MX6930 Core 2 Duo - Anyone? Anyone?

ok... i appreciate the suggestion...

one more thing... how is Gateway's failure rate lately? I know they were kinda crappy for a while there...

and sorry to thread-jack...

 

I haven't had or heard of problems with the current generation (the MX series). I remember in the past 2 years some models had issues with the hinges, etc, but so far this one is solid as a rock and I'm loving it.

Hope this helps...

 

Mr. Ghost,
Just wanted to tell you there are folks out there listening to you, and spending accordingly. I just upgraded my mx6930 ($799 on sale at Best Buy a week ago) to the 2g/160g mx6931 ($999). Both are still the best value for Core 2 Duos, which I strongly believe we will all need going into the Vista era. It’s not just about that OS, its about everything else that will follow, both software and peripherals.

The trick was to do it without getting nailed with the $120 restocking fee, the $200 extra was already as much as I could swing. It took two visits and a lot of talk, but I was caught up in your enthusiasm for the added punch of the 6931.

Since the exchange was also a “new” purchase, they even gave me a great $149 printer for $69, the Lex 8350 photo printer/fax/flatbed/etc. with its own video screen to crop and edit photos. The only thing I didn’t get was the extra $50 price match savings I would have gotten on the 6931 if I had remembered to print out the internet ad for Circuit City’s sale of $949 for the 6931. Take heed, if you are buying.

Anyone who is still on the fence, the prices are unlikely to drop further, just rise like the 6930 did a week after I bought it. And I think the sales like these will be hard to find for a while when Vista Premium (mail-in free Vista with these computers) actually comes out and everyone wants Core 2 Duo with 2 gigs of RAM.

I am glad you convinced me 2 gigs were needed. I was maxing out on the 6930 with multiple programs open – and that is before Vista, which is a memory-munching monster.

P.S. Both have T5500 processors, even though the 6930 was supposedly shipped with the low-cost T5200. 6930 owners -- do a system check, I doubt mine was the only one with the better processor. And you can upgrade the ram on both, no matter what store specs say. You just have to do it in tandem and two 1g’s or two 2g’s is mucho dinero for the present.

P.P.S. Has anyone heard of a way BB/Gateway buyers can get a DOWNLOAD of our Vista Express Upgrade, without waiting until March or April for discs to be mailed?

Happy Camper

 

There will never be a download option for Vista because it comes in both 32 and 64 bit versions, and they're not on the same DVD. I'm not exactly sure how Gateway intends to handle the distribution, meaning an actual boxed product (doubtful) or just the bare DVDs (more likely).

My MX6930 had a T5200 in it, confirmed with the Intel Processor ID tool as well as CPU-Z for information. The T5500 in this MX6931 is exactly what it should be and performs perfectly.

Gateway made possible CPU upgrades incredibly easy with the design of the MX69xx series laptops. Pull off the bottom plate and wham, there's the heatpipe/heatsink, pull that off and wham, there's the socketed processor. Pop it out, drop in a new one and you're offer.

Now if I could just find a great price on a T7200 2 GHz 4MB L2 cache C2D chip, I'd be set. Oh, and a good price on 2x2GB SODIMMs to max out the RAM.



I'll keep dreaming...

ps
The DVDs should be ready to ship by late December/mid January, so we can expect to get them around the time Vista is in retail boxes on store shelves on January 30th.

 

How can anyone still get the MX693x in special price at BB?
I checked the prices both in store in my area (WA) and on BB website recently and both machines have gone up to their regular prices.

 

Give a mouse a cookie... and he'll want a glass of milk!
If you got the T7200, then you'd want that new flash memory built-in chip. Speaking of which, can I use my 1g flash drives like a ReadyBoost?

As for the Vista Upgrade, if the betas were downloads, why not the real thing? Couldn't we just indicate whether 64 bit or 32 bit? Also, Gateway site says ModusLink is the company eventually doing fulfillment, but to get it through ML directly you need a "serialized rebate number."

But more importantly, ML only seem to offer a 32-bit upgrade at present. Should I be kicking and screaming if that's what Gateway has in store, now that I bought a 64-bit rig?

