MX6930 Core 2 Duo - Anyone? Anyone?

Boy I tell ya, sometimes Gateway comes out with products and it sure seems like I'm the only person on the planet that gets 'em. Can't find any decent info or reviews of this laptop - which I now own thanks to a stop at Best Buy earlier today. Found it on the shelf, saw the Core 2 Duo sticker, didn't see any price or spec info, asked about it, was told it was on sale for $799.99 and verified they had one then walked out with it - I paid of course.

So, it's got the following specifications (as leeched from the Best Buy Canada site since the US site is down as I type this):

Mfr. Part Number: MX6930
Processor Type Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5200
Screen Size 15.4"
RAM (Preloaded / Maximum) 1024MB DDR2
Hard Drive 120GB (5400RPM)
Optical Drives 8X DVD+/-RW Multi Format Dual Layer
Graphics Shared Intel GMA 950 Video Card
Average Battery Life 3 Hours
Product Weight 2.87 kg
Audio Type High Definition 2-Channel
Battery Type 6-Cell Lithium-Ion
Cache 2MB L2
Fax/Modem 56K ITU V.92 Ready
I/O Ports See The Features Section
Included In Box A/C Adapter, Manual, Battery
Network Card 802.11a/b/g WLAN, Integrated 10/100 LAN
Other Software See The Features Section
PC Card Slots 1 - Type I or II, CardBus
Pointing Device Integrated Touchpad With Vertical Scroll
Preloaded Operating System Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Processor Speed 1.6GHz
Product Dimensions 35.8(W) x 3.6(H) x 26.4(D) cm
Removable Storage See The Features Section
Screen Type Widescreen UltraBright WXGA TFT
Speakers Built-In Stereo Speakers
System Bus 533MHz
Warranty 1 Year Parts & Labour

So, unless there is a different MX6930 out there, or it's using a different model number for the same config, does anyone besides me own one of these?

And another bonus: the C2D processor is socketed meaning I can get another one at some point as an upgrade. It'll most likely throttle down to 533 MHz (I think) but that's fine; having somewhat useful upgradeability almost makes this laptop a great deal, I'd say.

Installing Vista RC2 on it right now to see how she flies. If anyone does have one of these, share your thoughts and experiences, please.

Thanks...
bb

 

I am thinking of buying this laptop. Can you tell me your experience? Would it buy it again or spend a little more $ on something else?

Thanks!!!
Mak

 

I sent you, bbz_Ghost an email about you experience so far about the MX6930, but thought I would post the question here also in case anyone else had any info on this laptop as I am thinking about buying it before the sale goes off at Best Buy. It appears to be a pretty decent laptop for the price.

 

If I had the money right now, this moment, I'd be packing up this MX6930 to return and apply the cost towards this model:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...teway&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1157068283471

That one is a 17" (big sucker), 1440x900 resolution, Core 2 Duo T7200 2 GHz with 4MB L2 (it's a Merom CPU), 160GB 5400rpm drive, etc etc. Mostly the same hardware as this MX6930 I'm currently on, which I love actually. But for $1199 out the door, that 17" model is damned hard to beat; I wish I had those other features (the 160GB drive, the 1440x900 resolution, and that Merom processor) in this MX6930, really.

The MX6930 is a fantastic machine for the price. I'm currently running Vista Home Premium 64 Bit Edition at the moment, and I just last night bought 2GB of PC2-4200 for it (533 MHz) and Vista is just flying along.

Intel released newer GMA950 drivers last week just after Vista went RTM - you can get those updated drivers (most people don't know about them for some reason) at:

http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-023621.htm

This is *not* a beta driver, it is feature complete and ready to roll for Vista, and released just last week. After installing it my WinSAT score for video went from 3 to 3.1 - no it's not a major jump in 3D gaming performance, but Aero sure seems a lot snappier and smoother with this new proper driver.

Here's a screenshot I just snapped a few minutes ago:



NOTE: For those people that think they're going to steal my key just because I didn't hide it in that screenshot, don't fool yourselves. I installed Vista without a key - doing so let's you choose which OS you want to install, so since I'm getting a free copy of Vista Home Premium with Gateway's Express Upgrade to Vista program (I just bought this laptop, remember), that's the version I installed on Sunday. But I chose the 64 bit version of Home Premium.

The only piece of hardware that isn't supported in Vista 64 so far is the media card reader, so I could care less really. My digital camera has a USB 2.0 port on it so I can the pictures off it that way.

Aside from that, I have no issues with this laptop at all and no issues with Vista so far either, and again I'm running Vista 64. Those Intel drivers above, the newest final ones, are also available in a 64 bit version also.

I have a crappy HP Desktop D1320 printer that isn't directly supported, so I grabbed the XP 64 drivers, attemped to install them and the installation crapped out. But, they were extracted into a temp directory so I went in there and pulled them out, did a standard Add New Hardware thing under Vista, pointed the installer to the location of the drivers, and it read them off and installed 'em just fine.

No issues, so now this machine is totally 64 bit through and through save for 32 bit software I've installed and the lack of the media card reader 64 bit driver.

