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New Gateway MX6121 Purchased From Bestbuy for $599.99!

post #1 of 25
3/2/06 at 1:20pm
Thread Starter 
Picked this up last Sunday, very good performance for a budget laptop, screen quality is exceptional and I am getting 3 hours 20 minutes+ with Wifi on. The Broadcom Network adapter is amazing and picks up networks all down the street. It's got a much greater range than even my $1600 Dell Inspiron 6000. The only downside is the RAM (256 MB), but this can easily be upgraded. Originally was $750.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1138085134598
Here are some pics:















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post #2 of 25
3/2/06 at 5:01pm
Congrats, nice looking laptop. Wonder why they put all the USB ports on one side and with the network cables. Do you plan on using a mouse? It might get a little messy on that side.

Even the budget laptops now have glossy screens, I wonder matte screens are going to be obsolete one day.
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post #3 of 25
3/2/06 at 8:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spinitch
I wonder matte screens are going to be obsolete one day.
I hope not!

Nice machine awv45! Pricing is getting insanely low on notebooks
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post #4 of 25
3/4/06 at 2:14pm
nice pics, i never see gateways anywhere around here. that is a good price to.
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post #5 of 25
3/15/06 at 10:37pm
I'm waiting to get this one soon (like in the next day or two considering the sale will end Sunday). I'm just waiting for my new credit card to arrive so I can get some nice fiancing (don't laugh, I'm a college student). Anyway... can you please eleborate your review of the laptop? I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks.
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post #6 of 25
3/15/06 at 10:44pm
Looks nice!
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post #7 of 25
3/18/06 at 4:11am
I just picked this up at Best Buy for $599 and it's a fairly decent laptop.

I WAS going to get one at Fry's for $399, but it didn't have anything on it. No network, no wifi, nothing. So I shopped around and saw this one with $150 off of the original price.

Honestly? It's a damned good laptop for the $$$.

Budget conscious users would probably be satisfied with this one.

It suits students just dandy.
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post #8 of 25
3/18/06 at 5:44am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by WarpKat
I just picked this up at Best Buy for $599 and it's a fairly decent laptop.

I WAS going to get one at Fry's for $399, but it didn't have anything on it. No network, no wifi, nothing. So I shopped around and saw this one with $150 off of the original price.

Honestly? It's a damned good laptop for the $$$.

Budget conscious users would probably be satisfied with this one.

It suits students just dandy.
Ya, it is a great laptop, mine even came w/ a 5400 RPM Hitachi Travelstar 5k100 even though advertised at 4200 RPM. The broadcom wireless range is the one of the best I've seen. Will be upgrading the Ram soon, but even with only 256 mb of ram and programs running in the background I still managed to score 2:01 on Super Pi, which I expect will get better w/ more ram. The UltraBright screen is amazing for a $600 laptop, and it even has an S-Video output which is very useful to display onto a TV. The screen is very bright and surprisingly no dead pixels or light leakage. The battery life is also better than I expected with the 6-cell battery. Right now, with web browsing and other simple tasks, the screen dimmed, and wi-fi on, i am getting close to 3 hours 30 minutes. I took it with me to Florida (2 hour 30 minute plane ride from Michigan) last week and was able to watch a movie, type my research paper, and still have close to 35% battery left. The design of this notebook is surprisingly solid for a budget notebook and has the same case as the MX6450. The keyboard feels solid, but there is some little but noticable flex if you press the I, O, and P keys. The overall build quality is very solid. If you want to catch this great deal though, the sale ends Sunday.
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post #9 of 25
3/21/06 at 5:29pm
Before we get ahead of ourselves....

I do love this computer, don't get me wrong. I was in Indiana for a week doing a job, and got some extra $$ for my trouble. When I flew back home, I stopped in to the local Best Buy with about $1000 in my pocket ready to blow. I went straight to the notebooks and low and behold, this little beauty was sitting up there playing a dvd. I was amazed at the clarity and size of the screen, and then the LOW price. Without even thinking, I got an employee to get one out of the case for me, and ring me up. I literally was in Best Buy for 15 minutes. Took it out to my truck, and unpacked it. I plugged it into my AC Adaptor in my car and took off, letting the computer charge on my 2 hour drive home. When I got home, the computer literally blew me away. How could I get this machine for that price?!?!? Well, all was well for the first 24 hours, then... I dunno... The computer completely stopped working. Wouldn't post on reboot, nothing. The lights would all just flash. I was told by a Gateway support person that it was most likely a Mother Board problem. Crap, back to my local Best Buy, exchanged the computer for another one just like it, and all was well again for 2 weeks. Then one day I'm surfing the net, computer sitting on a table and plugged in, I hear *thunk, thunk, thunk, bzzzzzz* and the computer froze up. Shut the computer off, tried to turn in back on, get a "No Operating System Found" error. Gateway Tech Support says, bad hard drive! Crap. Have to wait a week for Gateway to send me a replacement. What a bummer. I still have hope for the PC though. I upgraded the memory to 1024mb, and OMG, you guys have to do this. You will not BELIEVE what an incredible machine you'll have when you upgrade. I'm a little concerned I'm going to end up with a 4200 RPM replacement drive, as mine was also a 5400, although it's clearly on the box 4200... hmmmm... We'll see.. Haven't gotten my replacement drive yet.

