Gateway 7405GX

I am looking for an affordable 15.4 inch laptop, mainly for writing (Screenplays). The advice I have recieved from this forum is great. It actually lead me to the discovery of this model:

Gateway 7405GX

Right now, Best Buy has it for $1249

Here are ths specs:
15.4" Ultrabright WXGA TFT widescreen display
Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processor 3200+ with 64-bit platform; 1600MHz system bus with HyperTransport™ Technology and enhanced virus protection for Windows XP SP2
512MB PC2700 DDR SoDIMM for multitasking power, expandable to 1.25GB
Multiformat DVD-RW/CD-RW drive
ATI Mobility RADEON 9600 graphics with 64MB video memory; S-video TV-out
6-in-1 digital media manager supports CompactFlash, Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO and IBM Microdrive
4 high-speed USB 2.0 ports and 1 IEEE 1394 (FireWire) port for fast digital video, audio and data transfer
Built-in high-speed wireless LAN (802.11b/g); 10/100 Ethernet LAN with RJ-45 connector; V.92 high-speed data/fax modem
Weighs 7.5 lbs. and measures just 1.6" thin for easy portability; lithium-ion battery and AC adapter
Windows XP Home Edition operating system preinstalled; software package included with Power DVD, BigFix and more

This is similar to the eMachines M6811 which I almost purchaseed last month? I do have a few questions though

1. How good is the Gateway product now? I used to work for Gateway, but havn't kept in the loop for some time.

2. Battery life: Is the Mobile AMD 64 gonna suck it all up? What is to be expected? I was leaning towards a Centrino, but most with simila configs are out of my price range.

3. I will play a few games, nothing hardcore. I think the video is right where it should be for my needs. Disagree?

4. Is it a good deal for $1249? Sounds like it to me.

If anyone has any info on this unit, please post. I love these forums. You guys are the best !!

 

1. No Idea - I've heard good things from some people online... however gateway pulled out of business this side of the pond years ago..

2. It won't be as good as a Mobile Pentium but it should be much better than a straight P4 - How much battery life it has depends on the battery (and more info - how many cells/whr)

3. Should be fine - you won't run doom 3 on it but you should be ok with older software.

4. Its a very [:0][ ] good deal at that price...

 

If your are willing to spend a little more, you can get a much better notebook:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?DEPA=0&description=34-115-138&ATT=Notebooks&CMP=OTC-17exta6

When you consider that you are going to have to pay tax at Best Buy, depending on where you live, its not that much more. Acer's quaility is going to be much better than Gateway. It has a dvd burner, better graphics card and five hours of battery life. Plus it weighs a pound less. You may want to upgrade to a faster hard drive. 40Gb 7200 Rpm Hitachi hard drive going for about $100 plus tax on Dell. Hope this helps.

 

You can also look over the HP/Compaq site for other AMD64 offers, mainly the HPzv5000z or the Compaq R3000, both offer the 64 chip which would get u around 3.5 hours with a 12 cell battery or so. The compaq also currently offer the free upgrade to a bigger hard drive and free wireless. Good Luck

thietlong

 

I'm also considering 7405GX vs. HP/compaq AMD 64 laptopa but leaning toward to HP/compaq AMD 64 because I heard that 7405GX has hinge crack problems inherited from emachines 68xx series.

 

The hinge issue from previous emachines is actually my main concern about the new 7405GX and why I'm leaning against buying one. However HP/Compaqs at a comparable price for an Athlon 64 with a better spec GPU than the 440 isn't available yet. Hopefully they'll come out soon and there'll be more competition to the 7405GX

 

The hinge issue should be resolved with eMachine/Gateway. As they finally admitted they had a bad lot of hinges and replaced all the existing ones with newer and better ones. Received my repaired eMachine 6809 back for cracked hinges and LCD problem, problem free so far.

 

gmenfan,

Did emachines/gateway do that with basic warranty? Or did you buy extended warranty?

 

Bought the 3 year extended from Best Buy, but this instance occured under the normal warranty. Brought it back to Best Buy in hopes of replacing it, instead they sent it out. Had it back exactly 1 week from the day I dropped it off. eMachine will also fix it directly as I read several reports from those who contacted eMachine directly and had it fixed through them.

 

1. How good is the Gateway product now?
It's actually an Arima, same as the eMachines and the Voo Doo.
2. Battery life:
I get about 2 hours, with wireless. Amost three hours watching a movie with wireless, HD and status LED's turned off.
3. I will play a few games, nothing hardcore.
Don't play, don't know. Others in the forums say it's real good.
4. Is it a good deal for $1249?
Yes. And don't sweat the cracks. They are cosmetic and are covered by the warranty.

First PC = Vic-20, 8" 128KB Home-Brew Floppy Drive ... Current Rig = eMachines m6805 ... Quantum Leap?

