Gateway M210/3520GZ

ANybody have any info on these laptops? They are the newly released Gateway thin and lights. I've been trying to find reviews/information all over the place, can't find a thing. Anybody know ANYTHING about these laptops? THanks

 

One of the main things I was concerned about was the DVD burner speeds. I wrote to Gateway, and this is what they sent me:

Write speed DVD-R: 2x, 4x CLV, 8x ZCLV
DVD-RW: 1x, 2x, 4x CLV
DVD-RAM: 2x, 3x ZCLV, 3x-5x PCAV (Ver.2.1)
DVD+R: SL - 2.4x, 4x CLV, 8x, 12x ZCLV
DL - 2.4x CLV
DVD+RW: 2.4x, 4x CLV
CD-R: 4x, 8x, 16x CLV, 24x, 32x, 40x ZCLV
CD-RW: 4x, 8x, 10x, 16x CLV, 24x ZCLV

Read speed DVD-R/RW/ROM: 10x/8x/16x maximum
DVD-RAM(Ver.2.1): 2x, 3x ZCLV, 3x-5x PCAV
DVD+R/+RW: SL - 10x maximum DL - 8x maximum / 8x maximum
CD-R/RW/ROM: 40x maximum


"DL - 2.4x CLV"...that's Dual Layer, right?

Chris / Henderson

 

Here you go, this is about the most info I've found. Go to Gateways product page for more info, click on specs.

http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=52057&highlight=3520

As far as any other reviews, I have found none..

 

I have an m210S. So far, its a great machine. I will write more about it tonight for those interested. I'm at work now so I cant type much.

 

Okay, I'm back. Well my review isn’t as technical as the above link but hopefully useful. I recently upgraded to the M210S from my VAIO V505 because I wanted a DVD burner. I used to the have the Gateway 200X notebook and loved it but the battery life was horrendous. Even with the high capacity battery, you were lucky to get 2 hours from it. Keep in mind that I have owned Dells and Sony laptops as well as Gateway so my review will not be bias. What drew me to this laptop first of all was how good it looked. I love silver and black laptops. Then when you open it up, BAM, the 14 inch wide ultra bright screen smacks you in the face. This screen is absolutely beautiful. Even friends that have checked it out all say the same thing. Because it is a wide screen it looks bigger than 14 inches. The glossiness of the screen is a little distracting at first because you can see your reflection, but you get used to it real fast. I don’t know how, but it enhances your viewing. It looks like glass. If you have used different laptops in the past then you will appreciate the keyboard. Very firm and pretty much, full size keys. My VAIO had a shift key the size of a quarter and drove me crazy because I kept hitting the wrong key. The VAIO keyboard was also very soft and you can feel it pushing in when you used it. The M210 keyboard is very sturdy and can keep up with my 6,230 words per minute! The touchpad is also very good. The scroll area on the side is very useful although I was kind of fond of the scroll button on my Gateway 200X. The M210S comes with 3 USB 2.0 ports and 1394 port as well as a CRT port. There is a modem port as well as an Ethernet port in the back corner. Let’s not forget the built in WiFi b/g. Works GREAT with my new Barricade G router I got for Xmas. The 8X dual format DVD burner works awesome. I have burned movies, CDs, and data with no problems. I haven’t tried any games yet because all my gaming is done on my desktop. Although I am sure it will not have any problems with some light gaming. The 1.6 GHz Centrino (725,2mb L2) is about the equivalent of a P4-3 GHz. Or at least that’s what I have read. And the 512MB ram is plenty of memory. You can also take out the 256MB and put a 1GB for 1256 total ram. Yes, that’s right, it has 256MB built in and one expansion slot, kind of odd. As far as battery life goes, I have yet to be unplugged for more than a couple of hours. But from what I can see you should get at least 3 if not 4 hours from it. The M210S came with a 60GB but I shoe-horned a 100GB in there!! This machine shows lots of promise. Light weight, good looks and power to boot. I highly recommend this machine if thin and light is your game. And you can’t beat the price! $1099 on sale or $1249 regular price at Best Buy. An equivalent machine at Dell is about $2000. As far as CONS go, I would have to say I only have one. The three USB ports are on the same side of the machine as the DVD drive. This could cause problems if you have a mouse or USB drive plugged in and you are trying to access the drive. That’s the ONLY con I have so far. Let me know if you have any questions. Ron.

 

Now that you have had a few weeks to try this PC out, how long have you been able to last with battery life? How does the PC generally run since it has a 4200 RPM Hard drive?

 

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