On a further note, both times I called tech support, they had no idea that Gateway even made this computer. They didn't have the model on record (you can't even find the model on their website). It's a Pain w/the tech people, b/c they have to get a manager every 5 minutes when their computer tells them that my computer doesn't exist. We shall See...
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post #10 of 25
3/21/06 at 10:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bcw780
Before we get ahead of ourselves....

I do love this computer, don't get me wrong. I was in Indiana for a week doing a job, and got some extra $$ for my trouble. When I flew back home, I stopped in to the local Best Buy with about $1000 in my pocket ready to blow. I went straight to the notebooks and low and behold, this little beauty was sitting up there playing a dvd. I was amazed at the clarity and size of the screen, and then the LOW price. Without even thinking, I got an employee to get one out of the case for me, and ring me up. I literally was in Best Buy for 15 minutes. Took it out to my truck, and unpacked it. I plugged it into my AC Adaptor in my car and took off, letting the computer charge on my 2 hour drive home. When I got home, the computer literally blew me away. How could I get this machine for that price?!?!? Well, all was well for the first 24 hours, then... I dunno... The computer completely stopped working. Wouldn't post on reboot, nothing. The lights would all just flash. I was told by a Gateway support person that it was most likely a Mother Board problem. Crap, back to my local Best Buy, exchanged the computer for another one just like it, and all was well again for 2 weeks. Then one day I'm surfing the net, computer sitting on a table and plugged in, I hear *thunk, thunk, thunk, bzzzzzz* and the computer froze up. Shut the computer off, tried to turn in back on, get a "No Operating System Found" error. Gateway Tech Support says, bad hard drive! Crap. Have to wait a week for Gateway to send me a replacement. What a bummer. I still have hope for the PC though. I upgraded the memory to 1024mb, and OMG, you guys have to do this. You will not BELIEVE what an incredible machine you'll have when you upgrade. I'm a little concerned I'm going to end up with a 4200 RPM replacement drive, as mine was also a 5400, although it's clearly on the box 4200... hmmmm... We'll see.. Haven't gotten my replacement drive yet.

On a further note, both times I called tech support, they had no idea that Gateway even made this computer. They didn't have the model on record (you can't even find the model on their website). It's a Pain w/the tech people, b/c they have to get a manager every 5 minutes when their computer tells them that my computer doesn't exist. We shall See...
Wow, I'm sorry to hear about that, mine has been working flawlessly for a month now. You are right about the ram though, it does make a HUGE difference on this computer, especially due to the fact that it only comes w/ 256 MB 533 DDR2 Ram.

You are also right about the model not being listed on their site. But over the past few days, I have been starting to see more and more on gateway.com about the model. Also, Best Buy has this listed in their ad as a NEW model. I think Gateway is just taking a while to get it listed in their system.

But for $599.99 I will still buy this computer 10/10 times when given the chance. I hope the issues are resolved and you enjoy your Gateway.
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post #11 of 25
3/22/06 at 6:36pm

Bought the MX6123 instead...