Oh, and MKBTAM, check out Staples or Office Depot. This a.m. they had a newspaper ad for a better price on a rig with the 6931 specs -- by HP, I think. It is too depressing to keep the ads now that I have the perfect laptop for me. Something will come along a little cheaper or one more feature. But anyone shout out if they hear about the 6931 for less than $999. I'm still on my Price Match Guarantee from BB and waiting for CC to do another $949 ad...

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8021543&st=mx6931&type=product&id=1156606934551

Sure looks like $999 to me, as of 2:26AM Pacific time Friday. I expect that price to last at least through Sunday, obviously, then it will most likely spike to $1149 which is Gateway's suggested retail.

bb

 

First off: Plug in the USB drive. Vista will do a very quick simplistic test on it because ReadyBoost requires a certain level of performance - not every USB drive on the market is ReadyBoost compatible. The only real way to know is plug yours in and see if Vista offers the option of using it for ReadyBoost purposes (it'll be an option on the AutoPlay popup).

If for some reason you don't get the popup or see it listed as an option, right click on the drive/letter and look for a ReadyBoost tab - if it's there, you should be able to access the tab and activate that feature. If not, you'll need to get a better USB drive.

Second off: the upgrades are coming from Gateway, not Microsoft, so that's one reason they'll never offer such things as downloads. And because Gateway has no 64 bit support at all - they've never sold any 64 bit OS and don't plan to do it anytime soon (not even for Vista) they're only offering a 32 bit upgrade since MCE2005 is only 32 bit, hence Vista Home Premium 32 bit.

I looked through Thursday's paper here in Vegas, didn't see anything from Office Depot or OfficeMax - we don't have Staples here - worth mentioning. I doubt anyone will have anything with 2GB/160GB drive in the next few weeks to match it.

The only thing that hurts this laptop, really, is the GMA950, and even that's not so bad to make it a worthy deal. The only thing I'd like right now that would make this my nearly perfect laptop would be that T7200 w/4MB of L2 (that would come in handy for some of the number crunching I do) and a solid 4GB of RAM...

Still dreaming...

 

Here's another tip a lot of people aren't aware of.

Best Buy, being the cold blooded business bastards that they are, likes to pull fast ones on customers that aren't willing to stand there ground.

Here's how it works:

Say you're at home and you see a great price on an item on the Best Buy website. You write it down, hop in the car or whatever transportation you use, head to Best Buy, walk in, go to get the item and wham, when you either ask about it or go to pay for it, suddenly the price is higher than it was when you were at home.

Is it possible things changed that fast?

Hell no, not even Best Buy is that quick. But, here's what happened:

Best Buy maintains two inventories: one is the B&M (Brick & Mortar, meaning your local stores) as well as warehouses and distribution centers for the online orders. When you see a great price online and try to get it honored at a local store, a lot of the time the only thing you get is big time hassled because you're asking for the lower price.

I've had Store Managers freak out on me when I said "Hey, it wasn't that much at home when I looked at it at the Best Buy website" and then here's what they do. They'll walk over to a terminal, do a search for the product in question and voila, the "webpage" they pull up is the exact same thing you saw - and most every customer going to that webpage at www.bestbuy.com would see also.

The trick is: the "webpage" they're pulling up is an internal database server, not one that's publicly accessible. When they do searches on that database server, it'll pull up the same content from the public website but the price isn't the same - it's internalized and higher.

Since I know this stuff, it's relatively easy for me to get them to honor the actual price listed on the public Internet page that the world has access to.

Needless to say, they're not very happy when I prove to them I'm not Joe Average consumer.

It's a bait & switch tactic they've been using for years now. Pretty crappy way to do business, but no one has stood up to them on a class action level just yet.

Maybe I should start something to put that lame practice to an end... I wonder...

Hope this helps someone if they go in expecting one price and get told "Sorry, we don't honor the website prices, it's different inventory" or some BS story of a similar nature. They work for you, the customer. Remember that...

