MX6450 owners, please share your experiences....

I had the chance to go into a Best Buy when I was out in Florida last week, which was a bit of a treat since we don't have any within 300 miles of where I live. Anyway, I was looking at the notebooks since I'm in the market for one and came across the MX6450. I like the styling much better than the Compaq V2000Z which is one of the models I've also been eyeballing and I'd like to hear some owner's opinions of this machine since there doesn't seem to be much discussion about it here on the forum. Thanks!

 

No one? There's got to be at least a couple.....

 

Sadly, we don't get a wide variety of Gateway users here. Check with www.notebookforums.com or www.CNet.com

 

Thanks, but no dice on either one of those sites. Well, then. I suppose I'll just go out and purchase it anyway. Guess I'll be the first person to review it. Wish me luck.....

 

its a good solid machine its got a great processor, plenty of ram, lots of media center stuff... its good all around and like a 8 cell battery so battery life should be good. Highly recommend.

 

case is the same as the mx6000 series other than appearance. its the same size and ports and everything. Decent quality overall, pretty sturdy build. you buying? What will u use it for?

 

Yes.

Typical home user stuff. Some audio encoding, Photoshop Elements, office junk, and possibly some light home movie editing. Nothing major and no gaming, else I would probably go for the 7525 (that thing looks like a beast). I also spend about 2-3 months out of the year on the road so battery life is pretty important.

 

sounds like a winner...

 

Yeah, seems great for your uses.
Enjoy your purchase

 

Thanks! I'll be sure and post my impressions (if not a full blown review) when I've had it for a few weeks.

 

Hello,

I purchased the Gateway MX6450 today from Best Buy. I have never owned an AMD processor before and the sales guy told me that I would be very pleased with it. He also assured me that it will be able to run Windows Vista when it is released. We shall see...?

This is what I have done to it so far:

I made my driver recovery disks. The laptop comes with an operating system reinstall disk. I noticed that the laptop had Windows Media Center Edition installed on it. I did not like it and proceded to install Windows XP 64 Professional. I reformated the HD, including the recovery partition and installed XP 64 Pro on it. The installation went without a hitch. However, upon reboot, not one of the drivers I have work on the laptop. The Video Driver, which is for ATI Radeon Xpress 200M did not install and exited with Thunk.exe inf not found. The audio drivers installed but did nothing. Wireless drivers installed and did nothing. Well, you get the picture. Not one of the drivers installed on the fresh install of Windows XP 64 Pro. This is very odd since I thought that Windows Media Edition and XP were basically the same.

I did notice that the new install of Windows XP 64 ran much faster than the original Media Center edition the laptop came with.

I will keep you posted on the outcome of other installs. I am going to try installing Server 2003 and Server 2003 64 on it next.

 

Hey, thanks for your feedback! Can't wait to hear some more of your initial impressions regarding build, screen quality, etc...
As far as installing Win XP 64, were you able to find all the 64-bit drivers you needed? I hear of a lot of people having trouble finding appropriate 64-bit drivers for laptops. Not that I will be installing it, just curious. Media Center is fine for me, as it is my understanding that it is just basically XP Pro with some extra multimedia features built into it.

EDIT:Oh, and from what I understand, the Xpress 200M should be one of the few integrated graphics solutions able to run Vista full tilt (but like you said, "we shall see"). Which leads me to another question - The specs listed for the MX6450 mention it has a Radeon X300. Is this not true?

 

Reinstalled the original Windows Media Center Edition OS and everything runs great. I had to reinstall the hardware dirvers too.

Next I will try to install Server 2003 64 and see if I can get the drivers to work.

will keep you informed.

 

It is in fact an X200... Not an X300..
One of BestBuy's many mistakes
I think Walmart did the same thing with the new eMachines. It is an X200.
Enjoy your machine

 

Doh!

Oh well, it's the same GPU as the Compaq V2000Z I was considering previously, so not much harm done there. Won't dissuade me from purchasing it, anyway. And I think it is actually Gateway's mistake. Their product page lists the same specs.

 

Ok, I installed Server 2K3 64 and I must admit, the laptop just smokes. I mean it is so fast it aint funny!. There is absolutly no hesitation in response time.

