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Finally ordered my M675X. Did I do the right thing?

post #1 of 33
7/25/04 at 9:58pm
Thread Starter 
Hey all,

Just ordered my M675X laptop today because of the positive things I have seen here.
Do you think I bought the right one for doing Photoshop, 3D Studio Max, Painter, gaming and general stuff?
Also would you suggest I do a benchmark test and if so how do I do one and what do I look for.
Here are the configs and the cost:
Gateway® M675X

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 3.0GHz with Hyper-Threading Technology

Memory: 512MB 400MHz DDR SDRAM (2-256MB module)
Hard Drive: 80GB 5400rpm Ultra ATA hard drive

Extended Service Plan Including Limited Warranty: Portable Value Service Plan -- 1 year parts/labor/no on-site/1 year technical support (is 1 year enough or should add 3 years?)

Optical Drive: Modular 4x DVD±R/±RW/CD-RW recorder

Integrated Wireless Networking Adapter: Integrated 802.11g wireless networking card

Battery: High-capacity lithium ion battery with AC pack and 1 yr. limited battery warranty

Floppy Drive: Modular 6-in-1 memory card reader

Expansion Slots: One Type II PC Card Slot

External Ports: (4) USB 2.0, IEEE 1394 (FireWire), VGA, Parallel, TV Out, S-Video

Screen: 17.1" High-Resolution WSXGA+ TFT Active Matrix w/ ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 8x AGP w/ 128MB DDR video memory

Keyboard and Mouse: Full-sized keyboard w/ integrated 10-key pad and EZ Pad® Pointing Device

Multimedia Package: Integrated sound and stereo speakers, headphone/ speaker jack, line-in and mic jacks

Speakers: External speakers not selected

Modem: Integrated V.92 56K modem

Network Adapter: Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet

Price: $2006.98
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post #2 of 33
8/5/04 at 12:39am
Overall seems like a good notebook. This will definetely do what you need it to, and I can see you greatly benefiting from the widescreen. Plus, the somewhat high resolution will also yield the greater real estate that animators like to have. You might have been better off with a faster hard drive, as I can see it benefiting you when doing your animation stuff.

BTW: Sorry for the late reply... I really do not think that this was left un-replied because you are a girl. This is a good place.
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post #3 of 33
8/5/04 at 8:04pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the reply.
Have no idea when I will receive it. Custom built seems to take quite a while. I did want the 60GB 7200rpm hard drive but it pushed me over budget. The 80GB 5400rpm hard drive was within budget. After speaking with my sales guy he said I probably would not notice a HUGE dif in speed. I can always swap it out later when they become bigger and more affordable. Acer has a 120GB 7200 so it's just a matter of time for the prices to drop.
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post #4 of 33
8/5/04 at 9:38pm
What model has a 120GB 7200RPM? If this is a standard, 2.5" drive I hope they become available to the end user soon.
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post #5 of 33
8/5/04 at 10:28pm
Thread Starter 
You won't believe the configs on this laptop. I am still thinking of buying one but there are 5 things I don't like.
17" regular screen NOT widescreen, inferior video card, 1 hour battery, 15 pounds of laptop on your lap!! and it's non configurable.
But the configs and the price are truly incredible.
I have them all below...sorry it's a little long.

Acer Aspire 1712SMi Notebook
Operating System
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Processor
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 3.0GHz with Hyper-Threading Technology
Level 1 Cache
8KB Level 1 Cache and 12,000 uOps Trace Cache
Level 2 Cache
512KB Level 2 Cache
Data Bus Speed
800MHz Frontside Bus
RAM Installed / Max RAM Supported
1.0GB PC-2700 DDR SDRAM, Upgradeable to 2.0GB
Memory Configuration
(2) 512MB SO-DIMM Memory Modules
Memory Slots Available
0 available 200-pin SO-DIMM Slots
Hard Drive
120GB 7,200RPM UltraDMA ATA/100 Hard Drive
Multimedia Drive
Combo 2.4x2.4x8 DVD+RW / 2x2x8 DVD-RW / 16x10x24 CD-RW Drive
Display Type
17.0" SXGA Active Matrix Display
Video Card
Integrated 8x AGP nVidia GeForce FX Go5700 Video Chipset
Video Memory Installed
128MB DDR SDRAM Video Memory
Internal Max Resolution
1280 x 1040 at 24-bit (16.7M colors)
Video Output Supported
NTSC, PAL
Sound Card
Integrated SoundBlaster Pro Compatible Audio Chipset
Sound Output Mode
16-bit Stereo
Modem / Communications Device
Integrated 56K V.92 Fax/Modem Adapter
Data / Fax Transfer Rate
56Kbps Data / 14.4Kbps Fax
Network Features
Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet Adapter
Wireless Network Features
Integrated IEEE-802.11b/g 54Mbps Wireless Network Adapter
Ports and Connectors
1-Serial 9-pin Port; 1-Parallel 25-pin Port; 1-PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse Port; 1-VGA 15-pin Port; 1-TV Out S-Video Port; 4-USB 2.0 Type "A" Ports; 1-FireWire 6-pin Port; 1-Modem RJ-11 Port; 1-Network RJ-45 Port; 1-Microphone Port; 1-Audio Line Out Port
Special Ports and Connectors
6-in-1 Media Card Reader
Memory Cards Supported
MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital (SD) Card, SmartMedia Card, Memory Stick, CompactFlash Card, IBM Microdrive
Expansion Slots
1 (1 free) Cardbus PCMCIA Type I or II Slot
Built-In Devices
Stereo Speakers
Input Devices
Keyboard, Touchpad
Power Supply
Universal AC Adapter
Battery Included
12-Cell Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery
Included Software
Acer Custom Utilities, Norton AntiVirus SE, NTI CD-Maker SE
Dimensions (WxDxH)
14.9" x 12.6" x 2.2"
Weight
15.7 lbs
Manufacturer Warranty
1 Year Limited Warranty
PRICE $1,899.99 yep that's the price from microcenter.com
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post #6 of 33
8/5/04 at 10:43pm
The hard drive in that machine is a desktop 3.5" drive. Gah. I was hoping they had new 7200RPM notebook drives out to drive the price of the 7k60 down just a tick more before I buy next week .

