Gateway M505XL - Page 27

RS/Older Games on XP

Right re: XP probs with Rogue Spear...fixed it using compatibility feature of XP. Right click app and configure compatibility for Windows 98, e.g. Game runs beatifully now, can host 16 players via Gamespy with only the slightest hiccough every now and then.

This lappy ownz. Period.

Gateway M505x @ office depot

Office Depot has the $200 mail in rebate again. Runs until 1/24

Will Gateway price match Office Depot? How about a $200 rebate on a 505xl if I call in the order.

I'm getting ready to order soon and I'm kicking myself for missing the deals they had on gateway.com a week or so ago. Stupid waiting....

What HD comes w/ M505 XL ??? 4200RPM or 5300 RPM ? What mark ?! I'm confused in this ...

Thanks ...

The M505XL should come with a 5400RPM HD, but it looks like a lot of people are getting the 4200RPM drive when they order. You can hit up tech support to get the proper drive sent to you, but a couple here have had some trouble getting a quick resolution.

From the user feedback here, the 5400RPM drive seems noisy compared to the 4200RPM drive. I'm hoping that I can give them both a try and choose which ever fits my tastes.

I ordered 3x and all three times they sent me the 4200 speed drive on the xl. Fortunately, i did get a better deal then advertised on their website. I didnt want to bother with installing xp again on a new hard drive they sent me ... why should i? plus the louder noise thing let me change my mind about getting the faster hard drive. At the same time for those into games the hard drive will make a huge difference so def opt for that if possible.

On my third laptop I did get the fujitsu hard drive and i guess I would prefer the hitachi but i dont care any more... i just want to use my dang laptop without being anal about every thing...

One thing... on this third one I am noticing a slightly noisier fan whine then the first two laptops i had which were the hitachi... idont think fan noise has anything to do with hdd noise so I wont say they are related. I thought maybe some screws were loose on the bottom of the laptop so I tightened those. Not too tight but they sure werent tight to begin with. The slight whine is still there....

It could be from the slight 1 foot drop on its side i let happen while it was in my back pack... whatever...

oh ... after I tightened the screws and turned the comp on, the screen did keep flickering on and off. I was about to be pissed cuz i dont want to send this laptop in for anything at this stage...

i shut it off and restarted and seems to be fine now....

hopefully it stays that way....

hmm and to the anal guy who was complaining about the screws being visible on the side by the lcd screen.... i think gateway was trying to copy the apples...
their powerbooks (is that what they are called?) have visible screws too just like our lappys so there... only a designer would understand the industrial artistic work of our gateways hahaha whatever... just give me a laptop that wont break and im happy from now on...

this 505xl is a bargain.... ill just say i got AT LEAST 100 bucks off from the last sale price that was cheapest it ever was... im not going to say what that was but for those whove held out for a while u should figure it out.... only lasted 1 or 2 weeks after Christmas....

still the best buy out there ....yeah the lcd could be brighter or slightly more crisp but overall its hard to beat this....

gateway has the m505x at 1499 on sale

I just ordered mine and am supposed to get it on 1/29. I was able to get an upgraded battery for just $20. The salesman said it would last between 6 and 8 hrs. Thanks to all of you for the great reviews. I was also looking at the Toshiba A45, but after seeing it freeze up 3 times on two different comps, I steared towards the 505 XL. Any nooby tips with this lappy would be appreciated.

Quick question you guys who also have this computer - the computers been great so far, but I was just playing around with that av control panel on the left side (I never use it normally, since I just turn on the computer if I want to play music, its not like I need to conserve battery life with this thing, theres plenty of it) and it doesnt always seem to work when the computers off. The little display light turns on, but theres no symbols. If i press them enough in certain patterns I can get the CD playing, but I can never seem to get it to play off the hard drive (I have the extra fat32 partition and everything). And theres no display other than the backlight so its hard to tell whats going on. I do know the display symbols work when the computers on, so its not just a broken display. Any of you guys experiencing the same thing? Its not a big deal, but it kinda bothers me just cause I know about it. Thanks!

The mp3 files can not be in a separate folder in the fat32 drive (D drive)... they have to be in the D drive but not inside a separate folder.. did that make sense? Also after you press power and play n the AV control u have to wait a while.. sometimes upto maybe 1 min.. try it it should work...

Anyone concerned about the 18-bit screen? I always assumed that the screen was at least 24-bit. Someone in another thread pointed this out and now I'm not sure if I should buy this notebook or not. Dell lists their screens as supporting 16.7 million colors. So why is Compaq using a 18-bit screen and does it really matter? Could I actually tell the difference? Thanks,

BargainSeeker,

Thanks for the info! This really helps clear things up.

Does anyone know what kind of proof the Gateway store will need for AAA membership for the 10% discount?

I was going to join using AAA's site. Will a printed receipt be good enough or will I need an actual AAA card?

Thanks,

I had asked if AAA had a discount and was surprised that they did. It is in fact 10%. I got only 7% as a company discount. He had stated that AAA had just announced a large contract with AAA and that the reason it is so much more is because it obviosly has many members. When I told them about my discount, he didn't even ask for proof. Take that as you like , but I would think a receipt would be sufficient.

just thought someone might like to know......

I had a 3+ hour trip this past weekend up to the catskill mountains with my brother, he was driving. I had my 505x with me and figured, what the hell, lets watch some lord of the rings while we drive (the original 1970 cartoon movies, about 1.5 hours each, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings).
Good idea, but then I realized something else. My brother and I both have the same JVC car stereo that has an AUX in jack, which I used for my ipod to play through my car stereo. Why not run the laptop through there? I did, and it was awesome!!! I watched both movies, loud as all hell, in surround sound, through the car's speakers. It was great!!!

And I still had some battery life left when they were over!!!!

By the way, if anyone hasnt seen those cartoons, i def. suggest you check them out. AWESOME STUFF.

I just registered after reading this thread, thanks for all the info guys!!!

A few hours ago I ordered the Gateway M505XL, I am very excited to get this thing, they said it should arrive in about a week.

The one thing that is really worrying me is this hard drive stuff I read here.

Have they corrected themselves and installed the 5,200RPM HDD in the new laptops, or are people still getting the older 4,800RPM HDD's? Also, how would I find out which drive it is?

I'd hate to have to reinstall Windows.

The other thing I was wondering about is speedstepping. How do I set it so it runs at full CPU speed when plugged in?

TIA

One question, what do u guys think of the wide screen? would u rather get a normal screen or u actually liked the wide screen? To me it kinda feels that ur somehow prisoned or distorted.