6860 Replacement due within 3-4 weeks

Probably a Seagate and no you dont have to have the same brand. Hell, you dont even have to have the same size.

 

I'am pretty sure its a seagate momentus

 

metalangel. You are correct, I was thinking of the 320gb drive.

 

I would wait till I get the laptop if you want to know for sure. At least when I went to here and clicked components it had the seagate and the hitachi. I dont know how accurate is gateway's website so user experience should give a better indication.

Also are their speaker good? I will go to BB to see it anyway but I want to have and idea. I'm tired of speakers that are barely audible at 100% volume in all.

 

The speakers are OK. You're not gonna get super rich sound out of them, but they're not terrible. I haven't heard great speakers on ANY laptop, really.

 

you should hear the speakers on the x205's then....i thought they were excellent.

 

just get these to go with your laptop, thats what i'm gona do my friend told me they are pretty good
Steelseries siberia headset
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=19930&vpn=51003&manufacture=Steelseries

 

oh ok thanks, I just wanted to know more about the loudness since I know that in general laptop speakers are not good. The only laptop that I have had with weak speakers is ironically the newest one. But it seems that they are decent.

 

Well I have some good headset I use them mainly when I watch movies late at night and I dont want to make people up. I bought them years ago but are excellent.

I have the Sennheiser HD497. I almost bought the Grado SR-60 but I don't even remember anymore why I bought the Sennheiser anymore tbh. They are both good anyway. Edit: I just remembered that Grado model was awesome but looked ugly.

Sennheiser HD497

Thanks for the recommendation anyway.

 

Asus G70 has 4 Altec Lansing speakers I think... and a ridiculous design that only leaves you wonder "why did they SLI the 8700?!?! UGHHHH"

 

Well, I just called Best Buy and was told that if I ordered it now it would be in store for pickup on the 13th.

 

So...

I recently sent back my m1730 because of garishly huge size and weight. I've been perusing around, and I keep coming back to how amazing this computer seems for the money. I keep getting the sense that people are ignoring the 800 pound gorilla in the room here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but gateway has a reputation for being one of the ABSOLUTE WORST companies for customer service, and not much better for product reliability. I'm hoping to hear some reassurance from some of you out there who have actually had problems with your unit, need repairs/replacement, whatever, and you actually had a timely solution. I am totally scared that if I were to buy this dream machine (things that seem to good to be true usually are), I would be stuck with a non-functional burned out and busted lemon in 2-2.5 years, much less 2 weeks. Modest research will show stories by people that Gateway even disputes the terms of its warranty on no brainer issues, like a non-functional product right out of the box! I've dealt with Dell in the past, and there are never issues with anything; they respect the warranty and don't try and slide out from under its terms. Correct me if I am wrong, please.... Also, can you continuously extend your warrantly through Best Buy/Gateway? Help! I'm going to be pulling the trigger on something soon! Its a toss up between this computer (screaming GPU) and a Studio 17 (peace of mind).

Thanks

 

Not to many people have had any serious problems with there machines and the ones that have seemed to get it sorted or got it replaced. Trying to predict if the machine is still working in 2.5+ years is anyone's guess and if i were that worried just get that super extended warranty and dont sweat it . The price/performance ratio on these machines are pretty nutz and the new one is even crazier . I was an xps owner for 3 generations XPS 1 gen 2 then 1710 but the new ones were just way beyond what i was willing to pay anymore for a gaming laptop so this was a nice alternative. Are these machines built as solid as dells, no and if i said yes i would be lying but its still a nice machine nonetheless and if you take care of it it'll last you a good while im sure.

 

Hm.. You know, I wasn't really thinking about reliability in terms of build up until now... I may have to rethink this. I am coming from a ~4 year old Fujitsu lifebook that was pretty solidly built, and it's still going strong. What sort of reliability issues are there with these Gateways? If I buy a laptop, honestly I expect it to keep going for at least 4 years when I replace it. I usually take good care of my stuff but..

 

Simple. Buy it on sale. Get the BB Warranty on it you should be good. If anything happens in the first year, get it taken care of by Gateway. If anything goes wrong after that, you can always get a replacement from BB.

Most of the service/repair stories you hear here are decent, however, they are prie-Gateway's decision to remove direct sales.

 

Uhh, that really does nothing to address my concerns. Really, I'm wondering what the quality is, not how I can offset bad build quality with a warranty. I don't like being pigeonholed into buying a warranty because the unit if flimsy.

 

Well, here's another tip.

