Gateway 200x...opinions?

Do you guys have any opinions of the make and quality of the Gateway 200x?

 

Seeing how there's no replies for two days from actual owners of the laptop who can offer you the best reply to your topic, I will offer my 2 cents based on my experience with an 200XL. Note that I've only played with it in a computer store and then again in a coffee house where I saw someone using it so I approached them.[8D]

Again, this is just my initial observation, and I don't own this notebook, so take my comments as a "mini-preview".

First of all, it looks metallic and in real life (vs. pics from the net), it is very attractive. But the casing itself is made out of plastic, NOT metal. The casing does NOT feel very tough. In fact, it feels like it might get scratched very easily, and on a silver notebook, my guess is that a scratch will be very noticible.

It definitely feels like it may very well NOT survive a 4 feet drop without sustaining at least moderate damage.

One thing I will definitely say about the LCD is that it's got very poor horrizontal viewing angle. I was all ready to buy this laptop until I saw how bad it was in the coffee house. You will definitely have to be right in front of the LCD to view it.

Cheers!

 

I've been looking for a light notebook for primarily modest home use - but want long battery life (min 3 hours). I had originally been looking at the 450x or a Toshiba m15, which a friend has - but that is no longer available.

Anyrate - prices have been falling on the 200, I'm waiting to see if I can get one with the new Celeron Centrino. But looks like you have to buy the long life battery (another $100) to make this have a decent battery life.

Other thoughts out there?

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by cookiecat

Do you guys have any opinions of the make and quality of the Gateway 200x?
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

 

my friend has this lappy..

it's overall good but he bought it for 1400+, same spec goes around 1200 shipped on ebay.

anyway, the battery is the down point, appearantly gateway only include a 3 cell battery, which can only last for about 2 hours, and a high capacity, which i believe is 6 cell battery cost around usd100 on their website.

overall is good but i prefer to spent less money on other stuff

just my 2 cents

 

I have just ordered my Gateway 200X a few days ago. The decision process was long! Until the last moment I hesitated between the 200X and the Toshiba M30. Both are in the "thin-and-light" category, based on Centrino technology, with a (truly) "sleek, stylish" design. Both are *roughly* in the same price bracket (in Canada, around 2500 CAD + taxes).

Please note that most "professionnal" reviews on the Web are dating. They were issued last summer when the 200X was just released. Its specification have changed since. For instance, the integrated wi-fi technology is the 811g ; the 512 Mb memory comes standard (although officially it is "a limited time promotion").

In this review I first list the specs of both machines so that you can understand why I chose the 200X. But first of all I must say that I have been a happy Gateway customer since 1995. Believe me or not : in all those years this will be only my third GW computer : my Gateway Solo 2500 (PII 333) purchased in fall 1998 is still running well and it is on it that I am typing this post. Then I must precise too, that I am a graduate student in humanities and that what I need from a laptop is :

- a "desktop replacement"
- light enough to follow me almost everywhere (note however that I very seldom need to work off the main, "unplugged")
- excellent for text-writing ; text-reading and archiving (PDF) ; intensive e-mail ; searching the Web

So, that said, the main specs of the 2 machines are:

Toshiba M30:
- Pentium M 1.5 GHz / 512 Mb SDRAM
- Windows XP Pro
- a wide-format (16:9) screen (WXGA) (1280x720 if I remember well)
- excellent integrated sound including great speakers by Harman/Kardon, and the possibility to play MP3-CD when the laptop is off!
- 80 G HD comes standard
- integrated DVD/Rom
- decent video card (GeForce with 64 M)
- wireless LAN integrated: 802.11b
- Silver-painted, plastic case ; 3 kg / 1.5" thick
- Touchpad pointer with Synaptic software


Gateway 200X:
- Pentium M 1.4/1.5/1.6 GHz / 512 Mb SDRAM (limited promotion: 2x256 memory dimms for the price of 256 Mb)
- Windows XP Pro
- fairly large (14.1") standard XGA screen
- very cheap sound system; awfull speakers
- HD 40/60/80 Gig, 4200/5400 rpm; the fast 80 G HD is an option but it is expensive!
- choice of integrated optical drives (DVD/CD-R combo is standard; can be upgraded to a DVD-R/DVD combo)
- Intel "Extreme Graphics 2" video card (shared memory) considered to be "poor" by gamers
- integrated wireless LAN: **802.11g/b** (5 times faster than b)
- Silver-painted, plastic case ; 2 kg / 1" thick
- Touchpad pointer with Synaptic software

I got the opportunity to try both machines at a FutureShop store in Montreal (it was hard because the 200X was "back order" in most of their stores). They were standing beside each other, so it was very convenient for comparison.

