even though this is the emachines forum, i took their advice and bought a 7405GX. i'm very mixed about it.
yeah, the specs are good, but there are a few gotchas i don't like about about 7405GX.
1) the sound is extremely weak
my mom has a compaq from 1999 which blows away my lappy in terms of sound and volume. and i went to update and install the latest AC97 drivers. still lame and made no difference. if sound is important to you, stay from the 7405GX.
2) the keyboard keys feel "soft".
the keyboard feel is a personal preference. the beauty of BB instead of dell is that you can simply walk into a BB and test it out, unlike the dell. you have to know someone with a dell laptop to test it out. i can deal with the keyboard, but i don't necessarily "like" it.
there are a couple of quirks with the keyboard layout.
a) the spacebar is small because there are two ( | \ ) keys. one above the ENTER button and another one to the left of the spacebar. it's dorky and that key should have been eliminated.
b) CTRL and FN are reversed and there's only one CTRL key. when i first got mine, i kept hitting the FN key instead of the CTRL. this will probably affect you if you decide to game with FPS games.
3) the glossy screen
THE most irritating thing to me. i was hoping it was probably the lighting or whatever in the store, but once i took this lappy home and flipped the light switch... ugh. the screen is what you will be looking at the most and while the glossiness may attract customers at the store, it's not a practical thing to have to live with. again, this is a personal preference. i know no one with an dell 8600, so i can't comment on their screens, but i think it's safe to say that the dell screen likely isn't as glossy as the gateway screen.
4) processor speed
when i check properties, it seems to be random with 801MHz, 1.6GHz, and 2.0Ghz. i haven't read through all the posts about how to get this configured just right, but everytime i run MAME, it runs too fast the first time and then i have to exit and re-start the program to get it working right. something weird is going on.
5) no docking station?
can you buy one for this machine?
and of course, the dell is completely configurable to your liking. i would have liked to have a WSXGA screen and 1 512Mb DIMM, but i can only get WXGA and 2 256Mb DIMMs.
however, there are a couple of advantages of the 7405GX over the 8600.
1) 6-in-1 memory card reader. sure you can get a flashreader, but i find it more convenient with it built-in.
2) 4 USB ports. this i like. 2 on the side and 2 in the back. the dell 8600 is still in the dark ages with just 2. and both of theirs are located in the back (at least that's how it's illustrated on their website). i like having a couple of them on the side instead of having to always reach in the back. i think they're close together as well. so if i want to stick in my SD flashdrive, it may block the other USB port. hello dell? 2 USBs on the 8600 is unacceptable!!
3) price. but with me, dell doesn't charge sales tax in my state.
but when i got my 7405GX, i got it with the $150 instant rebate, so that more than made up for the sales tax difference.
4) DVD+/-RW. dell's website says "DVD+/-RW", but it's really a DVD+RW drive. (i wish they would fix this misleading typo). if you want to burn DVD-RWs, you will have to find an unauthorized firmware flash to do so.
yeah, the specs are good, but there are a few gotchas i don't like about about 7405GX.
1) the sound is extremely weak
my mom has a compaq from 1999 which blows away my lappy in terms of sound and volume. and i went to update and install the latest AC97 drivers. still lame and made no difference. if sound is important to you, stay from the 7405GX.
2) the keyboard keys feel "soft".
the keyboard feel is a personal preference. the beauty of BB instead of dell is that you can simply walk into a BB and test it out, unlike the dell. you have to know someone with a dell laptop to test it out. i can deal with the keyboard, but i don't necessarily "like" it.
there are a couple of quirks with the keyboard layout.
a) the spacebar is small because there are two ( | \ ) keys. one above the ENTER button and another one to the left of the spacebar. it's dorky and that key should have been eliminated.
b) CTRL and FN are reversed and there's only one CTRL key. when i first got mine, i kept hitting the FN key instead of the CTRL. this will probably affect you if you decide to game with FPS games.
3) the glossy screen
THE most irritating thing to me. i was hoping it was probably the lighting or whatever in the store, but once i took this lappy home and flipped the light switch... ugh. the screen is what you will be looking at the most and while the glossiness may attract customers at the store, it's not a practical thing to have to live with. again, this is a personal preference. i know no one with an dell 8600, so i can't comment on their screens, but i think it's safe to say that the dell screen likely isn't as glossy as the gateway screen.
4) processor speed
when i check properties, it seems to be random with 801MHz, 1.6GHz, and 2.0Ghz. i haven't read through all the posts about how to get this configured just right, but everytime i run MAME, it runs too fast the first time and then i have to exit and re-start the program to get it working right. something weird is going on.
5) no docking station?
can you buy one for this machine?
and of course, the dell is completely configurable to your liking. i would have liked to have a WSXGA screen and 1 512Mb DIMM, but i can only get WXGA and 2 256Mb DIMMs.
however, there are a couple of advantages of the 7405GX over the 8600.
1) 6-in-1 memory card reader. sure you can get a flashreader, but i find it more convenient with it built-in.
2) 4 USB ports. this i like. 2 on the side and 2 in the back. the dell 8600 is still in the dark ages with just 2. and both of theirs are located in the back (at least that's how it's illustrated on their website). i like having a couple of them on the side instead of having to always reach in the back. i think they're close together as well. so if i want to stick in my SD flashdrive, it may block the other USB port. hello dell? 2 USBs on the 8600 is unacceptable!!
3) price. but with me, dell doesn't charge sales tax in my state.
but when i got my 7405GX, i got it with the $150 instant rebate, so that more than made up for the sales tax difference.4) DVD+/-RW. dell's website says "DVD+/-RW", but it's really a DVD+RW drive. (i wish they would fix this misleading typo). if you want to burn DVD-RWs, you will have to find an unauthorized firmware flash to do so.