Head down to Best Buy, get your hands on a FX unit and decide if it's enough. Noone can answer your question about quality as quality is subjective.

 

You make me happy

I'm going to go around checking the stores tomorow evening and I'll let anyone who cares to know about my findings (for canadian stores). I'll be checking BestBuy and futureshop, since those are the only 2 retails that will carry them in canada.

 

It cracks me up when people say one particular brand "has the worst blah blah blah in the industry" completely ignoring the fact that other people say the EXACT SAME THING about the other brands.

 

Another thing to consider is who actually manufactures the laptop. I know Gateway's laptops used to be made by Quanta, which many review as a very solid laptop builder. I wonder who is making these...

 

wow this thread got quiet suddenly...

 

due to the million other ones that got started.

 

really i hadnt noticed, i googled the 7811 when i saw it on the darkfall forums, and this is the only thread ive read since

 

Is it confirmed anywhere that the laptop can fit two hard drives? And also that the bios can support RAID?

 

Well it's using the same casing as the 6860 and the 6831, and they both support raid. I'd imagine the 7811 will too.

 

So i checked out the gateway at best buy. The thing looks like it is ready to fall apart, hence, why I think I'm going to go with another brand.... lack of an amazing GPU be damned. I think this is kinda why I went with a Honda civic over a VW as well (as if anybody here cares). I'm ordering a studio 17 today.

Someday I'll be able to afford a badass Sager and an Audi. Oh well.

 

Troll alert!

 

Hey! I am not a troll! I'm simply saying I went down and checked out the gateway as some people here suggested. The build quality was subpar as some others had suggested. This kinda reaffirmed my point that just because theres an awesome GPU in the gateway doesn't justify the risk of purchasing it. I went and looked at the studio15/studio 17, which has an inferior GPU, and the difference in build quality between the gateway and the dell was striking. But... I really dont know why I'm writing this as the two machines have an entirely different targeted group consumers. I will now shutup and crawl away.

 

Umm Hmm. The Dell has got build quality, whereas Gateway has performance.

On a curious note, any chance of the new 15.4 inch gateway's getting the same GPU? Nvidia Geforce 9800M GTS?

 

I'm going to go with build quality is quite subjective. Some people like the Gateway's build, others find it sub-par.

Best to find out in person.

 

So true since there hasn't been as many complaints with the gateway chasis in comparison with the dells! I remember checking out my friends new M1530 and the front panel right under the screen breaking away like chipwood!

 

Are you sure it's not just cuz its on display and people've been coming in and messing around with it?

 

That's also a valid possibility.

 

Cool! That'll free up another 7811 for the others who tend to not agree with you! Good luck with your studio.

 

w00ts!
so freakin true!

 

I've never really heard complaints of Gateway's build quality either, actually its always been complaints about their customer service, which is worse than ever now that they're 100% indirect sales.

 

Which is what worries me more than anything.

 

How is this not sturdy? (All of the P series laptops have the same model build.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOArQN1C1Uk
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1416062100/bctid1699177085

Ignore the commentator and just see how they handle the laptop. It's definitely sturdy and sleek.

 

For one, he has absolutely NO idea what the status of Gateways Customer Service is going to be now that the move is complete. It may very well end up bad, but its still too early to tell.

And second, do you really think Dells customer service is going to be that much better? I've got news for you, it's not. Check out the threads in the Dell section and the rest of the web. Then check out HP, and then Toshiba, and so on. According to the end users, Customer Service sucks across all brands.

I'm not saying stick with Gateway, if you want a Dell, by all means, get one. I'm just trying to help you understand that there is no "perfect" brand.They're all gonna have their little "bumps"

 

How big is/was the power supply? Smaller/same size of the m1730s?

 

120watt. But you can get up to a 180watt 3rd party PS for like $40.

 

I'll let you guys know the Gateway FX I played with at best buy was very sturdy. The Qosmio X305 was destroyed at the Best buy I went too. There was flex everywhere and even pieces of paint chipped out of it,lol. So yeah, you may of looked at a beat up FX.

 

And I'm sure an ex-M15X owner would know about build issues?

 

I was actually wondering about the dimensions: pack of cigarettes.. deck of cards... standard brick... refrigerator on its side?

 

The one on top is the factory supplied one and it resembles a brick, albeit a bit longer and narrower.

 

Wow, what makes you think I have no idea what the status is of gateway's customer service? Have you been in my head? Don't speak for me dude... it may be too early to tell for you since you obviously are assuming and speculating. Maybe you should actually try talking to gateway customer service before you act like you know anything about it, or before you act like other people don't.