I'm pretty happy with the purchase, and I picked up 2GB of Kingston RAM last night as Fry's here in Las Vegas. With that installed, Vista is simply amazing. I strongly strongly recommend that anyone interested in Vista on the MX6930 - or any laptop at all from any manufacturer - invest in RAM, as much as your laptop can possibly hold, as soon as you can.

Vista works a lot differently from XP, and I mean a lot differently.

Now that I have 2GB of RAM installed, after booting the laptop, Vista sucks down over 800MB of it to cache a ton of stuff directly in RAM to speed the entire system up.

It's not like XP - it gets faster with more RAM consumption, not slower. Seriously.

I had it running with 931MB of 1GB in usage the other day and it wasn't chunky or slow in any way. I also have a 4GB USB 2.0 thumbdrive in place to help with ReadyBoost.

Every little bit helps, but I can say with all confidence that the Gateway MX6930 for $799 is practically a steal for anyone interested in a great midrange laptop that's 100% Vista 32 bit capable and currently only one single device doesn't have a proper 64 bit driver.

64 Bit computing is coming... I even created a website for it and everything related to it:

www.64bitrocks.com

Stay tuned... It's coming.

Hope this helps...
bb

 

w00000t!!!

Full Vista 64 compatibility... just found the 64 bit driver for the 4n1 media reader and now this MX6930 is fully compatible with Vista 64!

Here's the linkage for the info:

http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?showtopic=27934

And a screenie of my now quite nicely laid out Device Manager:



I'm one very happy camper now lemme tell ya. No worries about any driver issues at all with Vista 64 from now on.

Great laptop, phenomenal deal on the price... run out and get one if you can.

 

bbz_Ghost, thank you for spending time for sharing the review of the Gateway MX6930. It is really nice to know that it runs Vista like a charm.

But what is important for what i'm looking is it has the duo core 2 chip, 1 gig of memory and a $200 off on sale at BB.

 

Yep. At this moment I'd say it's probably the best value laptop for Vista on the market today considering it's a Core 2 Duo machine for $799.

I'm pretty damned happy with it, and with Vista 64.

 

I just got this today, I don't know much about laptops but the sales associate told me this laptop was a good deal for what I was looking for (light-medium gaming), so I bought it. So far it is running well, but I wanted to upgrade the video card if possible because I want to play Final Fantasy XI Online on this. Any suggestions on video cards?

 

If the salesman even hinted that such a thing were possible, I'd say take that laptop back to the store and break it over his stupid head.

Laptop video cards aren't upgradeable except on some very high end models from Dell and Alienware and maybe 2 or 3 other manufacturers. The Gateway MX6930 that you got (and I and several other people own now) has Intel onboard GMA950 graphics, meaning it's not really a "card" you can remove and swap out for something better.

GMA950 is ok for some gaming depending on the game requirements, but it's not for gaming overall. It can do all the 3D stuff that Vista requires, but it's not a serious graphics processor (GPU), not by a longshot.

So the simple answer to your question is: you can't upgrade the video on that laptop, sorry, and any salesperson that used such a thing to entice you to buy it - or even brought it up in the conversation - should definitely look into another line of work.

bb

 

Bought it yesterday before sale ends but it turned out that it is still on sale this week.

Somehow there is an another Gateway MX6931 onsale $200 off too, with same specs except it sports a 160 gigs and 2 gigs for ram making me wonder to return to switch to a 2 gig meg of memory one since you have 14 days to try.

It is pretty fast and nice. Haven't played with it yet. Just it detects my wireless router
which has security on but 6 other wireless routers were unprotected and I could connect to anyone of them! lol

Is it a good move to switch to 2gigs memory and 160gigs hard drive for $200 more because Vista is very demanding in ram to run.

 

Hell yes it is, and that's exactly what I'll be doing later today after a lot of backups.

That MX6931 was overpriced in my opinion at the time I saw it, and I didn't even notice they'd lowered the price. Wow, Core 2 Duo, 2GB stock, 160GB stock, that beats the 6930 by a mile. I just paid $169.99 + tax for the 2GB of RAM at Fry's, that'll be returned also and the money put to other uses.

Thanks for bringing this MX6931 deal to my attention.

Same machine as I already have, but 2GB stock and a 160GB drive up from 120GB for $200 more is a freakin' big time bargain.

Amazing... and I do love the laptop, all around. It's a solid piece of machinery without any doubt at all, and as I've said in this thread, because it's now 100% Vista 64 compatible with the drivers I located, it's the one for me.

Still amazed at that $999 price. I'm so there, I swear.

Gotta get started on the backups then I'll restore this to factory condition and box it up.

Thanks again for the head's up. Anyone reading this: I doubt you'll find a better deal anywhere for $999 and the MX6931... just let me get mine first, ok?

bb

EDIT:

Oh yeah, one last thing: the MX6931 has the T5500 Core 2 Duo in it running on the 667 MHz FSB as opposed to the MX6930 which has the T5200 Core 2 Duo running at 533 MHz; so that alone is a 25% boost in processing speed.

I'll bet, I'll just bet that if you get PC2-5300 RAM (runs at 667 MHz) that'll drop right into the MX6931 and then the whole machine will run 25% faster across the board than the MX6930. Holy cow... I'll see if I can swap the current 2GB I have later today for 667 MHz RAM and report on my findings.