The problem are the 64 bit drivers. They are hard to find. I have not put too much effort in trying to find the 64 bit drivers but I think I can find them, or at least find the the video and audio drivers. The nic works with all OS's via generic windows drivers.

I am installing server 2k3 32 bit next. I am assuming that the xp drivers will work with this install. After all, they worked with XP. I'm hoping they do because it is so fast with that OS. I think it has to do with the fact that alot of the services are disabled by default in that OS. Like, audio, themes and so on.

What do you think of this?: I went to Gateway in search of drivers for the 64 install. Come to find out, Gateway does not provide or suggest you use a 64 bit system. This is according to thier statement. That is very odd since they sell 64 bit systems. I just do not understand that. Microsoft says that it is up to the manufacturer to provide or maintain the 64 bit drivers. AMD has a list of manufacturers that make 64 bit drivers,like, HP, Canon, and so on. Anyway the point being is if you are going to sell a product why not provide support for it. I mean provide support 100% not just a selevtive type support.

I'll let you know if the xp-media center edition drivers work on the 2k3 install.

 

Sadly I think we're going to have to wait a few years until 64-bit goes mainstream before we see solid support for drivers. Until then there is plenty of 32-bit software and I see no reason to get too worked up about it (yet). I myself plan to milk XP for all it is worth until I am forced to change....

 

Done:

This works On Server 2003 Ent.

ATI Display Driver
Broadcom Gemtek Wireless Driver
conexant AC-Link Audio
Conexant soft data Fax Modem
Marvell SysKonnect Gigabit Ethernet
Media Player 10 patch or update
Synaptics Touchpad Drivers
Texas Instruments Media Reader Driver--installer installs the drivers and then the New Hardware Wizard pops up and finishes the installation.

To Recap: Any version of the 64 bit operating system will install perfect but the drivers are hard to find (as Mach_Zero pointed out). I am certain they will become available someday but the question is when?
Any version of the 32 bit system also installs fine and the drivers that come with the laptop work with any of the 32 bit installs. Lets hope for our sake that we made a good judgement call in terms of the near future with these laptops. We have all this raw power in the form of AMD Turion 64 but we can not enjoy it to its potential as of right now.

Goodnight.

 

fc3.linux - how is it going? Still liking the machine? How are you liking the screen, keyboard, etc. and how is the heat/noise? I should be getting mine in a couple of weeks (if I ever get my tax refund). Although the 7525 is looking mighty tempting since it's price has dropped from $1,399 to $1,249. Only thing holding me back from that one is the dismal battery life.

 

Hello, The computer is solid. I have been playing with it, as you can see, but it is very nice. The screen is super brite and a pleasure to look at. I have not tested the battery like since it has been plugged in since I bought it, but I will test it tomarrow when I take it to school. I do hear the hd working its butt off at times. Kinda sounds like when win98 use to write to virtual memory due to lack of ram...but its ok. The fan turns off and on quite a bit but I suppose its me because I have really pushed this laptop with applications. The keyboard is nice but its still not a thinkpad keyboard, however, I am just spoiled with the thinkpad keyboards. After trying to find out everything I could about the processor and video, this laptop comes with an upper turion 64 processor. ML-37 is nice but an ML-40 would be even nicer. I am happy with it especially after talking to Gateway Tech support last night about 64 bit drivers.

I called the tech guys/gals and they assured me that Gateway is going to provide 64 bit drivers via thier support page when the vista OS ships out in December. The tech people said that they may not be there yet (there not) but he knew for a fact that they are on the pipeline. I am going to take thier word for it and wait. Whats bothering to me is that they claim they do not support 64 bit OS's it is a generic disclaimer they have on thier driver support page. On the other hand, HP does claim they will provide 64 bit drivers as they become avialable. In my experience HP has always had good driver support...just like IBM/Lenovo with the thinkpads.

Did I mention that the superbrite screen is a pleasure to look at. One more thing I kinda need to get use to is the position of all the usb and gadgetry ports. The back of the laptop has the powersupply and vga ports. The front has audio in/out jacks. I kinda like that and I dont as the headhpones seem to get in the way as I work...but its nice not having to look or probe around for the audio jacks. The right side of the laptop has all other ports excluding the cd/dvd drive and s wire hookup. There are 2USB ports in horizontal form and then ethernet/modem followed by 2 more verticle usb ports, then the media reader and firewire hookup lastley the pcmcia card slot. The speakers are in front of the laptop so the sound sound clear and crip.