 

Okay, I went and dug up the saddening ad. It's from HP for a 2g/160g C2D (Intel T5500) 15.4 widescreen (model nx7400) -- and here's the depressing part cuz it probably wont count for price match -- its only $879. Wait, it gets worse. Its got a 12-hour battery. Plus XP Pro comes with it. I think HPs also have that Etch-a-Disc feature. Please, Ghost tell me this is a bad machine for some unfathomable reason!

Plus it comes with a free carrying case from HP. Okay, that makes me feel better, anyone who uses an obvious laptop case will get it jacked eventually. I mean how stupid is it, carrying a bag design that tells everyone there's something worth $1000 inside? Might as well put a "Free Crack" logo on it.


But I digress.

NOTE ADDED LATER: I just checked this HP deal thoroughly out and its a slightly stripped down version - and to get it to true 6931 specs, it would cost $1100, making ours still killer deal on the market. I gotta stop getting the paper.

P.S. I think the reason why Best Buy sells it so cheap and has had it for so long is that they only promote it as a Core Duo. Read the headlines for the 6930 and 6931 ads. Its only in the copy that the Core 2 Duo is revealed and the immense memory. Even the salesman when I bought the original 6930 couldn't believe they were selling a C2D that cheap and he that he didn't really realize it...


Thanks for the 411 on the ReadyBoost feature for USB drives, look forward to using it when my Vista Express Upgrade arrives sometime next century. And I understand what you said about Gateway not supporting 64-bit O/S -- but still, they are selling a 64-bit machine, why force a 32 O/S on us?
Now will Vista's other customers just be able to pick a 32 or 64 box at the same price?

Also, I've noted that BB uses a diff internal pricing, and I bring print-outs with me always. Interestingly, the salesmen just put down price match on the receipt, and often affix the same tag on other discounts they - or you -- feel you should get. On this last 6930-31 exchange deal, the salesman put an extra $92 Price Match to get it down to $999 and added an extra $10 off for some modem PM thing, which wasn't someting I ordered, he just gave me the wink on it.

This indicates this is where salespeople have some leeway over the computer. It's helped me everytime I bought something big, though wouldn't work if you were trying to get cash-back on a price match after the purchase. Then they need to see an actual ad. Hmmm, I wonder if they will consider the HP nx7400 apples-to-apples and give me the Price Match 110 percent of the difference? Doubt it big time.

Finally what's to be done about the GMA950. And why care?

Thanks as always. You help me and everyone else who reads this thread.

 

Well, first things first:

Ain't no laptop on the market, not even the super tiny Oqo and Sony style handhelds, can do 12 hours on a charge. It's simply not happening. If you were to put two of the extended life batteries in that nx7400 and then turn the brightness down to minimal and yank out the optical drive, etc etc... then you might get lucky and get 8, but 12? No way in hell...

It's a nice laptop, and I've always wanted one of the older Compaq X1000 laptops because they have a great design, layout, and they were fantastic for their time.

As for selling a 64 bit machine, that's the tricky part. I'm currently writing another entirely too long guide about Core 2 Duo and Athlon64/Turion64 processors - basically they're not 64 bit processors as everyone believes automagically. They're using a technology that AMD created (called AMD64 and Intel licenses from them and calls EM64T) which allows memory access and usage to occur in the 64 bit realm.

The only true 64 bit processors on the market today are the AMD Opterons and the Intel Itanium - but the Itanium was never designed for consumers, much like the Opterons. The Opterons win on the consumer front, however, because of their price. Most Itaniums, even 2 years after they were introduced, cost more than an entire computer built around an Opteron.

A processor that costs more than an entire working computer based on the competition's processor. Not a good thing for Intel.

Hope this helps...

 

I'm hardly a sales rep for HP, in fact as a (non-tech) journalist who would detest being wiretapped, I don't like the company. But you might check this out FYI.
A 12-hour battery is what the headline on the full-page newspaper ads say. Its called the HP Ultra-Capacity Battery, costs $179 extra and has a Smart Buy PN: EJ092UT#ABA.
Like the Gateways, its nearly as wide as the laptop. It's depth looks like a couple of inches, though relatively thin.
I'm just hoping this is the start of something big. Since I doubt HP makes their own batts, that means this technology could spread, n'est pas?
Re: 64-bit. If the popular processor chips from Intel and (just-sued) AMD are merely faux-64, are the 64 versions of Vista and all the other software faux-64 also?
And do I care that Gateway (and indirectly MS in their consession to pissed-off manufacturers and stores for not having Vista out for Xmas) is giving me a 32-bit Vista OEM disc?