http://www.dvc.uk.com/products/lev1....tops&lev1=acer

The bulk of the reason the price is so low is because all teh desktop components in it are so much cheaper. Huge size or not, if someone starts making an A64 model that big with desktop components, the m6809 is going on eBay .
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post #7 of 33
8/6/04 at 8:22pm
The m675X is a hit. I would add the 3years because your laptop will be worked hard so, you never know
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post #8 of 33
8/6/04 at 8:37pm
I think you did the right thing. My M675 is still holding up very, very well and gets heavy daily use by myself and fairly often colleagues that ask to borrow it for customer demos. I've had it since late October 2003.

Other than having to do some paint touchup from the occasional rough use, the case is still holding together nicely. No bubbling, nothing peeling off, and nothing working loose. I initially was worried about the hinges, but even with heavy use they are still firm and working fine.

With reasonable care, it's a very sturdy and reliable machine.

Congratulations!
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post #9 of 33
8/6/04 at 9:38pm
The extend warranty for long time is a bet between gateway and you. gateway bets that the machine will fail so you 100-200usd for it, but if it doesn't fail you wasted the money (3years). But i bet that your machine will have its ass worked out, so i don't know. My gateway m505x works fine 10 hours of intensive use a day for 10 months it is ok. I had to reinstall windows once
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post #10 of 33
8/6/04 at 11:04pm
Your M675 will be able to handle what you need it to do.

I would suggest that if you're big into photoshop or need more hard drive space (for video) to simple buy a second drive for the 6 in 1 bay. I currently have two 80 Gig HD's in my machine (5400's) and swap one out on the fly with a 60 GB drive that has all my mp3 files.

Both second drives each contain a partitioned scratch drive for photoshop.

I'm using Photoshop CS and it's a HOG so I give it all the resources I can.

BTW, Swiss Army makes a great case that fits your extra wide machine very snuggly. Well built with plenty of storage space.

200 GBs of laptop storage- all internal, baby!!!
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post #11 of 33
8/6/04 at 11:13pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the input.

I have read up on the video cards and feel the x650 has the better one compared to the Aser's as long as you upgrade it to 128mgs. (although I wish I could afford to upgrade that to the 256 but oh well).

I have seen the 17" widescreen on the HP and Toshiba and think the size looks so much better than the 15 or regular 17". Hope dvd movies show well on it though.

I went with the 1 yr. to keep the cost down. But I agree with upgrading and I think I may change it to the 3 yr because I will be lugging this back and forth to the patio so I may also do the accidental too in case I drop it.

I was told and have read that there is no huge time dif between the 5600rpm to the 7200 rpm hard drive. I doubt not knowing what the 7200 is I won't miss it. But as soon as they come out with the laptop version of the 120g 7200rpm I am getting it.

Now, I just can't wait to get it. Unfortunatly the delivery date changed from 8/09 to "We are currently awaiting the arrival of part(s) required to fulfill your order." So, who knows when I will get it.
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post #12 of 33
8/9/04 at 1:59pm
You did the right thing, When you get (sorry that gateway changed the delivery date), I hope you will enjoy the notebook. can you please post a review when you get it
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post #13 of 33
8/10/04 at 12:19am
Thread Starter 
I will post a review when I get my laptop.

Gateway customer service is the best. They called me today to let me know there was a delay. Instead of receiving it today it will arrive 8/18. Just one week late. But the fact that they called me to let me know tells me a lot about the integrity of this company.