The Graphics card is a Radeon 200m, which is OK, but I would have paid more for a higher end card.

I have no complains with this laptop, It is very nice and should be usable when Windows Vista comes out.

One last thing, I installed Vista on it and It works great...by great I mean fast. However ATI has some developemental driver for Vista and they did not take on this laptop. Sound is non existand but the wireless works great. I am humbled in saying that I felt lost while trying to navigate vista. It is really different.

 

Hey, fc3. Thanks again for your feedback! The comments regarding Vista and 64-bit drivers is especially comforting since I am very curious about it and will almost definitely upgrade when it is released (I'm kind of a junkie for new software). Man, I can't wait to get mine!!

 

One more thing...

I did repartition the hd and have it set up to install linux in the future. I may even install server 2003 and then linux but I felt it necessary to do that because I feel that giving windows XP Media Center Edition a whopping 100gig just for itself is a wast of hd.

 

I promise you will not be dissapointed with the MX6450. What kind of specs does the other laptop have?

 

Other laptop? If you mean the other one I was considering, the Compaq V2000Z, then it was pretty close to the same specs only with a 14.1 inch screen. If you configured it out to the same specs as the MX6450 (DVD-RW, 100GB HD, 1GB RAM, etc..) the price was pretty much a wash. I saw them both in a store and just liked the looks of the Gateway better.

 

Oh, one more question. If at all possible, could you post some pics of you laptop? I saw it in person at Best Buy, but it was held down by one of those stupid security bars so I couldn't pick it up and give it a really close look. Thanks!

 

OK give me a moment.

 

Wow.
I was at BestBuy today, and I spent a lot of time behind the platinum edition. VERY nice. It made me want to abandon mine and buy it despite the slightly less-capable GPU (yeah, I liked it that much).
No other laptop (in BB anyways) makes you feel at 'home' as much as this. A pure work of art.
I am confident that you will love it. Just a little more reinforcement.

 

Mach_zero try this url:

 

oops...try this one instead:

 

Thanks, Hellmanns! Work of art - those were the same words that ran through my mind when I saw it. Liked it much, much better than the Compaqs on the shelf.....

 

I live on a rural area (farm land) and have never been able to keep dust out of my house. The pictures magnify all the dust on my laptop as it sits there.

 

w00t! Thanks a million for the pics! Especially the back side/lid. I really couldn't get a good look at it at the store.

Holy crap, that thing is gorgeous. But what a dust/fingerprint magnet. But so worth it.......
I feel your pain about living on farmland, same here. Especially in the fall during harvest. Impossible to keep things clean.

 

Hellmans and Mach_zero, this machine is truly an exquisite work of art. Best of all it is a midrange laptop. Not to expensive and not bottom of the line either. The processor muscle, brite screen and video card are what won me over. Everything else I can upgrade.

 

this laptop will take 2 gigs worth of memory..WOW! 2-1 gig dimms.

 

That is gorgeous.
Yummy

 

sorry for rambling on but I cant help myself. One other thing that I found very interesting is the bios option to boot up from a usb external device. How cool is that?

 

hey guys- yeh this is a great laptop we sold out of them again yesterday at my store. Another cool one very similar to this is on sale this week and for the price its worth mentioning. The inside styling is much better than the outside, but check it out:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...CategoryId=pcmcat64400050004&id=1130986316572
the inside has a nice glossy navy blue look, outside it a tad dull, but nice nontheless.. for 1049 i couldnt help but show this, as much as i like the gateway dont get me wrong

its an 80 gig hdd and the website says its 4200rpm but the box says its 5400, so id go with that

 

That is a pretty good deal. If you CTO the same specs at hpshopping.com it's $100 more. Saw a DV5000 at Staples just the other day, and it is pretty nice. Essentially a Turion version of the DV4000 (minus the high end graphics), which I like also. And it's got a couple of things over the Gateway like Quickplay and Lightscribe capability. On the downside, though, it's got a 6 cell battery as opposed to the Gateway's 8 cell, and I felt the screen was a little dimmer than the 6450's.

