Gateway M505XL - Page 3

Thakn you Kwik7. I think I'm really gonna love it too. I just hate waiting you know:-) You mentioned you were uninstalling all the crap. is that something i should do to mine when i get it? what kind of things?

crap-
the software that I personally will never use, such as aol, there are wild tangent games and software installed, other random things. nothing major.

and my wireless connection worked the second i turned on the system, always a good thing.

Does it matter which wireless router you are using in order for
the wireless card to work right out of the box?

kwick7 , thanx in advance for the review

I also want to know what type of memory (PC2100, PC2700?) this laptop uses, and motherboard bus speed (266, 333?) if there's a way for you to find out, much appreciated!

I've been talking to a few Gateway rep's and one of the guys told me there will never be a M505CS model too bad if this model doesn't let you configure otherwise I'd have ordered one myself...

kwick7, can you tell me if the M505XL has the gateway insignia
on the top fo the case like the M675? i was looking tru the gateway website under support and they had a couple of pics up but their display model did not seem to have anything on the lid. it just looks plain. I'm thinking that maybe that model is for illustrative purposes only. Thanks!

tony... it definately does! and i really like it to. I'll post some pics if you would like. I am about to start my review...

Well I got my M505X (not the XL, I cant justify spending $400 for a better hard drive, slightly better processor, and DVDR drive) this morning, a great suprise to me! That wonderful UPS guy was here at 9 am, i was just getting up an hour later than I should have, and to my suprise my brother walks into my room and gives me a nice cow covered box. Needless to say, I did not go to class today. Anyways, on to what really matters...

The packaging:
First off, the "check all contents if seal is broken" seal was, well, broken. A little nervous, I noticed a wee little sticker next to it that said "opened for inspection" on it. Whatever. I opened it up, and it was packaged quite well. One of the dividers had nothing in it, and there was no documentation that said what should be in the box. I need to call gateway to see if anything was missing, but alas, I am lazy and I had a new toy to play with. Everything seemed to be there, and none of the bags were opened.

Turning it on:
So i turn my new baby on, and I get the "welcome to windows XP and all that garbage that you get when you turn on a store bought system for the first time. Within 2 minutes, my baby was up and running. The battery was fully charged, which would not have bothered me either way, but I can't complain. A fullly charged battery shows about 4.5 hours, but I still need to benchark the battery usage.

The very first thing I did was to inspect the screen as best as I could. One bad pixel and I was going to be pissed. Everything looked fine, so I fired up some FINDING NEMO to test out the screen. Seriously, If you have that movie, and you should because it really is great, Ellen is fantastic as Dori and that movie, you really need to try that on your lappy because the color is just amazing. The color, to me, looked just plain brilliant running on this machine. And I still could not find a dead pixel. I thought i did, but it turned out to be a little dirt fuzz the size of a pixel. Whew.

Specs (if you don't already know):

M505X


Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Microsoft® Works Suite 7.0
Norton AntiVirus 90 day Introductory Offer
Mobile Intel® Pentium® M Processor 1.4GHz
512MB DDR SDRAM
40GB ultra ATA hard drive
Integrated Secure Digital (SD) memory card reader
Integrated 24x/10x/24x CD-RW / 8x DVD slot load combo
Value Service Plan-1Yr parts/in factory labor/no on-site/1 Yr
& 90-day SW technical support
(1) Type II PC card slot
(3) USB 2.0, VGA, Parallel, (2) IEEE 1394 (FireWire), S-Video T
15.4" WXGA TFT Active Matrix
ATI Radeon 9600 Graphics with 64MB DDR video memory
Full-sized keyboard w/ dedicated one-touch control panel and
EZ pad pointing device
Integrated 20-bit sound and stereo speakers w/ Subwoofer,
headphone/speaker jack, and mic jacks

Benchmarks:

3dmark 2001, set at default, 1024X768
9033


Gameplay:

Madden 2004
This was the first game I tried simply because it was the closest thing to my lappy at the time. and I LOVE sports games, though they are admittedly better on consoles than the pc, IMO. Anyways, this game does require a lot to run high res. I had details on high and was playing at 1024X768, and I noticed a bit of ghosting. This worried me, so I figured I'd try a more important game, such as...

Call of Duty-
WOW. I can honesltly say that I was EXTREMELY impress by this. I played at 1600X1200, everything on high, and I did not notice the slightest bit of slowdown or any ghosting. Seriously. THis really impressed me. I guess madden is just programmed really bad ( damn EA sports and their love for playstation 2!!! I hate Ps2!!!!)