Amazing... simply amazing...

 

Wow, definitely a return to get that MX6931 then.
The only problem I have is the MX6931 can only be bought online
and the MX6930 needs to return in store, so I have to do 2 transactions
one to buy the new one and the other to get refunds on the MX6130.

The good news you can buy online and add laptop accessories with 20% off and pick them at the store near you.

But I like to play more with it over the week-end and return it next week!

I don't mind much the 40 gig additional hard drive but the 2 gigs needed to run Vista and a higher bus speed is definitely a winner!

Luckily, i haven't registered anything with the OS version yet!

 

Like you I saw it over at bestbuy too, and I couldnt believe the specs, for 799 dollars. It has the new Intel core 2 duo 5200 processor and a gig of ram. I had to get it.

I've used it for a couple of weeks. Running multiple heavy programs at the same time. Ill have a couple of eclipses, itunes, dreamweaver, flash and photoshop at the same time. Can't even notice the anti virus running.

I'm not a big gamer but I actually play world of warcraft now and then. On this machine it runs like a baby, no problems, also while multitasking with other apps. Also the laptop is completely silent. The fan hardly ever kicks in the intel onboard graphics chip is awesome.

The resolution 1280x800 is just enough and I have gotten used to it. Much better than the standard 1024 on older laptops.

This baby is so good it's now my main workhorse even when i'm at home. Having several pentium machines laying around.

Havent tried out vista yet but it comes for free with this laptop at release, then of course I will try it.

The processor will clock down if not plugged in at monitor will dim down basically saving you lots of power and keep this baby running for 3-4 hours.

 

Question. I just picked up the MX6930 at Best Buy at the $799 site. I'm a little concerned Gateway doesn't even list the machine on its website (although the 6931 is up there) - hope that doesn't lead to issues when i'm trying to download drivers after upgrading to vista in February.

The question is, several people here have mentioned that they bumped up to 2GB RAM...i was under the impression that this computer couldn't take more than 1GB. People that upgraded...were you using a 6930 or a 6931?

 

I sure would love to know where people are getting the information that says this laptop I'm typing on (the Gateway MX6930, same thing that moz104 just bought too) can't go past 1GB.

And it is on the Gateway website:

http://www.gateway.com/home/products/ret/ret_MX6930.shtml

The Intel 945GM Mobile Express Chipset that powers the MX6930/6931 and several other models supports up to 2GB of RAM in a 2x1GB configuration, or a mixture of different size sticks maxing out at 2x1GB.

So yes, you can install 2GB of RAM in this laptop - since I did and I'm running it with 2GB.

Somebody point me to the place where you're reading it's limited to 1GB because that source is like way incorrect. Go get yourself 2GB and watch it really fly.

The 6931 is the same laptop, exact same hardware except for:

1.66 GHz Core 2 Duo running in the 667 MHz FSB
160GB drive instead of the 120GB
2GB of RAM instead of 1GB

And I'm about to restore this MX6930 so I can return it and get the 6931 which came down in price this week for some reason; it retails for $1149 as listed on the Gateway website at:

http://www.gateway.com/home/products/ret/ret_MX6931.shtml

Makes me think Best Buy just might drop the price on the MP8708 again since it's already below the retail that Gateway suggests of $1349 as shown here:

http://www.gateway.com/home/products/ret/ret_MP8708.shtml

Fun stuff, regardless. I want that MP8708, I really do, primarily because of the Merom Core 2 Duo (has 4MB of L2 cache) but I just can't seem to come up with the price difference. Bad timing on my part, I guess, right in the middle of pay periods as well as the holidays fast approaching.

Bleh...

 

Ok, I got home with the MX6931 a short time ago, been doing a bit for bit image of it before even booting it "officially" for the first time. I missed that step with the MX6930 because I was in a hurry and excited to see what the MX6930 could do. This time, I remembered and set some guidelines for myself as far as pics and benchmarks.

First up is the CPU-Z data, so a couple of screen caps:











As noted above in a previous post, the stock 2GB of RAM in the MX6931 is only PC2-4200 (reports as 4300 sometimes) running at 533 MHz. With the Core 2 Duo T5500 in this laptop running at 667 MHz, there's a discrepancy there between the CPU and RAM speeds; to put it bluntly, it's a bottleneck that I hope to resolve soon by replacing the stock RAM with 667 MHz rated sticks.

Now, that pretty much covers the basic CPU/RAM info, and I'll post more data later on.

The one thing I really wanted to harp on was the incredible array of CRAP that Gateway preinstalls on this machine. After the boot and at the Desktop, I fired up Task Manager and was shocked to see 65 processes (!?!?!?!?!) and ~315MB of RAM usage - and that was after about 2 minutes of waiting for everything to settle down.

Presently I've got 13 icons in the System Tray - thank god it's a Core 2 Duo with 2GB of RAM or this machine simply wouldn't start up, I think. It's absolutely astonishing that companies load down PCs with so much absolute garbage it's not even funny.

Anyway, I fully expect the overall performance to improve for two reasons:

1) Getting the 2GB of 667 MHz RAM will bump the performance 25% as far as RAM operations are concerned, and...

2) I'm gonna wipe this thing clean and do it the right way.