 

I'm just wondering whether the default AC adapter for 7405GX is universal input voltage.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Sorry for the last reply technical difficulties with regestering

anyway to all those 6809 owners out there...did you buy it refurb or new, I can only find refurb right now online and BestBuy does not carry it new (as of last weekend?) Is the Gateway an exact clone except for the name?

Thanks to anyone who can answer the above..

b

 

Not an exact clone, but they are all based on the Arima W730-K8 DTR. Go to http://www.arima.com.tw/ and check it out for more info.


First PC = Vic-20, 8" 128KB Home-Brew Floppy Drive ... Current Rig = eMachines m6805 ... Quantum Leap?

 

Cracking hinges?? I've had mine for about a month now and I haven't had this issue yet. When I compare the hinges of my 7405GX to the 6809? emachines my friend rob has (where his hinges are cracked...) they hinges are different. His have a gap, while mine are connected.

This laptop has been abused, but seems to work fine. I love it. It's great for most of my power multi-tasking and gaming. Granted... a 9600 can only get you so far. Still, overall I'm happy w/ the laptop. At times I still wish I'd gotten the powerbook (for its size and battery life), but that's just me

As far as the screen goes, some people may be displeased w/ the extra shiny hi-def display. After a while, I'd gotten used to me. Anyone share similar experience with this?

I wouldn't really consider this laptop as thin... but I suppose there are worse laptops out there. (Ie any toshiba...)

I've run out of things to blab about.

-Matt

Ikazuchi to yuki no senshi Sailor Jupiter! Mokusei ni kawatte, oshioki da!

 

Ok this may be a silly question..purely cosmetic, does the e-machines 6800 series have the shiny black plating, too, or does it use flat black all over?

 

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

 

OK, thanks! The 7405 has this glossy black finish on the sides that looks really cheap and leaves all kinds of smudges and fingerprints. It seems like a great computer, but that is really a turn off.

Brian

 

I stand corrected, the sides of my 6805 are shiny black. The parts you look at when using it, however, are matte.

First PC = Vic-20, 8" 128KB Home-Brew Floppy Drive ... Current Rig = eMachines m6805 ... Quantum Leap?

 

Has anyone had problems with their DVD/CDROM in the Gateway 7405GX ? Problems encountered here are: not reading CDs and vibration. The CDs can be read in my other laptop but not in this one. We got the first 7405GX from Gateway and in about a week, the CD ROM no longer read CDs. It played DVDs and could write to the CD but it could not read anything. The CD was then tested in another Gateway laptop and it was readable.

We took the first 7405GX back to Best Buy and got another one. Now this one si vibrating and will read CDs part of the time. Again, we tested the CD in the other laptop and it was readable.

Bad DVD/CD ROM drives??? Anyone know of any reliability issues???

Ron

 

I want to buy this laptop but I will be using it for digital audio production... No where on the web states if the hard drive is 5400 or 7200 or the cache size of the hdd (which is very important for recording and midi keyboards)... what the bios options are for booting, wether it offers booting from usb, network, etc....

If I can boot from another device, does anymone know if its possable to install or partition magic Windows XP onto a USB hard drive?

what are the AGP setting, can I change the MB to allow physical memory for the radion9600... None of this info is listed, is every computer user suppost to not care about this sh!* ???


Can anyone answer these questions for me?
AOL: XxChaosInMindxX

-----------
HTTP://www.TripToy.net/
Psychotic Electronic Music

 

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

 

Ok, now I am really close to buying a 7405, a store here has an 'open box' for 1,150, I may just jump on it.

My only question is: is the FSB speed really what they say it is ?

 

It also came with a ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 with 64MB Ram, im looking to upgrade it to 128MB what would some good GPU cards be to upgrade it with. Are there settings for the Graphics because at the bottom on the start line i click on the little ATI thing and it only shows screen resolution and something else. thanks

 

I just got the 7405Gx from Best Buy and i was wondering if its supposed to do this. Sometimes i look at the System Information and it will say AMD Athlon 64 Mobile 3200 then it will say 801 Mhz or 1.6 Ghz or 2.00 Ghz. Is it supposed to change speeds?

 

I just bought my 7405GX tonight spent a few hours tweaking it, was a litte upset that I am not able to do a clean install of the windows XP software, have to deal with all their bundled crap and uninstall it, not that big of a deal. I also bought half life 2 and it runs like a dream on here, hard to believe a laptop can run this game so well. overall i am very pleased, although it's not my dream laptop, i didnt have 3 grand to buy the system I wanted, so for the money I think this is the best system you can buy.

 

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

 

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

 

NOTE TO ALL DO NOT BUY THIS NOTEBOOK WITHOUT READING THIS..

I bought had this notebook for $1250 from Best-Buy actualy I had 5 of them and the first one had the bad hinge problem took it back swapped it out for another one, this one had a blown pixel.

I noticed during registration. took it back got another one with a blown pixel took it back got another one with a blown pixel.