 

I had not noticed how very few junk software the Gateway MX6450 comes with. It is really minimual. Well, what I may call junk may not be to you. However, it is really pleasant to get a machine that you dont have to fight with, with all the ad pop ups and apps trying to connect to the internet during first boot. My sis in bought one of the compaq circuit city special during xmas and it was a hassle trying to uninstall all the junk preloaded on it. I mean, who would want to use bonzai buddy...or whatever its called.

I'm loving this thing the more I play with it. I just cant keep my hands off the Thinkpad.

 

So, fc3 have you gotten a chance to measure the battery life on this thing yet? Sorry to keep asking so many questions, but I'm still a week or two away from being able to order mine. Gotta find some way to pass the time without gnawing my arm off.

EDIT: Oh, yeah. And how are the speakers? Not that I'm expecting much, but I would like them to be at least acceptable for viewing the occassional DVD. Thanks!

 

I just got an MX6450 today from Best Buy. I am having random crashes that seem to be heat related. If I don't let it sit for a few minutes before restarting it just crashes again. I say crash but it actually is more like a power failure. It is just like I held the power button.

All/Any advice is welcome. Thanks, Joe

 

Eek! That doesn't sound good. Anyone else experiencing anything like this? Have you contacted Gateway or Best Buy about it? If you did what did they say?
If it is heat related, perhaps your heatsink is not making good contact with the CPU? Are you able to read temps in the BIOS to see what they say?

 

I'm glued to this review because I almost bought one of these today.

 

Good News !!!

The problem was HD corruption in the D: (Restore) partition. After formatting the whole HD and using the Restore CD I'm up and running. However, this lost all of the OEM software ... it must be in the partition not on the CD. I just sent an email to Gateway support to see if there is any way to get those programs. My Sony has a recovery disk and a separate application/driver recovery. That would be nice.

What I did not mention in my first post was that this was an open box buy at Best Buy. Retail was $1199, open box was $1049. But, Best Buy has just marked down a group of open boxes (different models). I picked up the MX6450 for $599. What a deal! So, I half expected to do some troubleshooting. So, I guess I just got paid $400 for the time I spent getting it running.

In conclusion, I wouldn't count my experience against a NEW purchase of the MX6450. Sorry if I scared anyone away. If I have any bad experiences I will be back. You can be sure of that.

 

You very nearly did just that. I had two other notebooks running second and third place in my buying consideration. Upon reading your post I started looking at the latter two a little more seriously than before. Glad to hear you got it all sorted out.

 

Sorry about that, mach_zero. Until I got it worked out it could very well had been a legitament flaw. However, being an open box HD corruption could have come from anywhere. I hadn't seen any articles about HD corruption with this particular model. So far so good. Besides, it is one sexy laptop.

 

Godspropy, when I purchased the MX6450 I made a backup copy of the software and drivers that shipped with the laptop. If you need a copy...pm me.

I have been very happy with my laptop. The battery life is a descent 3.5 hours. The screen is excellent as is the keyboard.

I settled on a 30gig Media Center partition followed by another 30gig Server 2003 partition and a 20gig Linux (Fedora Core 4) partition. The rest of the space I set it up as a Shared Fat32 partition.

Linux installed beautifully on this machine. The Xpress 200m video card works with full 2d and 3d acceleration. The sound is great and the wireless is working at full speeds. It really surprised me how easy Linux installed on it.

mach_zero, I strongly suggest you consider getting one of these....you will not be dissapointed, I asure you.

Godspropy, You did get a good open box deal...way to go!

 

One more thing about this laptop MX6450 the Radeon Xpress 200m is fully compatable with DX9. In other words, when Vista comes out later on this year, we will be ready for the new OS. The processor (AMD Turion 64 ML-37) and the (ATI Radeon Xpress 200M) Video card are made to run Vista, without any problem.

Some other folks that are buying Centrino plataform systems with the Intel integrated 9xxx graphics will not be able to run vista in 3D...but we will.

I have realized that this computer is an investment for what is about to come. It is truly ahead of its time. It is a waiting game for now.

 

One last final thought about 64 bit drivers. While I was playing around with differnet installation of OS's. I managed to install Windows XP x64 and found all the X64 drivers for it except for the audio. That was kinda sweet...finding all these x64 drivers, since most of these drivers will be available in the future as Vista aproches.

 

599 holy ****! selling that machine at 1049 is almost under cost. 600 is ungodly. good deal