I'll report on performance as I can, but suffice to say, there is nothing else on the market today that can touch this machine for $999.99 + tax - it's simply unbelievable in terms of price-to-performance ration. Run out and get one today!

bb

 

bbz_Ghost seems like you have a lot of experience with computers. I was just wondering if I want to upgrade my one gig in my 6930 to 2 gig what memory is good.

Also. I have also noticed how slowly it boots up after you log in. And all the processes that boot up. I was wondering if you were able to pinpoint the worst bottlenecks as far as all the bloatware that comes with it. I've tried to uninstall most of the stuff but still theres over 50 processes and it logs in very slowly.

 

I've been working with computers for 30+ years now, installed Windows over 150,000 times on a nearly limitless variety of machines, tweaked it, troubleshooted it, configured it, wiped it, reinstalled it, retweaked it, etc etc. So yeah, I do know a lot about computers, but sometimes that knowledge is a bit of a curse because no matter how quick or fast a machine is, I can always make it faster. That becomes a problem when I spend more time tweaking a computer than actually using it.

If you just install Windows XP all by itself with only the necessary drivers (necessary to me means Device Manager is complete and has no yellow exclamation marks or any disabled hardware), the OS is going to be quick, snappy, responsive and run fantastic. It's when you start adding third party software - like all the crap Gateway and most other OEMs install on the machines at the factory - that it becomes slow, sluggish, non-responsive, and takes a long time to boot.

I have a 5 year old Dell Inspiron 4150 laptop powered by a Pentium 4-Mobile (not a Pentium-M) running at 1.7 GHz with 1GB of DDR2700 RAM and it has a Hitachi 80GB 7200 rpm hard drive in it.

After I install XP Pro on it and then time the boot process and how much RAM is used to reach the Desktop, it's about 40 seconds to boot and 94MB of RAM usage.

Then I spend about 30 minutes tweaking that installation, and redo the test. Typically the RAM usage drops to just over 55MB (before the video driver installation, that is), and the boot time drops down to 16 seconds.

After a few more tweaks and a single pass of BootVis (Microsoft's boot tuning software, still available but never supported), I can get that laptop booting in 13-14 seconds.

Now, once I start adding third party software to it, yes, it will slow down over time because that's the nature of the beast we call Windows. Any OS will do it, really, it's just a matter of how much and to what degree, but that's a topic for another time.

My suggestion: Get the 2GB of RAM, as soon as you can afford it. RAM is the breath of a machine, in some respects. The CPU is the brain, the motherboard and hardware are the body, and the RAM is the oxygen, more or less. Deprive it of that, and it chokes and can't perform up to speed. Give it plenty of RAM and it'll have room to breathe, and then you'll see what it can really do.

I don't have a preference for brands, really, I just go for the best price I can find. Having said that, I don't go for the cheapycheapy crap either. Kingston (currently onsale at Frys, $109/1GB Stick PC2-5300 667 MHz SODIMM), PNY, Crucial, OCZ (currently onsale at Fry's, $99/1GB Stick PC2-5300 667 MHz SODIMM), etc.

If a retail store (national chain) is selling it, it's worth getting. It's the cheap stuff you find online for the price that's just too good to believe that gets you into trouble.

Based on my testing of Vista recently, both the beta editions and release candidates as well as the now "final" RTM code, it needs RAM, seriously. So, while the free copy of Vista Home Premium we are entitled to because we qualify for the Express Upgrade program is wonderful and powerful, if you don't give it enough RAM to breathe, you're not going to be happy with it.

So, get the 2GB, or 1.5GB if that's all you can afford. But most definitely get more RAM if you intend to run Vista, and I can't think of any reason you shouldn't since we get a free copy of it soon enough. You can go to the Gateway website after December 1st and do all the Express Upgrade stuff online and save yourself the hassle of filling out forms or cutting the UPC code off the box.

Hope this helps...
bb

ps
As for your question about the processes, yep, it's a bit of a pain. There is a program out called "The PC De-Crapifier" that can help. It'll go through and remove all the crappy bloatware that Gateway or other manufacturers install on your machine. My HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION is always to do a nice reinstall of just the OS itself - this is possible using the Gateway Recovery DVD included with the MX6930/MX6931 and just choosing to reinstall the OS only and not all the included software.

Get more info about The PC De-Crapifier here:

http://www.yorkspace.com/pc-de-crapifier/

Good luck...

 

Well I installed Final Fantasy on it, and low and behold it actually worked, infact it blows my desktop out the water with the game. I guess I just lucked up in that FFXI must not need that powerful of a graphic card. So I'm happy so far.

 

Well there ya go.

The GMA950 is a DX9 compliant graphics processor, and it's 256 bit also, so while it can't outperform dedicated cards from ATI and Nvidia, for onboard graphics it's good enough for everything that Vista requires.

And it plays a few games to boot.

Also, remember that because the GMA950 is using your system RAM for video memory, make sure if you do get more RAM to get something decent and not the cheapest RAM you can buy. I mentioned Kingston and Crucial above - both companies make excellent RAM that performs very well and has a long warranty in case you have issues.

