to 700 bucks with out shipping.
Few things to consider: that gateway has 855 chipsets but everything is upgradable (ability and easy to upgrade CPU, RAM, HHD, WIfi). Dell 6000 use 915 chipsets, however, it looks like that
Celeron model may be an INTEGRATED (soldered studbump substright) and can not be upgraded in the future. Plus, you need to find out whether its the 2x256 or 1x512 ram config.
I could be wrong about the integrated celeron CPU though, it could be just how they setup their "Base System" config.. But this is pretty important to know.

 

[Toro 45]

It's the Dell Home 30% off coupon (Dell Inspiron 6000 Notebook, Celeron M 1.40GHz, 15.4" WXGA, 512MB, 40GB, CD-RW/DVD-ROM, XP Media Center Edition 2005 » only $668.00 + Free Shipping)

So would the cpu be upgradeble to an Pentium? I'm curious about the WXGA screen some reviewes said the Dell 15.4WXGA screen was not all that great, do you think the Gateway screen would be about the same?

 

[inhotep]

Originally posted by: Toro 45
It's the Dell Home 30% off coupon (Dell Inspiron 6000 Notebook, Celeron M 1.40GHz, 15.4" WXGA, 512MB, 40GB, CD-RW/DVD-ROM, XP Media Center Edition 2005 » only $668.00 + Free Shipping)

So would the cpu be upgradeble to an Pentium? I'm curious about the WXGA screen some reviewes said the Dell 15.4WXGA screen was not all that great, do you think the Gateway screen would be about the same?

I questioned whether their 6000 celeron CPU is **"integrated (soldered) on to the motherboard," if it is integrated, then it can not be upgraded period. **you need to find someone with that celeron model or call dell.
I think dell offer three types of displays, example: WXGA, WUXGA, WUXGA+, so if reviews specifically state the standared WXGA, then it could be a problem.
THe gateway ad stated that is has "Ultrabright technology", imply that the display will be brighter than average in brigher conditions like in an area with white lights or outside, and the screen may by glossy. Not to be confused with good transflective displays. On the other hand, the standard display on dell 6000 does seem to be a regular, average display according to dells little discription. So, that gateway screen is better than the standard d 6000 screen.

UltraSharp imply the pixels reflect more clarity, vivid, sharp, and the actual shap of the pixels.

 

[Toro 45]

I was actually intrested to know if the gateway lappy could be upgraded to a Pentium cpu? Also, I'm not really up to speed on mobile cpu's, the celeron would be comparable to what speed Pentium or AMD cpu? Thanks for your help.

I checked the Gateway site and it looks like it has the Intel® 852GM chipset.

 

[Mike01]

The celeron M is nearly identical to the Pentium M of the same clock speed in performance for everything except games, where it lags only slightly because of the smaller cache.

The only real difference between the two chips is that the Celeron M doesn't have the dynamic clock/power savings features of the penitum M and will give you a little less battery life (3hrs vs 4hrs).

The Celeron M is a Pentium M with 1MB cache (vs 2MB) and no dynamic clock.

 

[Toro 45]

I went ahead an bought the Gateway, it does have the glossy wide screen and I must say it does look damn nice. I ordered a 512mb stick of Patriot ram from zipzoomfly for $43.00 shipped, the hard drive is so quiet I doubt I'll be replacing it anytime soon. Screen looks bigger than than my 17 inch Samsung LCD(although it's not), DVD's look great. Funny, I thought I might get buyers remorse after buying it because I really wanted a Dell but as soon as I saw that glossy wide screen and blue led's everywhere, I was hooked.

 

[Hossenfeffer]

I went ahead and bought one too. The no rebates aspect kinda won me over. Well, that and the fact that I was depressed and wanted a laptop.

Had a hell of a time uninstalling all the crap. Bit of a laptop newbie, not sure if I should be reformatting the drive and removing the extra partition or not.

 

[andrewbabcock]

Can someone please fill me in on why this is so appealing? Get a 600m if you are going to go for something that cheap. You could have gotten a nice P-M for a little bit more...

 

[Hossenfeffer]

For me, it was the simple fact that I could throw $700 or so on my best buy card and be done with it. Would have much preferred going a P-M for around $1500, but I don't have the cash to justify it. Truth be told, 95+% of the stuff I want to use a laptop for can be adequately handled by the gateway.

 

[andrewbabcock]

Check this:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/....aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=i2200RS&s=dhs

$100 more for a decent P-M notebook at 1.7ghz. With a coupon, it would have been even less...

 

[inhotep]

Originally posted by: andrewbabcock
Check this:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/....aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=i2200RS&s=dhs

$100 more for a decent P-M notebook at 1.7ghz. With a coupon, it would have been even less...

Actually that dell 2200 not only cost $150 more, but it has a 90 day warranty, very restricted tech support, weights 6 ibs!! and an inferior screen.
Also considering you can't upgrade the screen at this point, 1 year vs. 90 day warranty, no, its not cheaper at all.

 

[Toro 45]

I really wanted the 15.4" glossy widescreen and a low out the door price. The rest of the stuff I can upgrade later if I feel the need.

 

[Mike01]

Andrewbabcock,

Why are you so obsessed with Penitum Ms? It's getting to the point where I really have to know! It's like someone is holding a gun to your head and saying he'll shoot you if you don't get 1000 people to buy a Pentium M in the next two weeks.

To answer your question...it's becaue the Gateway comes with more features for the price, and because they have their laptops right now, in their hands, and if they have problems, they can take them back to the store and get a new one the same day.

I just bought a book from Amazon, and I want to read it now. Right now. Only I can't. Because I bought it mail order.

 

[cheesehead]

Out of sheer unadulterated curiousity, has the quality on Gateway products gone up? We had a Gateway that we got in early 2000 that managed to last over 5 years; no mean feat. (The HDD went kaput.) However, I've heard of newer eMachines and Gateway products going kaput in eight months or less.

 

[andrewbabcock]

Originally posted by: Mike01
Andrewbabcock,

Why are you so obsessed with Penitum Ms? It's getting to the point where I really have to know! It's like someone is holding a gun to your head and saying he'll shoot you if you don't get 1000 people to buy a Pentium M in the next two weeks.

To answer your question...it's becaue the Gateway comes with more features for the price, and because they have their laptops right now, in their hands, and if they have problems, they can take them back to the store and get a new one the same day.

I just bought a book from Amazon, and I want to read it now. Right now. Only I can't. Because I bought it mail order.

P-M is the best processor on the market IMHO. The next Intel desktop processors will just be 64-bit, dual core versions, of P-M. I really don't like intel at all, but i like P-M. That being said, a desktop system of my creation would have a 4000+ sandy in it.