I bought the MX3225

It will barely run Windows with 256MB or RAM, but this is all I can afford...

When I will receive it (hopefuly tomorrow), I will post some highlights and then later maybe a full review

 

I have an old Gateway desktop with 256 ram, and it runs XP just fine. All I do is run Winamp and an internet browser though.
As long as the processes are kept to a minimum, it will do fine. I would upgrade as soon as possible though
Looking forward to your impressions.

 

After using it for one day, here are my thoughts:

The MX3225 weighs about 5 lbs w/ battery and is easy for traveling....

The screen has some serious light leakage at the bottom, bleading into the middle of the screen. This is ONLY noticable during blank (black) screens. While using windows, you cannot even tell that there is leakage.

Another tiny problem with the screen, is that my laptop came with one dead pixel, which is exactly in the middle of the screen I noticed it while booting up, but the entire windows layout conceals it, so it's not a problem.....

But besides these problems, the screen is bright and vivid due to the glossy coating. The lights do not reflect off of that much, so light reflectation is not a problem.

The DVD/CD-RW optical drive is amazing. It is really quiet and it is part of the whole laptop, meaning you cannot swap it....The CDs, DVDs play without a hitch and it doesn't make that airplane engine sound that some laptops make....

The keyboard is also great. Every key makes a little clicking sound, and the travel that the key make is average. There is however some minor flexing...

Performance: This is the part where I was shocked. Given the fact that I've paid $447 for this laptop, this machine blew me away. It has a Celeron M @ 1.50Ghz with 256MB or RAM. Boot up to windows is really fast. It takes about 8 seconds until it reaches the login windows screen from the time you press the power button. Aftern you login, the windows loads up fully in about 7 seconds... I have firewall, anti-virus, wireless, internet, and some other stuff load up at start-up.... Of course this incredible performance was not exactly out-of-the-box. I did have to remove all the annoying software and junkware that was preinstalled...I've spend nearly one hour just uninstalling stuff

So, in the end, am I pleased with this $447 purchase? ABSOLUTELY!! Besides the light leakage and dead pixel, I love this beast

 

Thanks for that. Those are impressive boot times indeed. That's quite a bit faster than my computer. Of course, I have the Windows Vista Transformation pack that dosen't exactly help Plus, Gateway often upgrades harddrive speed when they are low on stock of the original model. Maybe that happened to you
Sorry to hear about the dead pixel.. That stuff happens though.
I'm glad that you are happy with it

 

A little update:

I did the Windows Updater process, to install all the critical updates.

I also updated my chipset/motherboard INF files, and also my display driver.

However, this impacted performance quiet a lot...

I can tell that the laptop is a little bit slower, and the start-up slowed down a little bit.....

 

It will happen. The more you install, the slower it will get. For the most part, it isn't really noticeable though.
Here is a link to a guide provided by bootleg2go to help you with optimizing your notebook, if you haven't already looked at it. I used it once, and it does help indeed. I haven't gone through it since my last format though. I might sometime later.

 

Here's a picture ( bad one ) showing the light leakage...

If there was ever a light leakage contest, surely I will win

 

I'd retake that picture seems like over-exposure.

 

I got this a couple of weeks ago from BB for $399. You can replace the DVD/CD burner. I replaced it with a LiteOn 833S DVD burner. All you have to do is remove the gateway faceplate and it fits perfectly on the LiteON drive. The whole procedure took under 5 minutes to pull out the existing drive, remove the rails and put them on the LiteOn drive and to remove both faceplates and swap them. I also put in a 1GB memory module(That took under 1 minute) which made a huge difference with this machine. It is much much faster now when running multiple programs.

 

I bought the MX3225 too. I found it sold out on Best Buy's web site for $399.99. Surprisingly, the local store had one and I grabbed it up. They also had 1gb DDR2 memory on sale for $85 so I bought that too.

I am extremely happy with this machine. The only problem I can see is 1 pink stuck pixel to the right side of the screen. Only visible on dark backgrounds so it is not a bother at all. I have no light leak like the original poster. It seems about the same on black screens as all my other LCD's.

One question I have for Gateway owners is about durability of the shiny coating on the display. I've noticed that sometimes when I open the notebook that there are faint marks from some of the keys on the screen. I can only see them when the display is off due to the high reflectivity of the coating. They must be grease/oil because they wipe right off with a microfiber cloth but they tell me that the keys are resting against the screen when the notebook is closed and may eventually scratch the coating on the screen.

Have and other Gateway widescreen owners noticed permanent marks on the screen from the keyboard and if so, are they noticeable when the unit is turned on?

I am considering digging out and reusing the foam sheet that originally protected the screen/keyboard during shipping to protect the screen in transit. (I never use the notebook while commuting, just at home and at work).

Thanks!

 

I'm looking to get a new laptop and the MX3230 caught my eye from BestBuy.com - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7885014&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat39100050016&id=1149040741607

How does this one compare to the MX3225? What is the max resoultuon on the MX3225? Have any of you done an upgrade to Windows XP Pro on the MX3225 or MX3230? I think I'm going to check it out at Best Buy on the way home from work in a day or two. But any input would be great!

Thanks!

 

They look pretty similar from the BB web site specs. The only thing I can see that is noticeably different is the HDD is 40gb on the 3230 vs. the 60gb in the 3225.

Max res is 1280x768.

For the money, I don't think you can beat this machine. IMHO it has a much better quality look and feel than comparably(or often higher) priced Compaq/HP or store brand machines.