 

Reason why Gateway is selling this for so cheap I suspect is because they'd be going with a new design.

Check it out:
http://gateway.com/products/gconfig/prodhmseries.asp?seg=hm&gcseries=nx570&clv=Img

​

 

Interesting thing about the battery, I'll have to do more research. It sounds almost like one of those "ElectroFuel" things from a few years ago: a pad that sits underneath the laptop that is a fuel cell, not really a battery in how it operates, but could offer 12-20 hour battery life. Those things were hideously expensive (like $600+ USD) when introduced. Maybe the tech is getting cheaper, who knows.

re 64 bit: No, XP64, Vista 64 bit (any edition), etc are all 64 bit OSes. They have some 32 bit components for compatibility, but the heart and soul of those OSes are pure 64 bit code. 32 bit code runs in an "emulation" layer, sorta to make it simple, called WoW64 - Windows on Windows 64. Slows performance over running 32 bit code on a 32 bit operating system, but it does work, and work well.

As for the OEM disc, no, it's not something to care or worry about since Gateway is an OEM and that's all they can legitimately supply to customers. Sounds weird but the principle is valid.

cy007: That top of the line nx570 with the ATI card in it... wish that was in a Best Buy today because if it was I'd go get it. 200GB drive is nice, but 4200 rpm... ugh... talk about slow.

The design looks to be exactly the same as the MX69xx series, just with a new coat of paint and something they like to think is scratch resistant <hint, hint>.



Nice machine though... I'll stick with my MX6931 for $200 less which offers better performance save for the video in that nx570.

Have fun, always...

 

I bought the mx6930 today (12/2) from BB. I got the $799 deal with the crappy printer.

I thought it had the T5200... but it has the T5500. So I figure it will pop 2gig ram in and I should be good to go.

 

Thought on why T5500 is in mx6930 and 6930/31 sold at such a good price:
Both my old 6930 and new 31 have "official" color metallic stickers that read Intel Duo and Vista Capable - Only a paper b&w sticker indicates Core 2 Duo and Vista Premium Ready.
The add-on sticker may well indicate Gateway changed the processor fairly recently, Ghost said his old 30 had a T5200 while my 30 had a T5500 like zorprimes.
The processor upgrade didn't seem to reach all the marketing and ad messages, hence its ad "headline" reflects a duo, not a c2d, though further copy is correct.
I think this would have been corrected, if not for the new ones coming out, as cy007 notes.
Think about it, an aggresively advertised c2d with 2gb ram + 160gb HD Widescreen with Vista Premium Upgrade -- for under $1000 -- would sell out quickly. I think we are lucky it wasn't.

Next, Please Help: Can anyone tell me how to transfer my Office 2007 (beta) to my mx6931? I can't even read my old .docs, even with the new MS converter.
I've got the the basic programs in an Office 12 folder copied from my old laptop. But nothing works unless installed. Except the Beta Technical Refresh 2 zip file which then looks for installed word12, excel12, outlook12, etc. MS no longer offers downloads on Office 2007 basic beta anymore, just the BTR2 partial version.
I've still got the Dell that runs Office 2007 just fine and I can network them. But it runs on XP, so I don't think I want to migrate the whole thing.
I guess the basic question is how to move a program, with it tentacles in the registry, etc.
Any ideas? I suppose this question is faced by anyone who's ever had a new computer, and missing orginal program disks...
Thanks!!!
P.S. Ghost thanks 4 info. Will keep eye on that battery too.

 

Just checked the Best Buy website (too cold outside to go get a Sunday paper). The MX6930 is back down to $799 again it seems. If they really do have a T5500 in them now, that makes them the best deal on the market for the price. Would be interesting to pop into the store later today and take along CPU-Z on a USB stick and see if it's really a T5500, but the display model might be an older one like mine was.

