Great Performance for a Great Laptop
Written: Sep 02 '04 (Updated Dec 09 '04)
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Pros: Gorgeous screen, speed, expandability.
Cons: Some outdated features, heavy, terrible speakers, battery life.
The Bottom Line: If you do happen to find one of these laptops around for sale, I do recommend picking one up because of the good expandability and performance.
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| tgorham82's Full Review: Gateway 600XL PC Notebook |
I bought this machine in May of 2003, so I have had a lot of experience with it. I was just about to start my freshman year of college. Last year I attended Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota, one of the best computer schools in the country. Majoring in Computer Information Systems, I knew that I had to get something that would last me throughout my tenure at DSU.
I had purchased a P3 tower back in 2000 from Gateway and had had only a few problems with the company, so I decided to give them another chance. The main components of my machine are as follows:
Intel Pentium 4-M 2.4 GHz Processor
768 MB DDR-RAM
60 GB HDD
40 GB HDD in Bay 1
DVD-CD/RW 24x/12x/24x Combo Drive in Bay 2
ATI Radeon Mobility 9000 64 MB DDR-VRAM DirectX 8.1 Video Card
15.7" THT Active Matrix LCD screen
Microsoft Windows XP: Professional
Other features:
Touch pad mouse
Built-in keyboard with 4 function buttons
Built-in stereo speakers
Optical sound output
Headphone/speaker jack
Microphone jack
Multimedia buttons to control media playback
1 4-Pin 1394 (Firewire) port
2 Type I/II PCMCIA slots for PC card expansion
1 PS/2 jack for external keyboard/mouse
1 Serial port
1 Parallel port
1 10/100 Ethernet port
1 56 K V.92 modem
1 VGA Monitor output
1 Composite video output
2 USB 1.1 ports
At the time I bought this, I knew I wanted power, but I wanted to be able to take the power with me as i moved from class to class. Because DSU had a wireless network on campus, having a laptop would suit me nicely.
Also, being a gamer, I was glad to find that the newest mobile video card (at the time) was included in this wonderful machine. 64 MB may not be a whole lot nowadays, but it was a year ago and I am still happy with its performance. To give you a little idea of ATI's Mobility 9000's power I will tell you that I have been able to play the newest, and most graphically enhanced game out right now: Doom 3. Granted, I have to turn all the features down all the way, but I still get a good experience while playing. Now that was impressive. Also, other games that have been released within the past year play great on this machine with most of the features all the way up. Games like Max Payne 2, Need for Speed: Underground, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Soldier of Fortune II and others play at a great frame rate with every graphics feature turned all the way up. Bravo.
Another thing that I just fell in love with was the 15.7" screen. This thing is, in one word, crisp. With a 1280 x 1024 native resolution, you can fit quite a bit on the screen without having to squint to see it. A+ on the screen, Gateway.
The reason I got the two hard drives was because I knew I wanted to use the modular 40 GB drive to store my personal media for easy access and have my programs and games installed on the main 60 GB drive. Since I had a lot of media to store, and a lot of software, I chose to get both drives. Though both drives are only 5400 RPM drives, they do get the job done. Unfortunately, I have had to replace my 60 GB hard drive twice since I have had this machine. Now, I do understand that hard drives are the most likely thing to break on any computer, I just thought it was kind of unfortunate that my main hard drive broke TWICE. Being the prepared guy that I am, I had everything backed up before these two incidents caused me some grief. Other than that, I have had no problems with the hardware.
The 2 PCMCIA slots are very nice for expandability. Right now, I have a Belkin 2-port USB 2.0 card in the top slot, and a Cisco Aironet 350 Wireless LAN card in the bottom. Both cards work great. I got the Belkin product because of the fact that Gateway only included 2 USB 1.1 ports on this machine. Even though USB 2.0 had been out for quite a while, Gateway decided to continue carrying the same feature in this laptop. Not smart, but I made due. I use the Belkin product to plug in my high-speed external hard drive, webcam, printer, USB flash drive and whatever else I feel the need to plug in. In the low-speed ports I have my optical mouse and my Philips stereo USB Link cable.
Now, I come to the speakers. Wow. I have never heard such terrible speakers in my life. Very "tingy", absolutely no bass sound to speak of, very little volume range, and they are mounted right beneath where your wrists lay when you are using the keyboard. Ouch. Since I do use my Philips stereo and some Boston Acoustics speakers most of the time, it's not something I have to deal with.
Some aspects of the laptop as a whole. It is pretty heavy. I'd say it's around 11 lbs with both bays full and the battery plugged in. For a laptop, that's pretty heavy, but if you are using this machine as a desktop replacement and not taking around with you much, it wouldn't really matter much. If you would take it around with you, do what I do, get a backpack that is made for laptops (padded) and take it around with you that way. I recommend any product from Targus; they're expensive, but well worth it. If you do use this laptop a lot while away from your desk, you will notice, however, that battery life is not that impressive. I get about 2 hours at the most, but that's with the LCD screen brightness all the way down, the extra hard drive and CD drive turned off and not doing anything particularly taxing on the processor. Granted, you do have a lot of power in this small package, but I would recommend purchasing a modular battery to supplement the power.
I think it's safe to say that this little puppy is packed. Even though some of the features are a little outdated, it is built to expand as per the needs of the user. I give it an A-.
|||UPDATE|||
To answer a question that has been directed to me regarding Gateway's parts return policy, yes, Gateway did replace my hard drive both times free of any extra charge. The second time, the parts warranty was actually up but they never even mentioned it and express shipped it to me. Also just to add on, I contacted Gateway about the fact that they have not provided any updated driver support for my hardware in over a year. They contacted me back a day later and told me to go to a separate, non-Gateway, site to download my drivers. That separate site didn't work, so I ended up finding a different one on my own. Not very helpful and not very good after-the-sale support.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2662.71
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Screen Size: Greater than 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
tgorham82
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Location: Madison, South Dakota, USA
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 1 member
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