So that made 4 7405GX's that were bad straight out of the box when i took the 4th one back they told me to look around at other models so I got a HP with a crappy little 440go in it.

Took it back because it wouldn't play my games, so I got another 7405 and guess what another blown pixel imagine that.

Oh I was s**ty but not at the store they took care of me realy well when i brought back the last one i just asked if i could have my money back and went to hp.com

I got the new Compaq x6000 love it and for only $200 more you get so much nicer of a PC I would love to see someone else find a better price for what you get. My only complaint was the P4w/ht instead of the AMD64

My X6000 Specs.
Pentium 4. 540 w/HT
New Pci. Express
ATI X600 video card
1GB DDR2 ram expandable to 2GB
80G harddrive
17.0" WXGA+ BrightView screen
Full desk type like key board
DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
wireless Lan.
1 ExpressCard/54 Slot and 1 Type I/II 32-bit card bus
1 IEEE-1394(Firewire)
4 Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0)
1 TV-Out (S-video)
1 RJ-11 (modem)
1 Expansion Port 2 Connector
1 RJ -45 (LAN)
JBL Pro Speakers.

 

1. The processor is a Mobile Athlon 64 - it has the newest version of AMDs Power Now! technology, which is why you're seeing run at 800MHz.

2. The Radeon 9600 GPU is integrated onto the motherboard - the only laptops that have upgradable GPUs at present are Alienware and the Dell XPS series. Also, you can not change memory apertures on a dedicated GPU like you can on an integrated unit - the 64MB you buy is the 64MB you're stuck with.

3. The HD is a 4200 RPM, 8MB Cache drive.

4. While you can't upgrade the GPU, you can wring more performance out of it by downloading the Omega Drivers - a revision of ATI's drivers that enable overclocking, among other features. From what I have read, it isn't uncommon to successfully overclock the card from its 300 core/200 memory defaults to 430/220.

5. I get between 2-3 hours on battery, even when watching a DVD.

6. Usually if you're experiencing CD vibration, it's because of the disc either being unbalanced or not properly seated in the drive.

7. I've had no problem playing games such as Doom 3, Half-Life 2, and MOH acific Assault, so using it for music/video procustion shouldn't be a problem either.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>3. Should be fine - you won't run doom 3 on it but you should be ok with older software.<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Actually, even Doom 3 runs well on the system. I would recommend downloading the newest Omega drivers for ATI though - they are optimized versions of the Catylyst packages, and ATI actually endorses the development of them. As far as the blown pixel issue goes, I have only heard of a few cases in which that was a problem. I know that my unit hasn't had even one blown pixel, and I'm the type of person who'd notice that from a mile away...

 

I've had this laptop for about 2 months now, I'm very pleased with it.

I've noticed no problems with hinges.

No pixel problems.

I have noticed the problem with the CD rom being loud and vibrating, but only happened once with a driver CD I got from a new printer. So I'm assuming this drive is just really sensitive to poorly balanced CD's and the driver disk i got wasn't exactly grade A.

The glare on the screen is really annoying, I'm trying to find some overlay type filter. Other screens have a filter built in, but then again that takes away from the sharpness, so I guess having a filter has it's advtangages and disadvantages. If you use this computer in a very well lit place you may get frustrated. Try not to wear white shirts too LOOL.

Like someone else mentioned, it's a pain not being able to do a fresh install of XP without all that bundled crapola.

Performance is very good.

Overall I'm very pleased with it. I plan on putting a 7200rpm HDD in it later on as well.

 

I purchased my first notebook and the Best Buy salesperson expertly pitched the 7405GX.

I have lost many contracts in my business because the hard drive turned inside out within a couple of weeks. My local Best Buy we horrible to me and despite testing and concluding what I had already told them -- LEMON! -- they insisted it be shipped to an out-of-state repair facility. They screwed up, sent it to a different location, Best Buy could not fix the thing, it ended up at Gateway in Houston, Texas, was shipped back to the destination the local Best Buy screwed up and sent it to (no surprise at all to me given their lack of customer service -- at least in "management") and it should have been in my hot little hands yesterday. Nope! No one will tell me what the heck was done to the thing. I will definitely let everyone know, however, when I get it tomorrow.

Best Buy, by the way, insists that all computers be repaired 3 times prior to replacement. I have an expensive warranty on the deal on top of Gateway's. No one cares. No one will help.

This notebook is now on clearance and the local BB no longer carries it. The salesperson that sold it to me and told me the problems that it had was fired the next day for being truthful.

Meanwhile, I have lost three months of business. No one cares. They all say they are sorry.

Do not buy this laptop if it goes on clearance of next to nothing!

Only two more "repairs" to go and I might get different notebook per "the rules" of my "plan" which are not rules at all but merely tactics to show face and in the process of doing so lose customers.

Again -- do not buy this model! It has a hard drive that supports only CD-ROM bootable programs.