I'm digging this MX6931 so far, and I can't wait to get the proper 667 MHz RAM in it and finally open the throttle full, as it were.

bb

 

Thanks for your insight bbz_Ghost, it has been really helpful. I might do the ram upgrade once vista gets out, if I notice that one gig really isnt enough for my tasks.

 

Yanno, with "Black Friday" rapidly approaching and the holidays almost upon us, I have to say I am amazed at this laptop, the MX6931 (and the MX6930 also). I mean that in terms of what's being offered and the value of it.

I just went through my Sunday paper and saw ads from Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, Office Depot, and OfficeMax. Not one of those retailers has anything that comes close to the performance, the speed, the amount of stock RAM, the size of the stock hard drive, etc.

Simply amazing what I just got for $999 out the door, with no silly mail-in-rebate hassles or anything else that might ruin the beauty, simplicity, and satisfaction of just walking into a Best Buy and walking out 10 minutes later with what I firmly believe is the best laptop deal on the market right now.

I fully expect the price to jump back up to $1149 in the next week or so, but for now, $999 for the Gateway MX6931 is simply impossible to beat. Sure I wish it had dedicated graphics, but I don't play games so it's not really an issue. The Intel GMA950 is handling all Vista's graphical requirements just fine with no slowdowns or issues noted.

I just installed Vista Business 64 a bit ago and it's even snappier and faster than Home Premium. Vista Business is the edition most closely associated with XP Professional, so I'm testing it out to see if it's worth the cost at the time Vista becomes an official product.

Amazing... just amazing...

 

Can anyone tell me how they have succeeded to return laptops in BestBuy?! I live in Washington State and have tried to return my MX6930 and exchange for a MX6931. Customer service told me that they need to charge me 15% restocking fee for an open laptop. With $120 restocking added to the MX6931, it will not be such a great bargain.
Can anyone help me solve this? I have only two more days left for return period.

 

I told them the CD/DVD drive wasn't burning CDs and DVDs correctly, and the laptop rebooted spontaneously on occasion. Might have fudged the truth somewhat, but it's not like I was stiffing them for a refund. I returned a subpar laptop to "silently exchange" it for another and spent even more money in the process.

Some might look on it as questionable, but that's the nature of business these days. The competition is so cutthroat the only way we as customers will get the better bargain and deal for our money is to sometimes fudge the truth to do it.

Besides, it came with Windows Media Center Edition, so the spontaneous reboot thing has some basis in truth.

Basically I made them well aware that I was unhappy with the laptop and felt it was defective in some respects. They had a "geek" come check it out from "The Geek Squad" and I just laughed when he started asking me silly questions. I wanted so bad to just look him in the eye and say, "Son, I've been working on computers longer than you've been breathing, trust me, it's defective," but I know he's got a job to do so I just played nice.

Hard to believe I've been working in this industry for 30+ years, but there it is. Now I'm taking the "old guy" track and looking down on these young pipsqueaks that think they "know about computers" just because they've had one in their lives since they were born.

Bleh, I'm getting old.

EDIT:
I returned the MX6930 for store credit, outright. I never said anything to the customer service rep at the return counter about getting another laptop or doing some kind of exchange - called a "refund re-apply" where one item is returned and that cost is re-applied to the purchase of something else. I simply went to the return counter, made my case for the "defective" laptop I was returning, got full store credit for the hardware on a Gift Card, then proceeded to the computer section and picked up the MX6931 and headed home. Simple.

YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).

 

Haven't done it yet but I call the store today to see how this works but I recall their saying when I bought was you have 14 days for full refunds providing you have receipt?. Specially you are not returning but exchanging?

Edit:
After serious thoughts, i probably won't return it though it is very tempting to do for a
difference price that what extra $200 can give for the MX6931.

But for what the laptop can do to someone, a gift from me, is plenty enough for school's work and some web browsing.

I wanted to buy it with the duo core 2 to avoid that it is out of date soon since technology evolves so fast but at least duo core 2 will be still here for few more years.

That $200 more could be used on my next labtop but not for now. And it is right that there is no match for the MX6930 in price and in what makes the laptop (duo core 2, free upgrade to Vista) laptop and a sale ticket at $999.

 

Hi bbz_ghost,

I am new to this forum. I was looking to buy the MX6931 after I saw the specs on the Best Buy website - and after reading this forum, and specifically your comments, I ran to the store and bought it.

It is still in the box - and that's because I wanted to ask you something before I start it up.

Could you perhaps give a more detailed instruction on how to get all the crap off the thing with the boot CD? I am not a total novice but I haven't done anything like this before and I don't want to screw up a new laptop.

If you would help me out, I would really appreciate it. If someone else can, same thing.

Thanks!!!!

Best regards,

Roger

 

Hi all,
I checked the price in BestBuy before I try to return the MX6930 for the MX6931. Prices for both machines have been increased overnight-MX6930 is $949 and MX6931 is $1091 now. I guess it doesn't make sense to return it and get the bigger model anymore.
I guess I need to satisfy with what I got.