Also plan up upgrading the service plan after I receive the laptop (can upgrade only after I have it). The customer service rep said it was a good idea to go with the accidental insurance especially when I told her I would be moving it all over the house and planned on using it outdoors.
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post #14 of 33
8/10/04 at 8:35pm
Just a heads up... I purchased the following M675 system at my local SamsClub for $1493.00 plus tax yesterday....

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 3.0GHz with Hyper-Threading Technology

Memory: 512MB 400MHz DDR SDRAM (2-256MB module)
Hard Drive: 80GB hard drive

Extended Service Plan Including Limited Warranty: Portable Value Service Plan -- 1 year parts/labor/no on-site/1 year technical support

Optical Drive: Modular 2x DVD-R/-RW/CD-RW recorder

Integrated Wireless Networking Adapter: Integrated 802.11g wireless networking card

Battery: High-capacity lithium ion battery with AC pack and 1 yr. limited battery warranty

Floppy Drive: Modular 6-in-1 memory card reader

Expansion Slots: One Type II PC Card Slot

External Ports: (4) USB 2.0, IEEE 1394 (FireWire), VGA, Parallel, TV Out, S-Video

Screen: 17.1" High-Resolution WXGA+ TFT Active Matrix w/ ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 8x AGP w/ 64MB DDR video memory

Keyboard and Mouse: Full-sized keyboard w/ integrated 10-key pad and EZ Pad® Pointing Device

Multimedia Package: Integrated sound and stereo speakers, headphone/ speaker jack, line-in and mic jacks

Speakers: External speakers not selected

Modem: Integrated V.92 56K modem

Network Adapter: Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet

Now I realize mine doesn't have the Radeon 9700 w/128 but for the price I couldn't pass it up. Also, Sams has an outstanding return policy.

edit: I believe the screen is a WXGA+ and not a WSXGA+ and I'm not sure of the memory speed.

edit again; system is pretty much as configured here only with 512 MB ram and XP home and a 3.0 GHZ HT processor.

configuration
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post #15 of 33
8/11/04 at 9:01pm
Thread Starter 

What a great deal!

Wow.

It looks like you got a great deal and you got it instantly!

My Sam's club doesn't have it ( avertech and HP) and I checked their web site and its not there either so you lucked out that your Sam's club had it.

The only things I would change for my needs would to upgrade the DVD to +- and I would need at least 128mgs for the video card for what I will do on it (photoshop, 3D Studio Max).

Still no date on when I will receive mine though, so I am a little jealous that you have yours.
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post #16 of 33
8/12/04 at 10:35am
I am beginning to think so, I figured Sam's would have these at all of their B&M's but I guess I am wrong. I wonder why mine has so many, 9 in stock if I recall correctly, and why these appear to be unique to my Sam's. Hmmmm. Also FWIW mine was manufactured 3/14/04.

I originally went to Sam's to purchase the zd7249cl after looking at it on their website. When I got there I saw the M675 sitting next to it for $200 less and I just couldn't rationalize paying the extra $200 for the HP when both machines seemed about equal. At this point I know very little about the M675 and am trying to find out as much as possible about it while I can still return it. My observations between the two are...

1) The HP definiately feels more solid than the Gateway, but then again a little flex could be a good thing.

2) I like Nvidia cards better. I'm a heavy Pro/Engineer user and Nvidias OGL implentation is an order of magnitude better than ATI's, (Something you may want to think about for 3DStudio, read the forums at rage3d.com to see if there are any any issues that may cause you grief). In my case the laptop is really for my wife so I wouldn't have much of a chance to run Pro/E on it anyway, besides my employer probably wouldn't be too keen on setting me up with another floating license.

3) The HP and the GW were equally sharp but the screen colors appeared a tad richer on the HP, I haven't tried to adjust the colors on the M675 yet.

4) I like the modularity of the GW much better than the HP.

5) I beleive the HP has a full on Firewire connector while the GW has the "mini" version.

6) I like the touchpad on the GW better, but like most I would have liked to seen it centered.

7) Aesthetically the GW is much nicer than the HP.

In the end none of the above made the HP $200 better but if the prices were equal I probably would have gone for the HP.
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post #17 of 33
8/12/04 at 11:01pm
Thread Starter 
I did so much research in the last month over HP, Toshiba, Sony, GW, Dell, Sager and Acer that my head still hurts.

We don't have a GW store so I was unable to check out the GW in person.
I did see HP, Toshiba and Sonys and I liked the HP untill the salesguy said for what I planned on doing he thought the configurable systems were the better option for me.
He did say the HP dvd drive was not very good (just + not +-), the Toshiba's dvd was better but 64MB video card and the Sony had a great display but the cost was silly.
He also wispered he had a GW at home and really liked it in comparison to the store ones.
Dell and Sager just couldn't match price to the GW or the screen size. And although the Acer 1710 looks like a great deal (the Acer thread says it has BIOS issues) I think I will see what the GW acts like once I load 3Dmax, photoshop, painter, illustrator and some games.