My conclusions were that:
- Both machines are great for students who need an affordable, very portable, well configured laptop
- The Toshiba M30 is targeted at students for whom multimedia capabilities are a "must"; the "cool blue LEDs" confirm this marketing strategy
- The Gateway 200X is aimed to people who need to be able to do some *work* (other than CAD though!). It definitely looks and feel more "serious". To my astonishment, the keyboard of the 200X is *far better*, far more "usable" than the Toshiba one, which feels like if it was made of rubber, so soft and "spongy" it is. This only point is a very bad one for someone who needs to type a lot of text.
- The Toshiba is rather "bulky" compared with the Gateway.
- Both silver-finish plastic cases seem fragile, but the Toshiba feels even "cheaper" ; it won't last long before it's full of scratches.
- *Important* : the wide screen is not such a "plus" for office work applications. Actually, you get less lines of text on the WXGA screen ; and what is worse : the actual height of the M30 screen is *visibly* less than for the Gateway ; consequently, the size of "10-point" characters is smaller on the Toshiba than on the Gateway. In fact, a lot of space around the TFT pane is wasted on the M30, making the laptop unnecessarily large. On the contrary, the screen of the Gateway fills all the room available, this is why despite small dimensions, the overall, paradoxical, impression is that you get a bigger screen than on the Toshiba.
- Last but not least : the buttons of the Gateway touchpad are more cleverly laid out : they somehow "surrond" the tactile pad, so that to make a right-click is almost as easy as with a mouse (NB : I am a convinced touchpad user ; the Synaptic software is very good although you can no longer use "simulatneous taps" [2 or 3 fingers at a time] and the speed is not really adjustable -- you have the choice only between 2 speeds)

Besides these personal conclusions, what was pointed out in the various reviews was that :
1) The 200X primary battery has a very short life-time for a Centrino machine (less than 2 hours). It's normal : it's a 3-cell battery while most laptops on the market come with at least a 6-cell.
2) The Toshiba M30 has a fair battery life, *but* the processor clockspeed and the overall performance of the machine drop dramatically when it works on the battery. (Doh! Find the error...)
3) The M30 tends to overheat (not enough to burn but enough to incommodate several users) ; this has not been reported for the 200X.

Many people wonder why Gateway sell the machine with a "cheap" battery. Dilbert fans know that this question is futile. Actually, I managed to bargain and get the additionnal *high-capacity* (6-cell) battery for free, giving me about 6 hours of battery life as a whole. But even if you are less lucky it's only 100$ US ; so if you need a highly portable laptop this expense will not bust your budget and is more useful (IMHO) than a much more expensive DVD-R upgrade or even a 1.6 GHz processor (which will reduce even more the battery life!).

After all, this depends only on your needs as a user and I am always amazed to read comments from users who think that every one has the same needs. What matters to me is to get information that allow me to know wether a product fits with my needs and if not completely, if it is customizable so that it can fit my essential needs. And I know that the perfect machine doesn't exist and that I should always make some compromise. The first one, and it is a big one, is having to wait several weeks for my computer. I am used to it with Gateway but one must admit that it is pleasing to just pick up your computer ready to plug-and-play at the store, and really frustrating to have to wait at least 3 weeks for the Gateway.

Note for Canadian customers : "Gateway Canada" is a joke. Actually this is just a contract given to a technology consultant firm called "Keating Technology". Not only you cannot use the website to order your machine, but the quote it generates is useless ; you have to start it all over on the phone with a sales representative. Can you imagine that they were not even able to tell me if the case was made of metal or plastic?! They had never seen an actual Gateway 200X apparently -- I spoke to a technical support rep who suggested me to go to the nearest FutureShop store! The battery problem was apparently unknown to the sell-representative I dealt with. Finally, they were not able to process my european credit card, so I had to call Gateway US, the 1-800-846-2000 and there I found out that they still have an International Sales Department. Advice : try to deal directly with them, the computers are all sent from the US anyways.