Unreal Tournament 2003-
Another WOW. No problems, no ghosting, high res. I love this

i will try more games,such as Battlefield 1942.



IMPRESSIONS:

WOW. From the moment I turned this baby on (and didn't find any dead pixels ) I was in love with this machine. Movies played SUPERBLY, and I am so in love with the media controls on the left of the keyboard. Seriously, they are great. I soooo love the fastforward/ rewind wheel thingy. This machine is meant for movies. I love the sound, I think its great for a laptop. The graphics impressed the hell out of me, after that little madden scare. And I love the batery life.

PROS:
-Battery life
-graphics
-media controls
-display
-sound
-price
-It's design

CONS
-I really can't think of any yet. I'm not really a fan of slot loading drives, as I fear dirt or something will get sucked in, but it doesn't bother me, i'll get used to it.

i ordered the xl and it should be here within 2 days so ill post my own review when i get it...... im the guy that gave initial impressions of m505 vs zt3000 a while back....... returned the zt3000 due to quality issues

wow! reaidng how you describe it really makes me eager to get mine. i can't wait. Sounds like one hell of a system.

One more thing, i noticed on certain areas on the gateway website they state this system has 20 bit sound system and in other areas it states that it has a 16 bit sound system. can you verify which of the two is correct?

Kwick7, I can't wait to see your pics.

i'll have to look into that speaker thing, though i do think it is 16.
what kind of pics would you like to see? generla, running a game, anything specific? I don't have a website, so unless i make one, i'll have to directly post the pics onto this site.

Lemme know.

kwick7, it looks great in some of the very limited pictures i've seen. Is it a babe?

Have you tried running any direct x 9 games on it yet, like Halo? That's what scares me about the 64mb m10. Also, would you happen to know if the gpu is an m10 pro or not? Tried over clocking yet? And can you please also post what the stock clocks on the gpu read? How is the widescreen? Is stretching very evident while gaming?

I know there's probably a lot you have on your plate right now, it would be nice if you could respond soon.

Oh, anything you want to say about the 1.5ghz processor? Do you personally think its sufficient?

Thanks!
Rao.

Kwick7, i would like to see general Pics like top view with screen closed / open the sides and stuff like that. I would really appreciate it. Thanks. i really can't wait to get mine:-(

tony-
i'll post some pics when i get home from work tonight

rao-
i'll give halo a try too.
I think the 1.5 is more than sufficient. I didn't by this baby (o yes, she is certainly a babe. )for gaming, as my desktop is certainly for that, but for word processing, photoshop, and autoCad (mostly 2d) work while on the road. I think the processor is great, I certainly did NOT want a p4 as battery life just plain blows.
I don't believe it is a pro, I haven't found any mention of that anywheres.
As for the gpu and whatnot, I'll look into that when i get home.

Battery Life??

Is anyone using the M505 for business apps, and if so, what kind of battery life are you getting? I'm talking word processing, PowerPoint, spreadsheets, databases (not super-intensive apps like gaming, video capture, etc.)

Thanks kwick7,

I'm looking forward to your post about gaming. I figured you didn't get it for gaming, however, i will need it both, for the usual office work and for gaming. This will be my primary machine. I want it with me for at least one year. Hence my concern.

Thanks,
Rao.

Ps. And congrats!

Well Rao, Halo definately answers your questions. Its both good and bad, depending on your view.

Let me get it outta the way and make this clear first: this machine is not a hardcore gaming laptop (if you could not tell by its specs). I'm sure the XL will be a little better with its better hard drive and slightly better processor, but i doubt to much of a difference.

That being said, this laptop CAN play Halo. While its not a p4 hyperthreading beast like those sagers, its not meant to be. I tried Halo with different settings. 1024X768, all settings turned on and set to high, with the exception of texture quality being set to medium, and he runs. There was definate slowdown, although honestly not terribly bad, when things got hectic on screen. However, 1024X768, normal settings (ie: no specular lighting, no shadows, medium textures) and this played greatly. Honestly. And even at that res, Halo still looks beautiful, though obviously not what it looks like at high res.

SO, will this system play Half Life 2????? Yes, but not even close to high res, although I am positive that half life will have much better coding and will look much better then halo on this machine. If you don't need super high res settings, you are fine. 1024X768, even one step up, should run just fine.

Hope that helps.


I still really love this machine.

And on another note, I took some pics but they looked really bad. I'm in the basement, and the lighting sucks. I'll post some good ones later tonight. I promise.

Looking forward to seeing those pics. Thanks I know theres a lot you have to play with. i know i will.