If it had been a T5500 I most likely would have kept the MX6930. Are you absolutely sure (anyone that has the MX6930 now, just purchased) that it's a T5500? Seems a bit odd that Gateway would drop in higher speed processors and not tell anyone, but I've seen screwier things.

http://www.cpuid.org/cpuz.php

Go get that, extract it to a folder and run the executable and report back on your findings, please. If Gateway has done that, dropped a higher speed processor in a mid-to-low range priced laptop, it's an amazing thing.

I'd post my results but at the moment I'm still running Vista Ultimate 64 and CPU-Z hasn't been updated to run under 64 bit OSes - the hardware monitoring driver doesn't work yet. Bleh.

But, for anyone that cares to know, the MX6930 is back on sale again for $799 at Best Buy:

Gateway MX6930 Core 2 Duo laptop

Have fun, always...

bb

 

Yeah I was amazed that it had the T5500 in it. As I said in my earlier post I bought the laptop yesterday (12/2) at a BB in Rockville, MD.

The only difference I can see between the MX6930, that I have, and the MX6931 is the 1gig extra of ram and the 40gig extra hd space.

When I run CPU-Z v1.38 it says that I have the T5500 and 667 FSB. The mainboard info shows Gateway MX6930 with the 77.07 bios dated 8/21/06.

So for the price of $799 and a free printer this was an excellent deal. I almost bought the Toshiba A105-S4334 which has the 2gig ram. I am glad I passed it up and got the Gateway.

 

Glad you were able to confirm the T5500 processor. For those looking at both the 6930 and 31, they are both the best deal around, it boils down to if you want 2gb RAM now or later -- and how much cash you have on hand.

Even after seeing that my old 6930 had the T5500 processor, I paid the $200 extra for the 6931 primarily to get the 2gb RAM. The 2gb RAM package for the 6930 is $279 at crucial.com. That price may come down, though no one knows when. The extra 40gb on the HD is icing on the cake. In my case, I also got a printer for my trouble, since an exchange was also considered a new purchase.

After weeks on monitoring prices on everything in this class, these C2Ds remain the best value. Eventually, some store or brand may beat it by a few dollars, but the joy its given me so far make me glad I did not wait.

 

I completely agree about both of these being absolutely untouchable deals from any other brand or manufacturer presently. The fact that the newest MX6930 models might just have that T5500 in quantity... geez, that's simply amazing.

As for the 2GB thing, Fry's has Patriot 2x1GB PC2-5300 kits (667 MHz) for $219 on normal days, sometimes it drops to $199 + tax so if you have a Fry's in your area, it would do you well to keep an eye on the pricing. They also sell through their website now (Outpost.com is history as far as the marketing goes now, it redirects to Frys.com as it was originally intended).

OOops... me and my big mouth.

http://shop4.outpost.com/{NWG5oKEsxPqyMarj8zMTtA**.node1}/product/4789099

$189, as of 1:12AM Monday morning. Just checked and grabbed the link to post here. Not sure how much they'd charge for shipping, but even so it'll be cheaper than most any other 2x1GB PC2-5300 kit you'll find anywhere. I had that RAM in all three Macs I recently owned: a MacBook (black), then a MacBook Pro Core Duo, then in a 20" iMac Core 2 Duo. Same RAM just hopped machine to machine. Eventually sold all the Macs for a variety of reasons and let the RAM go with the iMac.

So, if you can afford it, that's your best deal on 2x1GB for the MX6930/6931 presently, and I don't expect to see anything lower anytime soon. Great memory, fantastic price.

But, also, take into consideration that 667 MHz RAM currently operates at very high CAS timings - meaning the stock PC2-4200 533 MHz RAM in the MX6930/6931 outperforms even this Patriot stuff in most operations. Hard to believe but it's true. There's even a thread here at this forum that discusses the timing issues and how it affects performance:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=67099

Most definitely required reading if you're about to do the 1 to 2GB upgrade.

