Gateway M-6874h... amazing or is there a catch?

First the M-6874h is only available at Staples Canada!

Now, it looks to be very similar to the M-152XL, except with a worse processor (T570 vs. T8300 on the 152XL), no fingerprint reader, and no slot-loading optical drive. But it also has a bigger hard drive (250 GB vs. 160 GB on the 152XL).

Now there is some discrepancy of the GPU on the 6874h. On the general product page it says ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600. However on the support document, it says ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT... which one is accurate?

The chassis and everything else seems to be identical between the two.

In any case, the 6874h is freaking $829 (i don't know if it's $CDN, but let's say it's not and it comes out to be ~$900 CDN) which seems veryyyy low. I mean a 2600 XT for $900 CDN in a notebook that doesn't even suck in other areas (looking at the 152XL review)... what's the catch?!

Specs for the M-152XL: http://assets.gateway.com/s/Mobile/2008/Tempest/2906038R/2906038Rsp2.shtml

Specs for the M-6874h: http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/2008/Tempest/1015717R/1015717Rsp2.shtml

 

It's the 2600. XT's a mistake.

 

for canada its an amazing deal. and ya its not XT.

 

The Gateway® M-6874h isn't available at Staples, I just contacted customer service, hopefully I'll get an answer by tomorrow. This is the one I want, but I can't find it anywhere.

I'll send a note to gateway as well...

 

ya it's not available at stables. i just checked as well. Sucks.

 

either processor will yield basically the same results when multitasking. go for the one with the better graphics card/more ram.

 

I've been waiting for a new laptop for 4 months, and I'm sick of waiting. Believe it or not, I was going to buy the Dell XPS M1730 with dual 8800Ms, which would have cost around three grand...

After reviewing the price and what I get for it, I will probably upgrade my rig, and buy a cheap laptop.

I will probably buy the M-6874h (it is at Staples; just not on the site) this week, bummer it isn't the HD2600 XT though

The cheap processor is also something to keep in mind, I wish I could have the T7500, which is something that matches my needs.

To give you an idea, here's what I found researching the net:

nVidia 8600GS< ATI HD 2600 < NVidia 8600GT

This is what reviews tend to say, however, I have found Marks statistics and, overall, it's a bit different.

NVIDIA 8400M GS > 12532 3DMark01 Marks
ATI HD 2600 > 15772 3DMark01 Marks
NVIDIA 8600M GS > 17004 3DMark01 Marks
NVIDIA 8600M GT > 22071 3DMark01 Marks
ATI HD 2600 XT > 24515 3DMarks01 Marks
NVIDIA 8700M GT > 26598 3DMarks01 Marks

Just writing these statistics are making me think about the laptop, is it really a good deal? It's a bit better than the 8400 GS, but why not get a nicer looking laptop for the same price?

No offence, but the Gateway M-6874h doesn't look that good. I could get a smaller 14.1 laptop for the same price with the 8400GS. What to do? Trust these stats or not? I'm the one in need of help now.

Thanks for any support.

** Let me mention that I'm an extremist (may not fit in this type of structure but it was the only word that came in mind), it was either the 12lbs 17" Beast, or the little 13.3" easy to carry around machine.

I'm looking for something small (this gateway being on the edge), in the 900$ range. I found the P300 (which can be found at FutureShop, but the thing is way over budget (1699$). It's 3.5lbs for god's sake!

Anyway, would an 8400GS play something like crysis in low settings? Or we'll have to leave that to the 8600M GT and better GPUs? Thanks for any suggestions.

 

there is a form somewhere that you fill up to in order to get help on chosing a new notebook.

start here :

http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16

 

You do realize that 3dmark01 isn't exactly a good benchmark? It's somewhat old. Try looking at 3dmark06 benchmarks.
More accurately however,

DDR2 ATI HD 2600 < DDR 8600M GT < GDDR3 HD 2600 < GDDR3 8600M GT