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Budget laptop - Gateway MT3705 - first impressions?

post #1 of 14
2/4/07 at 10:57am
Thread Starter 
All,

I haven't seen much on this new budget Vista laptop from Gateway and I wanted to post a little info about it. We bought one for my wife last week from BestBuy for $599.

The laptop is an Intel Core Duo running at 1.6Ghz, 100GB hard drive (4200RPM), 1GB RAM, 802.11g wireless, a Radeon Express 200M, 14.1" ultrabright widescreen glossy display, and a DVD reader/writer. It seems to be a spawn of eMachines - the M68xx series with a flashier case. It reminds me of the eMachines M6805 - keyboard only volume control, speakers in the front, same keyboard, etc...

I'm thinking that the 4200RPM drive might slow it down a bit, and from my limited experience with it I can say it is noticable when booting or coming out of hibernate. Vista has the indexing feature in it too, which appears to suck up a lot of resources on the laptop which again I think is because of the slower drive.

The screen is pretty nice. Hopefully the flicker I had on the M6805 won't be an issue on this one if they are in fact the same case.

I have had a couple of times where the laptop would not turn on properly. I'd set it to hibernate, watch it hibernate fine, then come back to it the next day only to find that the wireless light, battery charging light, and power light would only come on - didn't even look like it reached the BIOS. I had to do a hard powerdown by holding the power button for a few seconds, and then try again. It would then go to BIOS, tell me that it failed the last time I tried to boot it, and ask if I want to continue. Weird. It did that a few times already. Anyone else have any issues like this?

Anyone else have any comments or experiences to share on the laptop?

Chris
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post #2 of 14
2/4/07 at 2:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cmilkosk
All,

...

The laptop is an Intel Core Duo running at 1.6Ghz, 100GB hard drive (4200RPM), 1GB RAM, 802.11g wireless, a Radeon Express 200M, 14.1" ultrabright widescreen glossy display, and a DVD reader/writer. It seems to be a spawn of eMachines - the M68xx series with a flashier case. It reminds me of the eMachines M6805 - keyboard only volume control, speakers in the front, same keyboard, etc...

...

The screen is pretty nice. Hopefully the flicker I had on the M6805 won't be an issue on this one if they are in fact the same case.

...
Anyone else have any comments or experiences to share on the laptop?

Chris

The M68XX series notebooks have a 15.4 in screen, since you laptop has a 14.1 I doubt that they used the same chassis so hopefully you won't have the dreaded flicker issue.

Quote:
I have had a couple of times where the laptop would not turn on properly. I'd set it to hibernate, watch it hibernate fine, then come back to it the next day only to find that the wireless light, battery charging light, and power light would only come on - didn't even look like it reached the BIOS. I had to do a hard powerdown by holding the power button for a few seconds, and then try again. It would then go to BIOS, tell me that it failed the last time I tried to boot it, and ask if I want to continue. Weird. It did that a few times already. Anyone else have any issues like this?

I have had an issue like that in XP, and it turned out to be a driver issue. Try to see if there are any driver updates for your laptop.
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post #3 of 14
2/4/07 at 4:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cmilkosk
All,


I have had a couple of times where the laptop would not turn on properly. I'd set it to hibernate, watch it hibernate fine, then come back to it the next day only to find that the wireless light, battery charging light, and power light would only come on - didn't even look like it reached the BIOS. I had to do a hard powerdown by holding the power button for a few seconds, and then try again. It would then go to BIOS, tell me that it failed the last time I tried to boot it, and ask if I want to continue. Weird. It did that a few times already. Anyone else have any issues like this?

Anyone else have any comments or experiences to share on the laptop?

Chris

Your MT3705 Notebook has a lotta New Vista Drivers and a New BIOS, if you haven't already noticed , you might want to update them:
http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/...14142Rnv.shtml
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post #4 of 14
2/4/07 at 9:48pm
Thread Starter 
Aha - that's correct. New bios. I installed it and it seems to be doing a bit better.

Seems to be a decent laptop otherwise...

Chris
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post #5 of 14
2/28/07 at 2:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cmilkosk
Aha - that's correct. New bios. I installed it and it seems to be doing a bit better. Seems to be a decent laptop otherwise... Chris
Hi Chris, I am having the same problem you described. Was your issue fixed after your installed the new BIOS? Did it ever happen again?
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post #6 of 14
3/1/07 at 3:25pm
I hate gateway laptops, they are poorly made and only have old technologhy in them, my opinion, they use outdated hardware and poor quality screens, but thats just me
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post #7 of 14
3/3/07 at 12:31am
who asked you ghazull013? Did you see this model in person? The palm rest are made out of Aircraft aluminum and is quite study IMO. Also, Gateway screens are pretty darn nice! Have you not read all the complaints regarding Dell LCDS (sparking and dead pixels)? I have owned dozens of laptops and Gateway laptops are great from my experience. And yes, I have owned Alienwares, Apples, IBMs, dells, Toshibas etc. Check the specs on my Gateway Sig, old specs? I don't think so! and for 599.99? I'm loving it!
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post #8 of 14
3/3/07 at 10:59am
who asked me, i asked me. Im just stating my opinion, i agree bryan not all gateway laptops are bad, the ones ive come across were poorly built
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post #9 of 14
3/3/07 at 2:15pm
I agree that not all Gateway's are the best quality but the ones I own were great. I started with the Gateway 5300, m505x, 8510gz (nx860) and now have a MT3705. All these models have been solid for me... To be honest, all companies have good models and bad models. What brand do you own currently?
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post #10 of 14
3/3/07 at 3:49pm
I have a Dell E1705 and i love it. Excellent build qualityn nice bright screen at 1920x1200. It has a lot of power and can do alot. My only complaint is that their GPU drivers are below par so i switched to Nvidia drivers, and it solved all my problems. Other than it it runs like a beauty. Isnt the NX860 a powerhouse, and do u still use it??? And is the screen flimsy, i sw a couple of shots and it looked like the same build material of my mx6455 which was cheap plastic????
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post #11 of 14
3/3/07 at 5:48pm
The NX860/8510gz Screen was actually very nice and the LCD was very sturdy. I think it was made out of alloy magnesium? Pressing against the LCD cover will not cause any ripple effects like my Mt3705 (only complaint) I've owned that laptop along with my Gateway m505x for over 2 + years with no problems whatsoever. I agree that the MX6000 series use cheap plastic but the newer models use the aircraft aluminum around the palm rest area... the only thing Gateway forgot was putting a stronger LCD lid on these models. But for the money they are great machines : )

Btw, I've actually used the Dell E1705 laptop at work and they are fine machines also.
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post #12 of 14
3/3/07 at 6:07pm
lol y do u own so many laptops
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post #13 of 14
3/3/07 at 8:59pm
Simple...as Stewie (Family Guy) would say in one of the older episodes, " I Love Pancakes!" For me... "I love Laptops!"
Besides, all my older laptops are sold on here or on Ebay already : )
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post #14 of 14
3/6/07 at 6:34pm
Doesn't he say flapjacks
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