When I was working in gaming we used Dell. Some of us animators had Radeon video cards as I did on our computers and some had NVidia. No idea why we all had different v cards
I used both 3Dmax and Photoshop at the same time and never had a problem. Those that had NVidia had problems using both together.
My old GW home PC had NVidia and I never had a problem and my current GW laptop has Radeon and again no problems. Maybe I'm just lucky.

I don't use 3Dmax as much anymore now that I am not animating (not even freelance ) but I do use photoshop a lot so I think the Radeon at 128MB will be fine.

How is GW working out? I went to both Sams and Costco today and neither had a GW. But Sams sure is pushing Avertech.
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post #18 of 33
8/13/04 at 1:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by suuzinaz
Wow.

It looks like you got a great deal and you got it instantly!

My Sam's club doesn't have it ( avertech and HP) and I checked their web site and its not there either so you lucked out that your Sam's club had it.

The only things I would change for my needs would to upgrade the DVD to +- and I would need at least 128mgs for the video card for what I will do on it (photoshop, 3D Studio Max).

Still no date on when I will receive mine though, so I am a little jealous that you have yours.
3D studio max and photoshop, don't use that much graphic memory, they are CPU+system memory. So the m675XL config is very good for that. A m10 with 64 ca handle easily, AUTOCAD, and games.
Can you please post, some 3dmark 2k3, 2k1 and aquamark3 soceres?
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post #19 of 33
8/13/04 at 10:30am
For some reason I always thought 3D Studio was an OGL intensive program. I personaly have an Nvidia based card I use at work and a Radeon AIW9800 on my home system. The AIW is an awesome card as long as I don't run Pro/E on it but as soon as I fire up Pro/E it just dogs out and in medium sized assemblies, parts dissapear and I get tearing. I have spent weeks dealing with ATI tech support who for the most part was very helpful and friendly but in the end they just threw up their arms and said that I should be runnning a professional level graphics card if I planned on using Pro/E. My solution is that I purchased a cheapo $70 GeForce 4 and on the rare occasion that I want or need to run Pro/E at home I swap it out with the AIW do my thing and put the AIW back in.

I did adjust the color settings on the laptop last night and was easily able to get the colors to look as deep and rich as I remember the HP looking so I'm now quite happy there. I have read that the DVD-R on the GW is problematic so I plan on putting it to the test this weekend.

Also, we moved from an old falling apart Dell inspiron 5000 that had an SXGA screen and if I were able to configure a new laptop I would definately opt for the WSXGA over the WXGA but for the price I paid I'm not about to complain.

I'll try to run some benches on it this weekend if I find the time and the benchmarks utils. I can comment that the wireless on this is much better than the wireless on the Inspiron, no matter where I go in the house or around the yard my signal strength never drops below 90%

On another note, I called another local Sam's and was told that they "..don't carry Gateway computers" However, if I go into the Sam's Auction site I see that they are selling a few Gateways. I wonder if Sam's is selling off inventory from Gateway's now closed B&M stores. Anyway, if you're in the Pittsburgh area the Monroeville store does have the M675 but the one in Robinson doesn't, I don't know about any of the other stores.

Also, does anyone know where to get a drive bay attachment for the M675? I'd like to be able swap the all in one card reader with a spare hard drive as desired.
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post #20 of 33
8/13/04 at 10:57pm
Thread Starter 
I have also read that the DVD- or the DVD+ had problems reading some DVDs. I am getting the DVD+-. I was told to do so by a store salesguy who said they read all types vs the just + as are in the HP's. Hopefully he is right and I won't have any problems. Want to put my animations and homemovies on DVD .

I've never payed attention to how intensive 3Dmax is but I know when I run it along with photoshop on my laptop the fan is going for a while unlike my PC. I do save often just in case something does go haywire. But I've been lucky.
Maybe with the 3.0GH and 512mg ram it will make a difference. When I can afford it I plan on switching out one 256 with a 512 then onto 2 512mg ram.
Stupid question: I didn't know you could swap out the video card on the m650 or am I just way off on this???

I went to the Sam's auction site and the 650's sold out so I will check back with them from time to time. Didn't see anything I liked but at least they have them.

I have never benchmarked a computer. I have no idea how to do it or what to even look for. (I can do a program like 3Dmax but I can't benchmark )
So, when you do any benchmarks would you mind explaining what the numbers mean. And if you have time, how I can do it when I get mine.

BAD NEWS: ship date was pushed back AGAIN . Now it's 8/23. So, I have pleny of time to check with Sam's auction. The longer I wait for the GW the more I am thinking about that Acer 1710/12 .
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