I hope this personnal opinion might help people in their choice. Any comments or questions are welcome!

Guillaume

 

Does gateway laptops allow you to change up the HDD on ur own to say a hitachi 7200 rpm 60 gigger?

And memory upgrades is that possible to do it yourself as well?

How long does the battery last with a 6 cell / 9 cell battery?

 

Yes, you can upgrade drives and mem. I don't know how long the battery lasts in this model though.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

i meant to ask if you can change the laptop hdd 2.5" on your own with say a hitachi 7200 rpm 60 gig drive.

like are there instructions somehere as to how toopen the laptop to change that hdd.

the guy at futureshop says u can't. supposedly

 

I have plenty of experience with a 200X, I owned one for about 20 days before returning it. The 200X is a Samsung OEM product. It is also sold in Europe and Asia and available with Nvidia graphics chipset. It is an awesome looking laptop. Like others have mentioned it is made of mostly plastic. It doesnt feel very durable. The feel is very similar to that of most Dell laptops. The screen viewing angle isnt very good and the colors seem slightly washed out especially on web pages. There is one major drawback to this computer. The memory modules are housed under the left wristpad. Under intensive use the memory becomes extremely HOT and so does the wristpad. For me, this heat was unbearable and led me ultimately to return an otherwise wonderful computer. I couldnt stand typing more than 3 or 4 minutes on the computer. This flaw doesnt bother everyone, but I would be very worried about the long term reliability of this computer given the amount of heat. All laptops do not get so hot like this. Go try and HP/Compaq or an IBM. None of those burn your hand like the 200X. I returned my 200X to the Gateway Country Store not long before it closed down. They acknowledged that the computer should not get so hot and believed it to be a design flaw. The 200XL Display model felt warmer than all of the other laptops Gateway had on display. The 200X still doesnt get nearly as hot as the Toshiba M30. On a positive note the 200X is extremely stable. It never crashed or locked up during the time I owned it. It is very fast and works well. If you can stand the heat and poor build quality this is a good laptop. Otherwise, there are much better laptops on the market.

 

I have been looking into getting the Gateway 200x and I have a couple questions
1) Is the high capacity battery physically bigger than the low capacity battery?
2) Can the batteries be hot swapped?

Thanks

 

The following is from: http://hardware.earthweb.com/computers/article.php/2242581

We managed a tolerable one hour and 45 minutes in low-intensity word processing and spreadsheet sessions with the 802.11b radio switched off, but the battery often fell short of our unofficial mobile minimum of 90 minutes, and in our cruel-and-unusual "reformat and reinstall the factory software" test it lasted a shockingly short hour and five minutes. Gateway offers a larger battery as a $99 option; even though it boosts system weight to 4.7 pounds, we think it's a must-buy.

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Fujitsu S6210: 1.6Ghz PM ~ 768MB RAM ~ 60GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
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My roomate has this laptop. It is great with the extended battery lasts 3 hours.

 

DON'T BUY!!! I have had so many problems with mine that I am actually throwing it away. I love it for the first 4 months then the problems started. Started out with freezing then moved on to clunking noises and crashing to eventually not even turning on. Tech support was unable to competently diagnose the problem and eventually I had to send the laptop in to be fixed.

However when it was returned to me it was in even worse condition then before! Because I had already spent money and time sending the computer in once I thought gateway should pay for it to be sent in the second time. This lead to another ordeal, including them promising to send a box but never bothering too. In fact they even made me call their shipping company to locate it.

After 2 1/2 months of not being able to use my computer I had it returned to me a few days ago with a new hard drive, video card, and a number of other repairs. It worked great... at first. But after an hour the computer crashed again. Every time I have sought help from gateway they have blamed the problem on me (you probably got a virus... and no it wasn't a virus). This company is terrible with customer service and their tech support is incompetent (one phone tech even informed me that gateway had never even made my computer model). Do not waste your time or money by purchasing from this company.