I've been in a lot of contact with gateway's customer service recently, since in mid july I spoke to a salesman about buying the 173xl fx, and then early this month I actually bought one through tiger direct. I decided I wanted to return it and get the 7811 instead (news about the 7811 reached me the day I made my 173 purchase..), made some calls to both gateway and tiger direct, having some extremely bad experiences with the former, which I've talked about in other places on this forum. The salesman that I spoke to originally no longer answers my calls, even though his voicemail says that he's a gateway rep (but says he'll be on vacation until july 20th? its august now...). After multiple tries to actually speak to a live person on gateway recently, I somehow pushed a combination of numbers that led me to talk to a live gateway representative, who knew nothing about the p-7811, she didn't even know what "p-series" meant. This is the honest to god truth. She told me "call tiger direct, heres the number, they're our certified reseller now." I luckily knew that tiger direct would not help me, since they do not sell the 7811, and so I didn't waste my time. If you look on gateway's website, you'll see many links to "chat with a sales rep online" or something along those lines. Guess what, you can't. You USED to be able to, before they went to indirect sales, but now the link will lead you all over the place until you finally get to a screen that asks you to email gateway instead. They don't update the greatest resource for customers, their website... how great do you think their customer service is? They have a new model coming out within the week... the 7811. Do you see it anywhere on their website? If you know where to look (support > documents > p-7000 series > p-7811) you'll be able to find its specifications and other information. Otherwise, you'll be extremely lucky to even know its exists when looking at the gateway website. Seems that they don't even go through the effort to market on their website anymore. How great is their technical support? I would not be able to say because this will be my first gateway purchase. However, I have more experience than most with Gateway's recent customer service. So maybe you shouldn't simply assume that I have "NO idea" what the status of their customer service is.

 

LOL. Just chill man. You come on this site immediately arguing with everybody like you're on some kind of mission, then you make suggestions and statements that have very little merit to them. Then when someone calls you on it, you get all defensive and reply back with a wall of text babbling away with insults, accusations and God knows what else. So you've had a bad experience with Gateway. It happens. Not to mention they JUST changed their whole sales structure, so of course there are gonna be bumps along the way, but how do you know what the ultimate outcome of their customer service will be? Heres a hint: You don't.

And one more thing, since you wanna talk about "being in someones head", how do you know that I haven't or don't talk to Gateway on a regular basis?? "Are you in MY head??" Fact is, I run a distribution warehouse that provides IT technology and supplies to several high-profile re-sellers and big box stores across the SouthEast. Gateway and HP are my two top technology providers. I am probably on the phone with Gateway 2-3 times a week. Are all these calls peachy? Nope. To be honest, there have been times I've been red-faced and ready to pull my hair out, but these instances are fairly rare and in the end, it usually works out and my suppliers come out ahead. That being said, it still gives me no right to predict what their customer service is going to be doing in the months ahead. Fact is, no one knows. Gateway and Tiger Directs partnership could turn out to be the best thing thats ever happened to Gateway, or it could turn out terrible. NOBODY KNOWS.

All this being said, I'm not intentionally trying to flame you. I'm really not. But when I give questionable information on this forum, I can expect to quickly get called on it. If I'm wrong about something, then so be it. But I do try to keep things that I'm not 100% sure about under wraps until I find out more detail.

 

First of all hello to you all in this forum, I must say I am as enthusiastic waiting for the new Gateway lappie to come out as most of the people around here.

Just a quick question regarding the power supply for the P-series owners: is the power supply auto-adjusting i.e. is it possible to use to power supply also in europe with 220-240 Voltage (the power supply voltage range being in this case 100-240 V)? And also, would it be possible to get a picture of the power plug on the power plug side of the power supply, is it detachable? (Meaning is it possible to replace the original cord with a one with a suitable plug for the country you are located in, or do you have to find an adapter for the plug?)

In case the power supply is only suitable for US, I suppose I could buy a new auto-adjusting power supply which, at least, Targus seems to be providing?

I'm currently living in europe, but having a friend coming over to US just about the time the lappie is about to be released. So can ask him to pick it up from the local BB and bring it back overseas. (Yes, I am aware of the gateway warranty only valid within US, unfortunately)

Thanks in advance!

 

The original PSU will work. You'll just need an adapter for the plug. It is rated for 100V-240V.

And yes, it's detachable. I would assume you could replace it with a suitable cord, assuming that you find one that fits, that is.

 

Oh trust me, the Gateway's build quality is leaps ahead of the Alienware m15x