I saw the sale for the MX6121 but went for the next one up the MX6123 with 20gb more HD (80gb total) and 512mb RAM (1 slot) for $50 more. The chipset supports dual channel so I added another 512mb stick and have a total 1gb RAM. I like the screen. No dead pixels. And you can get over three hours of battery life on the 6 cell battery. The computer is fast and quiet. For the features and price, I can’t complain.
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post #12 of 25
3/22/06 at 10:49pm
Thread Starter 
Ya, the MX6123 is the exact same thing, just with an 80 Gig HD and 512 MB Ram for only $50.00 more. I picked up the MX6121 the week before they started carrying the MX6123. Otherwise, it's a no-brained to get the same machine with 256MB more ram and 20 more GB for only $50.00 more. Only problem is the MX6123 sells out a lot faster, for obvious reasons, so you would have to act quick to pick one up. One question though, what kind of Hard Drive did the MX6123 come with? It seems the MX6121's are coming with 5400 RPM Hitachi Travelstar 5k100 instead of the 4200 RPM listed on the box. I wonder if the MX6123 has the same hard drive.
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post #13 of 25
3/23/06 at 7:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by awv45
Ya, the MX6123 is the exact same thing, just with an 80 Gig HD and 512 MB Ram for only $50.00 more. I picked up the MX6121 the week before they started carrying the MX6123. Otherwise, it's a no-brained to get the same machine with 256MB more ram and 20 more GB for only $50.00 more. Only problem is the MX6123 sells out a lot faster, for obvious reasons, so you would have to act quick to pick one up. One question though, what kind of Hard Drive did the MX6123 come with? It seems the MX6121's are coming with 5400 RPM Hitachi Travelstar 5k100 instead of the 4200 RPM listed on the box. I wonder if the MX6123 has the same hard drive.
I was hoping for a 5400rpm HD but the HD is 4200rpm. I can still play games and some some video editing just fine on the laptop.
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post #14 of 25
3/23/06 at 11:21pm
Well, I just got done talking to one of my buddies that works at Best Buy. Supposedly they're not going to continue carrying the MX6123. Once they sell what they got, it's gone. (That was also confirmed on the Best Buy Site) They are going to continue to carry the MX6121 however (Due to it's popularity, and amount of sales they had for only carrying it since Feb.) However the $150 instant rebate is supposedly no more, however my friend says it will be back real soon. He said his store alone has stocked 40 of the units in the past week for an upcoming sale... What could it be??
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post #15 of 25
3/26/06 at 2:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bcw757
Well, I just got done talking to one of my buddies that works at Best Buy. Supposedly they're not going to continue carrying the MX6123. Once they sell what they got, it's gone. (That was also confirmed on the Best Buy Site) They are going to continue to carry the MX6121 however (Due to it's popularity, and amount of sales they had for only carrying it since Feb.) However the $150 instant rebate is supposedly no more, however my friend says it will be back real soon. He said his store alone has stocked 40 of the units in the past week for an upcoming sale... What could it be??
Really? Was there a reason they stop selling the MX6123? I think they are a great bargain. I'm sure they would sell a lot of them.
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post #16 of 25
3/26/06 at 4:31pm
Thread Starter 
On sale again this week for even less... $549.99! Thats a $200.00 savings off the regular price.http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1138085134598
An even better deal... does anyone know how long pricematching lasts on notebooks at BestBuy?
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post #17 of 25
3/26/06 at 5:09pm
Yep, saw the new add today for the 6121. I believe the 6123 model is being discontinued through BestBuy on Gateway's end. I could definantly be wrong, my buddy I'm sure doesn't know everything going on with BestBuy's business, but that's just what he's told me...
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post #18 of 25
4/2/06 at 5:35am
Well, I'm happy to report that my MX6121 is again operational. I'm currently posting using my laptop. After finally getting fed-up with Gateway tech support I took my computer back to Best Buy just to see what they'd say. Well, come to find out, my local store had just started doing warranty work on laptop computers. So, I left my computer with them for 1 day, and they replaced the hard drive. No big deal (Not to mention they put in a 100gb hard drive in instead b/c they didn't have a 60 in stock) The only problem is that Gateway puts their system restore on a seperate partition on your hard drive!!!!!! Well, if your hard drive fails, you're SOL. Luckily my sister also bought this computer, so I was able to create restore CD's from her computer. I recommend all of you do this!!!! It takes 3 CD's, go to start, all programs, system restore, and create your discs!!! Trust me, it's worth it!
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post #19 of 25
4/6/06 at 4:24am
Hi there we just bought this model and cant seen to get the S-video to work, we have gone through the user guide which realy was no help.

Anyone know? we connected the S-video and nothing.
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post #20 of 25
4/7/06 at 12:25am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by UKintheUS
Hi there we just bought this model and cant seen to get the S-video to work, we have gone through the user guide which realy was no help.

Anyone know? we connected the S-video and nothing.
Connect the S-video and the hold down the Fn key found on the bottom left corner of the keyboard and press F4 (while holding Fn key down). This will turn off the screen on the laptop, and output to the TV. Press this key combination again, and the laptop screen and the TV will both display. Press it again to turn the S-Video off, and return the screen back to normal. Hope this helps
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