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Gateway M505XL - Page 11

post #201 of 950
12/20/03 at 5:13pm
gooner your review just reinforces why everyone should get this system!

--JR
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post #202 of 950
12/20/03 at 7:50pm
I will review it as well when I get it. Should be here in a few days. I'll also take a bunch of pictures and host them on my ISP's provided webspace.

-vc
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post #203 of 950
12/20/03 at 10:22pm
Gee I kind of do want to see some sisoft sandra scores.Im so embarassed.
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post #204 of 950
12/21/03 at 3:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vc178
I will review it as well when I get it. Should be here in a few days. I'll also take a bunch of pictures and host them on my ISP's provided webspace.

-vc
vc.. couldn't be happier to hear that... nobody else has done that yet!

--JR
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post #205 of 950
12/21/03 at 5:56am
Hello I really like this thread I’ve been following it for about 3 weeks now.
A While back I visited my local gateway branch to look for notebooks and I saw how nice this notebook is so im happy to say I decided on m505x
(I ordered it last week should be here on the 22 crossing fingers ) I really think that this is one of the best notebooks in price range\ capabilities
I have some questions about the wide screen, it looks like the only real resolution that works is 1280 by 800 (the wide aspect resolution) all the other resolutions look stretched, is this true? Or am I missing something? How will games that use 800x600 or 1024x786 look? And how will a higher resolution affect overall performance?
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post #206 of 950
12/21/03 at 3:10pm
My experience concludes that the only true resolution in windows is 1280 x 800 and the others looked stretched. In terms of the gaming question the only game I put down to 1024x786 was HALO so I could keep the full effects. I did not notice any stretching but I could only imagine it was. So far HALO is the only game I could get slow down in high settings and 1200x800. Hope this helps. Enjoy your machine when it shows.
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post #207 of 950
12/21/03 at 3:30pm
jonnyrobs-

see page 5 of this post for some pics, i posted a few there after my review (page 4).


http://talknotebooks.com/showthread....4&page=5&pp=15
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post #208 of 950
12/21/03 at 3:31pm
if anyone has any picture request, i would be glad to post any.
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post #209 of 950
12/21/03 at 6:45pm
Kwick7, I would like to seem some shots of the desktop to get a feel for the workspace available with the widescreen. If you have Excel I would like to see how much working real-estate you have. I use Excel and some proprietary financial software for work.

I'm considering this notebook primarily for work, but will be doing some light gamming on it also. Like Kwick7 mentioned earlier, my desktop is primarily for gamming. However, I plan on using this notebook as a secondary system at Lans and for some gamming while traveling.

I would also like to thank all of you guys for pointing me to these machines. They look like great books for a great price. I'm leaning towards the m505xl myself.
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post #210 of 950
12/21/03 at 7:50pm
Tooks some pics and screenshots as requested. Yet to install Office because waiting on the other Hard Drive so the Works spreadsheet is all I had.

http://home.comcast.net/~i.burgoon/Webfullshot.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~i.burgoon/Workspaceweb.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~i.burgoon/W...preadsheet.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~i.burgoon/holoscreen.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~i.burgoon/Screenshotweb.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~i.burgoon/S...preadsheet.jpg


Not hard to snap more if anyone wants.
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post #211 of 950
12/21/03 at 9:27pm
thanks for the pics.. the laptop looks awsome!

also i was wondering something.. i went to look at the dell 8600 the other day and couldn't believe how short and fat the widescreen looked.. didn't even look as if it was the same height as a regular 15" screen! is this the case with the gateway? would it be as tall physically as say the Sager 5680?

--JR
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post #212 of 950
12/22/03 at 12:12am
Thanks for the pics Gooner.

I'm really having a hard time deciding what laptop to pull the trigger on. I really like the m505xl, but there are some drawback that I'm having a hard time with. Things like the 64mb on the 9600, the 5400 rpm drive, the lower resolution screen, and no blue tooth. The blue tooth is pushing it, but it would be nice to sync the addresses in my phone when I stand next to my notebook. Anyway, the dollars I would be saving by going with the Gateway seem like they may be worth giving a little up.

The Clevo M375 and Dell 8600 both attractive, but I'm not sure how long I want to wait for the Clevo and even if and when Sager will offer it. Dell just turns me off in general.

I've read every post in this thread and one thing that really draws me to the m505xl is how much the people that own it love it. I haven't heard one person say that they are sending back or that they are disappointed with it (hard drive tech issues aside).

If only money grew on trees.
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post #213 of 950
12/22/03 at 1:29am
Gobo, you are suffering from the same thing I was. At some point you must pull the trigger. My reservations were identical to yours excepting the Bluetooth. As I sit here typing away on this machine I regret that I waisted so much time doddling over my decision. This is a great machine. It has a solid construction and well thought out design of components. It plays any game on the market smoothly and at full settings. It has a long battery life and can still be considered a laptop. For me I hit paydirt with this thing. I hope you can "pull the trigger" soon. No matter what you decide on, I am sure you will love it (even the Dell if you get a good one). Good luck.

johnyrobs, wide aspect displays have a different height/width ratio than normal displays. Therefore a 15" normal display is a bit taller than a 15.4" wide aspect display. I didn't notice till I broke out a tape measure but the m505 screen measures 13 1/8" x 8 1/4". I don't know the dimensions of the Dell. I think the average normal 15" display is about 9". Again, I didn't notice it on mine. Cheers.
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post #214 of 950
12/22/03 at 3:18am
Gobo, IMO I think that the Gateway M505x has the best 'bang for the buck' ratio.