 

To bbz Ghost,
You wanted to know where people were getting the information that the MX6930 was not expandable, it says that on Best Buy's website. In the specs, it says "System Memory (RAM) Expandable to - Nonexpandable" Also, I tried your link to find the MX6930 on Gateway's site, and got to the information, but when I type "MX6930" in their search window, it comes back saying "No Information Found" I know it exist, I bought one, and I absolutely love it. Here is the link to the product details that say the unit is nonexpandable. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8019841&st=MX6930&type=product&id=1157067806605

 

To Publique_Newsense:

Sorry for jumping in. The reason that BestBuy website reported the MX6930's memory is not expandable is because the 1G memory was installed in the two memory slots with two 512Mb memory modules. There is no more slot available to add more memory unless you take out the factory installed ones and switch with larger capacities.
I hope this can clarify your doubts.

 

To mkbtam:

No apology necessary. Thanks for the information. Now if only they (Best Buy) could have explained it that way. So far, I'm really liking my machine. I got it Saturday, the last day of the sale, and seeing that the price jumped, I couldn't be happier.

 

2 interesting articles to read about Vista and 64bit computing!

In extremetech, you'll find out what bbz_Ghost said about the importance to have 2 gigs rather than 1 gig and why more memory will be tremendously
beneficial to run Vista and how Vista will change hardware gameplay!
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2000438,00.asp

64-bit to read what it is about?
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/64-Bit-Computing.html

 

If you want to use the PC Decrapifier (yep, that's the real name of it) you can find it at:

http://www.yorkspace.com/pc-de-crapifier/

It works as advertised and helps to get rid of much of the OEM bloat added by Gateway (it can be used on most any laptop so, other people might find it useful also).

As for how I "clean it up," I always install the OS nice and clean. I have other copies of Windows (2K, XP Home and Pro, XP Pro 64 Bit, Win2K3 Server, and now Vista as well - being a software tester comes in handy for that) and so I can install most anything I like.

Currently I have XP Pro 64 Bit installed and it's ridiculously fast in all operations - much much faster than any of the Vista 64 Bit editions, so for the present and forseeable future, this is my operating system of choice.

I'm having trouble locating the Sigmatel audio drivers however, and modem drivers, but the modem is a given - I'll never have a use for it. Aside from that (and that very common SM Bus driver which I'll resolve pretty easily), it's working fan-freakin'-tastic.

Hope this helps...

 

Just ordered the Gateway MX6931 off of Circuit City's website. I've been shopping for about a week and watching that laptop's price for about five days. It is $949 now. Specs. on it look impressive. Didn't find this forum and thread until after I had ordered it. The comments confirm that I've made a good decision. According to CC, the RAM is expandable up to 4GB! It should arrive between 12/1 & 12/15. I hate waiting, but In-Store pickup was not an option. It was last week, but not any longer. I think I do use the Recovery CD and reinstall only the OS as bbz Ghost mentioned.

 

I seriously doubt the 4GB max thing; I'm checking on it right now but I think the 945GM chipset has a ceiling of 2GB, sad to say. Besides, 2GB SODIMMs... I shudder to think at the cost... but let's see what PriceWatch and Newegg say anyway:

Newegg doesn't even have 'em, from what I could see.

PriceWatch found hits but... well, you check it out:

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=D2-6SO2GS&c=pw

Yikes... 2GB (2x1GB) seems enough for me presently compared to that cost.

And... well... I'll be damned, it CAN do 4GB, 2x2GB... so sayeth Intel itself here:

http://indigo.intel.com/compare_cpu/showchart.aspx?mmID=22210&familyID=7&culture=en-US

Holy cow... guess I better start saving BUT pay attention to that specification sheet: 533 MHz max, so... 667 MHz RAM is out of the question. I'm now very happy I didn't spend money upgrading the stock 2GB PC2-4200 to PC2-5300 now - it would have been a waste of money.

There's also a thread around this forum about how 533 MHz RAM is currently faster than 667 MHz stuff because of the higher CAS timings on the 667, so that's yet another benefit to this absolutely fantastic MX6931.

The only thing at this exact moment that's pissing me off is I still can't get the sound working under XP64 or 2K3 64, and I can't figure out why. I found some 64 bit Sigmatel drivers at Dell dated 11/2/2006 and I've tried like 40 other driver sets I've located, and not one success yet.

Currently running Vista Ultimate 64 where everything works as I've previously noted in other postings in this thread, but that damned issue with XP64/2K3-64 is starting to bug me bigtime.

Congrats on your purchase, and I'm sure you're gonna love it...

EDIT:
Guess I should clarify that yes you can get 667 MHz RAM but if you're expecting it to actually be faster than 533, it's not because of the CAS timings, and of course it'll ratchet itself down to 533 MHz with the appropriately faster timings anyway. So, be on the lookout for cheap 2GB SODIMMs so we can max this puppy out at 4GB... wouldn't that work nicely with XP64/2K3-64/Vista 64? I think so...

 

I decided to follow up on that posting above with a completely new one so people might not lose this valuable info I'm about to share:

Gateway provides one DVD with the MX6930/6931, and if for some reason you need to reinstall the system to factory condition, well, that one DVD doesn't do it, sadly. It only restores the basic OS install for some reason although it has the ability to do a full bit-for-bit factory restore.

I'm trying to figure out why Gateway did something so stupid since they went through the time and trouble to include a DVD (which has plenty of space for a bit-for-bit image of the factory hard drive state) instead of the silly damned MCE2005 recovery it does.

