Gateway M505XL - Page 10

I wonder if one can selectively install or reinstall programs from the Gateway Restore CD? If so, maybe you could uninstall Nero and reinstall it?

Does anybody know if the m505x's (not XL's) come with the hard drive partitioned c: and d:??? And if so, is the d: only for the a/v controls?

pnahumb-

mine came partitioned. I'll look at home to see what the formats are. I know that the D drive was formated to 2 gigs, and i believe thats its supposed to be for mp3's to play without turning the system on.

hello all-

i have been thinking about getting the gateway m505x to replace my current notebook: a 1999 dell pentium2 400mhz 96mb ram and a 4gb hard drive... i think the damn thing weighs about 11 lbs...

anyways, i have been reading all of your posts on the m505 and i have seen it in person at a gateway store... my two questions are:

1. what type of warranty should i get? the free 1 year... or 2 year or should i get accidental damage protection too? any advice would be appreciated.

2. is the m505 upgradable... i mean at a later date can i get more memory for it... say upgrade from 512mb to a full gig?

3. ive read the posts about the gameplay on this notebook... has anyone played MS flight simulator 2004 on the m505 yet... if so how choppy is it on the best graphics setting?

ok- thanks for the help!

-j

You guys think the price will drop anytime soon? Otherwise.. I got credit card in hand and am ready to order .

-vc

EDIT: I'm talking about the M505x btw... (I feel that the M505x is the best bargin in lappy pcs )

vc178

The price on the m505x dropped $100 on the 7th of this month. That's why I got one. I don't know if they will go down anymore.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Purchase made, supposed to arrive the 23rd. I just beat the free shipping deadline ; can't wait until I get it.

I got the M505x w/ no accessories. $1499. I don't think I'll need the warentee because I've been careful with my previous laptops and have never damaged any of them.

Thanks for the help everyone, hopefully I won't regret getting this .

-vc

vc178

Did you order online? How did you find out when it is supposed to come? Because I ordered one on the 7th and at the "track your order" it's says it's supposed to SHIP on the 30th.

I called.

On their website they state that it's "Garenteed to be delived by Christmas" or something like that. I asked the sales representative and she told me it should be there a few days before christmas, so probably 22nd or 23rd.

Youll be happy with the laptop... its amazingly quiet... nice to look at etc...

just pray you never need to call them for help... customer servie sucks....

Hopefully I won't have to.. it sounds like not much of you guys HAD to contact them unless it was about the harddrive issue, which is somewhat minor imo.

yeah... they have my serial # and their service still sucks..

u almost sound like u work for gateways PR dept.....

The confidence keeps on growing

Yea I have also taken note of the lack of tec issues.Well not counting that harddrive thing, its not a big one in my book, but it is worthy of note.In all honesty I dont count anything that user serviceable as big.Yes it feels like they are trying to pull one over on you, when the deal is for something else.But im the type who will switch out the harddrive anyway.

It's not a major problem.. only those who want the absolute most out of their $2,000 will care. Since I'm opting for the M505x, I don't think I will have any of those little issues.

They haven't shipped it yet and it's been almost two days since I ordered it. "Garenteed Delivery" by December 25th; let's see how you pull this one off, Gateway. 4+ days and counting...

EDIT: So I just re-read some of the oldest posts and it seems that UPS doesn't have pickups on Friday/Saturday. Well today is Saturday and yesterday was Friday so that explains why it hasn't been shipped yet . Even if they do get out on Monday.. that means it will have to arrive in two days to beat the Christmas deadline. Wednesday is the 24th, the day which it is supposed to arrive and I doubt they do deliveries on the 25th, so I guess I'll wait and see what happens.. hopefully I'll get it on the 24th, then I'll have the entire day of Christmas to play with my new toy

-vc
BTW: Happy Holidays to everyone

Would you believe my serial number is still not in the system?
BargainSeeker is right though about the quality. It is a very nice quality system all around. The customer service issues are rough, but I hope most average folks with obvious problems will be handled OK... I wouldn't trust their customer service to anything mission critical though.

Long time reader, first time poster.

I have spent more time than I would like to admit searching for my next Notebook. What I wanted was a solid construction Centrino with some good gaming ability. I looked high and low and slowly chipped down to i8600 or the m505xl. I monitored this forum and others waiting for the answer. I would go back and forth. In fact I ended up having both systems being shipped to me at one point because I couldn't decide. Well, by the time the UPS guy showed up there was no question which one I wanted. The Gateway m505xl by a landslide. Refused shipping on the Dell. There is no question in my mind that Dell is slipping and having seen the quality of construction I have to say not so good. So here is my 2 cent review of my new machine. m505xl.

Cons:
-Gateways originally told me it would arrive the first of December, but I didn't get it until the 19th.
-Charged me the higher price after I had called and insisted on the lower price 1799.
-Showed up with the Hitachi HD.

Pros:
- Great quality of construction. Not only does it look good but has a very solid feel.
- The screen is no WUXGA but sure is nice. Perfect for the aps I run and don't miss not having the WUXGA (have some experience with them). Looks great.
- Quiet and cool. I would expect nothing else of a Centrino but unlike Dell for many, the m505 delivers.
- User interface is great. The keyboard is the best of the notebooks I have owned so far. Solid, good sound and layout. Touchpad feels good and is easy to work with however the mouse buttons are a bit tough, but will soften up I am sure. Miss having a dedicated scroll bar, but getting used to the scroll function of the pad. AV control panel is a nice feature but aside from the volume buttons will most likely not be used much. Launch keys on the right of the keyboard are also nice but from experience I never use them.
- Sound is very nice. Unexpected for a notebook. I laughed at the Subwoofer but now am glad I have it. Sounds great.
- Gaming. Played Tron 2.0, Pirates of the Caribbean, Call of Duty, and yes even Halo. All ran very nicely on full settings. Halo was capable of slow down with lots going on but still wow did it look good. The other games wouldn't slow down no matter how hard I tried. Unexpected. I knew the 9600 was good card but the Centrino was not made for gaming. Put it this way, I love gaming and I obviously made the right choice with this machine. Awesome gaming performance. When it comes out I may not be able to play Half-Life 2 a full settings but damn, I will be able to play it well.
- Customer Support. Yes I said it. I had some irritating exchanges with the people but in the end I have to give them great credit. My two cons listed above taken care of a just two phone calls. My money has been credited for the price drop, and the Toshiba drive is in Next Day Shipping. Wow, another unexpected from Gateway.
- Battery Life. 4-5 hours surfing and normal aps, about 2.5 hours playing Tron 2.0. Good for me!

Well thank you all for guiding me to this Notebook. Bargain Seeker, at one point you were accused of working for Gateway. This product is everything you have said it was and more. Hope you find your new one lappy soon. Thanks for efforts. Guys I would be glad to answer any question if you have any except for Benchmarks. I would rather be playing Halo than downloading and running an optimized Benchmark to prove this system. They have value but I don't have the patience or time. Again, thanks for all your posts. Cheers!