The attractive price, the great looks, the positive reviews, the battery life, and how all the owners of this laptop love it made me buy it. I also got free shipping/garenteed before Christmas delivery when I ordered it .

I feel very confident about my purchase and I'm sure you will too if you decide to get an M505. It sounds like a great laptop and I'm looking forward to using it. No matter what you decide on getting, all three of them will get the job done; it's just a matter of peace of mind.

Update: My laptop shipped out yesterday, a Sunday(??). I have my tracking number and according to UPS, it's in Memphis, TN. It will probably arrive in the region tomarrow and should be delivered on Wednesday, the 24th (and that means Gateway will beats the Christmas deadline! , kudos to Gateway if they pull this off, I ordered last Thursday *CROSSES FINGERS*)

-vc
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post #215 of 950
12/22/03 at 3:42am
Has anybody tried out the 6-pin firewire port with an iPod? I've heard the Sager 8890's have the 6-pin, but turned out they were unpowered (thus defeating the whole point). Would be nice to finally be able to charge my iPod WHILE I'm sync-ing it..

Thanks.

-n
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post #216 of 950
12/22/03 at 5:33am
all my complaints aside regarding the customer service and hdd issue... yes this is a great laptop...

i havent tried the 6 pin but the 4 pin firewire was tried and worked fine... doing some video edit..
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post #217 of 950
12/22/03 at 7:20am
If the 4 pin works, I'd think that the 6 pin works as well...
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post #218 of 950
12/22/03 at 11:12am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gobo
The Clevo M375 and Dell 8600 both attractive, but I'm not sure how long I want to wait for the Clevo and even if and when Sager will offer it. Dell just turns me off in general.
After reading this review thread on the current Clevo M375 (aka Sager 3750), I am not sure that the M375E is worth waiting for. It would seem that M375 quality may not be as high as some other Clevo models.

Also, the more I read about Dell 8600 quality and Dell consumer support on the Dell Community Forums here and here, the more turned off I become on the Dell 8600 as an option.

I have also been thinking about 64MB vs. 128MB video RAM on the Gateway M505. More video memory is needed the more pixels are on the screen. In my opinion, 64MB of video memory will be adequate for a WXGA screen like on the M505 except for new games with extreme textures. Even these games should play fine if the textures are turned down slightly.

I have also been thinking about video performance versus screen resolution. The ATI 9600 may be the best available in notebook graphics, but it has only mid-range performance when compared with what is available on desktop PCs. If I were to configure a desktop PC and expect it to have good performance when driving a UXGA display, I would get an ATI 9800 or better graphics card. The higher the screen resolution, the more video performance suffers for a given GPU. When I consider this along with the fact that a notebook display doesn't look good when it's not being driven at its native resolution, the idea of pairing an ATI 9600 with an XGA or WXGA display becomes more appealing. Such a pairing would also result in a notebook that could play new games at full native resolution for a longer time into the future (because it has higher performance at its native resolution).

All of these thoughts lead me to the conclusion that the Gateway M505 is the current "best buy" among laptops with good graphics performance and battery life. I would have probably ordered one already if my wife and I hadn't just gotten a plasma TV as our joint Christmas present. Since the plasma TV wouldn't fit in our entertainment center, we had to get a new one. Since the new entertainment center didn't match the old end tables, we had to get new end tables too. And since our old TV didn't fit into the entertainment center in the family room, we had to get a new entertainment center for that room as well! When I add these purchases to all of the Christmas presents for the kids and others, I am feeling overspent right now. Oh well, it's Christmas .
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post #219 of 950
12/22/03 at 2:20pm
Okay, I’m almost there. I’m so close that I’m clearing off a place on my desk for a m505xl. However I have a final question for those of you with one. I noticed that kwick7 had a bit of ghosting when he played Madden, but no problems with other games like Call of Duty. Have any other users noticed and ghosting with games? Specifically with fast first person shooters like Call of Duty, UT2003, or Quake 3.

I take the Series 7 tomorrow (wish me luck), so after the exam I probably order. I would like to get in on it before the 31st so I can take advantage of 6 months with no interest.

Thanks again guys. You have all been a tremendous help.

Barginseaker, that’s a great story about your plasma. I bet the set up looks great.
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post #220 of 950
12/22/03 at 3:17pm

Ghosting during gaming

No ghosting noticed with Call of Duty, Tron 2.0, Pirates, GTA Vice City, Mafia, or Halo all at full settings. Only get ghosting when I scroll quickly on web pages. Not bad, and I expected it. Clear that desk. Bargain Seeker, thanks for the additional insight. I don't regret for a second turning my Dell away, looks like Dell has a possible lemon on their hands. The only way I COULD get this laptop was by buying my wife an iBook first Cheers!
~Gooner
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