So, with that in mind, here's my advice to all of you that either currently have an MX6930 or MX6931 that's still in factory condition or still running the stock MCE2005 installation, or you're about to purchase an MX6930/6931 or already have as the poster above stated and is just waiting on it:

Make damned sure you create the "Gateway Recovery DVD" after you get the laptop or at some point while you're testing it before you decide to wipe it clean and do a fresh install of the OS, whichever one you choose.

All the software, apps, drivers, etc., are on the DVD you need to burn before you wipe the laptop. If you don't do that, you'll have to redownload the drivers from Gateway somehow. The applications like Money 2006 or the Office 2003 trial edition are gone forever; you can't redownload all that stuff from anyplace at Gateway. They're preinstalled on the hard drive and are burned to that DVD as long as you don't forget to burn it before wiping it for some other OS.

The included DVD does not have user accessible driver files except for the SATA ones - and that's another nightmare in itself. This laptop uses an SATA hard drive, so if you've got one of the following OSes on original media:

2K (any service pack)
XP Home (any service pack)
XP Pro (any service pack)
2K3 (any service pack)
XP64 (any service pack)

You can't install those OSes on this laptop until you slipstream the SATA drivers from Intel into a brand new custom burned CD. Those OSes simply do not support the SATA controller that's in this laptop with the 945GM chipset. Technically the SATA controller is the 82801GBM SATA ACHI controller, and none of those OSes above can see it natively without integrating the SATA drivers into a new install CD.

This laptop comes with Media Center Edition 2005 on the DVD, and Gateway did integrate the proper (albeit older) drivers into the Restore DVD; unfortunately there's no simple "Browse here and load drivers" thing with any of those OSes.

Vista doesn't have this SATA issue; it comes fully loaded with SATA drivers for a wide variety of SATA controllers for full native support.

But, as a warning, I decided to make this post to make any of you aware of what you're about to step into.

So, my suggestion is this:

If you have an MX6930/6931 (this might apply to other Gateway laptops as well, especially any new Core 2 Duo models, probably Core Duo leftovers also) here's the procedure to keep yourself safe and sound:

At your earliest possible convenience, make the "Gateway System Recovery DVD" using the link in the Start - Programs menu to do so. Requires one blank DVD to make it, and that DVD is not the same as the included factory pressed DVD - that's a very important distinction as mentioned above.

The DVD that little application on the Start Menu will create for you has all the drivers, all the applications, all the bloatware that came factory pre-installed on it in nice little installers accessed from a menu when you insert it into the laptop.

Having said that, I'll repeat it:

Make the "Gateway System Restore DVD" or whatever you wanna call it ASAP after getting this laptop. That's the most important part because:

a) Once you decide to wipe the drive and reinstall the OS clean, all those drivers, the apps, the bloatware, all of that stuff pre-installed at the factory is lost forever; the included factory restore DVD will not put that stuff back on the drive, it only reinstalls MCE2005 itself.

b) Doesn't hurt to have the original apps/drivers/bloatware handy just in case you find some of it useful. Money 2006 is on that DVD you create, saves you a few bucks if you intend to use it, as well as a few other things you might find useful also.

Make that DVD pronto before wiping it, seriously. Once you make the DVD, pop it back into the drive and have a look at what it's got on it, then stash it in a safe place.

After you've done that, you can do whatever you like - and that's always been your option, I just wanted to let some of you know how it works since I've been through this twice now and have two DVDs here, one I made from the MX6930 and one with the MX6931 and they're not exactly the same as I had suspected. I figured the 6930 and 6931 were the same laptops with just the difference being the CPU, the amount of RAM, and the size of the hard drive.

It turns out that on the MX6930 I had, it came with a Phillips DVD burner, a fast and quiet one. Now with the MX6931 I've got a craptacular Hitachi/LG/Samsung half-breed piece of noisy technology that irritates me to no end. Wonder if Gateway would trade it out for another Phillips, I'll have to check on that.

But, that should be enough to "protect you" from just wiping the drive and then wondering, "Ok, I did the factory restore using the pretty green and white DVD that Gateway so nicely provided, now where are the drivers/apps/stuff?" because as I've just explained at considerable length...

That stuff isn't on the factory restore DVD included in the box. It's on the hard drive and needs to be burned to the recovery DVD you make using the application on the Start - Programs menu after you power up the laptop.

So, be forewarned and ready. This kind of stuff is called "The Principle of 7 P's" in the IT industry, and it means:

"Prior Planning and Preparation Prevent Piss Poor Performance."

Words to live by...

IF someone needs instructions on how to create their own custom CD with the SATA drivers slipstreamed (a fancy word that basically means integrated) so you can install the other OSes if you wish, just post here in this thread and I'll throw together a PDF with the instructions step-by-step and foolproof - not that I'm calling anyone a fool, mind you.



Good luck, and enjoy your laptops...

 

Sounds like maybe I should just uninstall the extra apps. that come with the laptop like the McAfee Suite, Google Toolbar, and MS Works. I should be able to reinstall them from the DVD if I ever desire to use them. I'm guessing that Gateway BigFix can create a backup of data in case of disaster? Is that a keeper app. in your opinion?

 

Well, again, the 1st thing you should do is to make that recovery DVD. So as to make this as absolutely clear as possible (I tend to be very redundant when it comes to help or information, sorry, a lesson learned over a lifetime of people misunderstanding what I'm saying):

There are two DVDs we're talking about here.

One is the actual Gateway provided DVD that's in the box when you get the laptop.

The other one is one you must make yourself with a blank DVD and the application on the Start - Programs menu once you turn on the laptop and boot into MCE2005. I can't recall precisely what the menu item is called at this moment as I only used it briefly, just long enough to start the DVD creation process.

The actual Gateway provided DVD has nothing you can use on it except Media Center 2005.

The DVD you create has all the pre-installed apps in their original form (meaning setup.exe format ready to install again); the drivers for the hardware in their original form (meaning setup.exe format ready to install again); the Gateway hardware reference stuff (basically just a PDF of laptop configuration info and assistance, and some other junk thrown in.

So, I just wanted to make it clear how important the creation of that DVD after you power up the laptop is.

If you wipe the drive without making that DVD you're screwed for most everything that comes preinstalled on the laptop; restoring it from the green and white factory DVD only restores MCE2005 and nothing else.



BigFix is pretty cool from what I saw of it the 2 minutes I bothered to look. Seems like a nice idea, but in a way it's just another Windows Update clone from Gateway. I prefer to do all the updates and maintenance on my machine myself, always have, but they (meaning Microsoft, Gateway, Dell, etc) cater to the lowest common denominator in sales, meaning Joe Average, computer owner.

Hope this helps...

 

Big help.
Thanks.

 

of course I cleared my hard drive with Partition Manager 10 minutes before I read this thread.

bbz_Ghost..
If you could explain how to create a bootable XP Pro CD/DVD I'd really appreciate it because that was my original intent. Decrapifying is just not as good as starting from scratch.

 

I'll work on a PDF that people can download and print out tonight. Look for it posted here as an attachment sometime on Tuesday morning.

bb

 

Thanks Ghost..

I called Gateway and had to purchase the recovery CD for $20.

 

I just recently bought a MX6956 for $729 @ BB w/ the 945GM & Core Duo... do you think its the same mainboard as the MX693x series you all are talking about? If so, could I later drop in a Core 2 Duo after the prices drop?

 

The 6930 is the one that's at Best Buy right now for $950 right?

 

For $50 more get the MX6931 that I have, it's $999 now. Has 2GB RAM (2x what the MX6930 has), 160GB instead of 120GB, and the T5500 1.66 GHz Core 2 Duo processor running on a 667 MHz bus - that's 25% faster than the 1.60 in the MX6930.

For $50 more, it's the best deal on the planet right now. There is no laptop within $300 of this price that can touch it with 2GB/160GB 5400 rpm/T5500. You might get really lucky online, but as for walking into a retail store and getting a powerhouse laptop - ok, it has a GMA950, but that shouldn't hold you back from this great laptop - it's unbeatable.

bb

 

Ok, since the guide is way way too long to post here as a forum thread, I made it a PDF as promised. Here's the post for it:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=90380

I wanted to make it more accessible to all people that might be interested in creating an SATA integrated Windows CD so I stuck it over in the Software subforum.

Hope it helps someone... let me know how things go if you use it to create your own CDs.

Good luck...
bb

 

The only reason I'm asking is because I have the 6930 at home which I'm trying to sell since my wife and I no longer have our home business. So if anyone is interested... Thanks for the heads up that the 31 is a better upgrade so to speak!

 

If you flip the laptop over and remove the bottom plate where the RAM is usually swapped out, you should be able to tell if the processor is socketed or not. If it's got that huge heatpipe/heatsink on it stretching from the RAM on the lower left side to the top right corner of the laptop (when looking at the bottom, of course) then yeah, most likely you could just drop in a C2D chip at a later time.

Core Duo machines should be totally "drop in" compatible with Core 2 Duo processors, so... there's no way to know for absolute certainty that it would work. My suggestion is...

But if you have the ability to return that one and get the MX6931, I'd suggest do it because it's a better laptop to begin with, and then adding a faster C2D chip at some point later on will always still be an option.

Good luck...

bb

EDIT: Just noticed that one you have already has the 160GB drive, sooo... in the end, the C2D in the MX6931 and that 2GB of RAM are the reasons to go for it over the MX6956.

 

yeah but right now thats a $999 laptop versus the $730 I paid for mine... right now, I can't swing another $170... even if it is an extra 1GB & a C2D... I'm thinking the 1GB will last me a while but I hope for the ability to put in a C2D soon after the holidays...

 

And I will check once I open the box... right now I'm holding out for a better deal until my 14-day return policy ends... once that is over, I'll open the box...

In the mean time I'm hoping it goes on sale even more or perhaps a better machine comes out/goes on sale...

 

Gateway isn't in production right now on anything else for the holidays, that's why all these MX69xx laptops are flooding the market presently and around the $1K price point give or take $100-200 bucks.

After January 1st they'll start production runs for newer machines that have Vista preinstalled, but that's long past your 14 day return window. If you can manage to get the MX6931, it's the best deal from Gateway and Best Buy for the price until well into January.

Just my $.02...