Hope this helps...

bb

ps
The 2x2GB thing still stands also, if anyone ever finds a seriously amazing deal on 2GB SODIMMs let me know will ya. I know it'll be a cold day in you-know-where, but I can dream, can't I?

 

Hi
was wondering if someone could help me.
Just bought the mx6930 today, i already had a gateway but my apt was broken into and laptop was stolen.
I already have a netgear wireless router hooked up.
Problem is i'm ok around compters, just ok, and the laptop is picking up my router and someone elses, but i still can't connect to internet.
My service is through time warner cable, not that that matters.

I have tried renewing the ipconfig in msdos, not sure if this was the thing to do.

If anyone could give me some direction i would much appreciate it.

thanks

 

I assume you're actually clicking on your router in the screen showing the router and clicking "connect" and then getting an IP address....

Also, ensure that you've plugged the ethernet cable coming from the modem into the port on the router marked "Internet" or "WAN" and ensure there is activity between the two...

if you go into a command window and type "ipconfig" you should get some information about your network adapters... your wireless one should give you information about your ISP on the first line, your IP address (typically 192.168.x.x), your subnet and your default gateway (typically 192.168.x.1). Even if you get this information, it simply means your computer is talking to the router but the router may or may not be talking to the outside world via the cable modem.

What you may need to do if you do have connectivity to the router is go into the router settings (open a web browser and type "http://xxx.xxx.x.x" replacing the "x's" with what you determined was your default gateway above. This should ask for a username/password which is set by default by your router manufacturer (you may need to call them to find out what it is but try admin/password or admin/1234). Then you will need to try a release/renew from the router or, alternatively, you could try unplugging your modem and router and then plugging in the modem and router, in that order, waiting about 60 seconds between the two. If that doesn't work, it means your ISP is more than likely not giving your modem an IP address and you'll need to take it up with Time Warner Cable...

If I've left anything out, feel free to add to my suggestions, guys...

 

I was just about ready to buy the Gateway MX6930 for $799 at Best Buy, but then I discovered this website and I've been reading this thread with great interest. I'm especially excited with the expertise infused into thread by bbz Ghost.

It seems that the consensus is that both the MX6930 and the MX6931 are unrivaled in their feature set in the marketplace. And, that the MX6930 appears to be an even better buy with a T5500 processor on board.

This morning, however, the following machine caught my eye: the Lenovo 3000 N100 0768-DLU being sold by OfficeDepot.com. The machine seems to be configured similarly to the Gateway machines, with the following differences: it has a 667 MHz front side bus, comes with only 1 GB of RAM, but it's PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM, it comes with a 120 GB 5400-rpm SATA drive, it also has bluetooth wireless and a fingerprint reader. The machine is on sale for $799.

What do you guys think?

I haven't found Lenovo computer--with these specs--discussed in any of the Notebook forums. In reading the two CNET reviews, I've learned that it has the same lousy 1 year warranty and that the speakers are of very poor quality. BTW, it comes with XP Home, but seems to have a better software bundle (less junk to chuck) than the Gateway machines.

I'd love to order a computer as soon as possible (even tonight), because I don't know how long the prices will hold. I've previously bought from Best Buy and frankly I'm not enamored with their sales methodologies (as has been expressed by others in this thread). I've probably ordered from Office Depot in the past, but nothing negative sticks in my mind. Any preference when it comes to dealing with one or the other? Once we've bought, will we be dealing with the stores or with the manufacturers?

I guess that was pretty long-winded for a first post.

more-e

 

MX6930

How would this computer's video and audio quality be for watching an occassional DVD?

I have been looking for a good computer; desktop or laptop and this one has me drooling, especially for the price and the features.

Thanks for your help.

 

I was going to get that Lenovo 3000 N100 a few weeks ago when it was on sale for $899 with a $250 mail-in-rebate leaving the final grand total cost at $649 - if I ever got the rebate, that is. NOTE: The model I was looking at at that time was the N100 that had just the Core Duo processor; that's all changed now with the N100 being upgraded to the Core 2 Duo's.

And I have no such luck with MIR's at all. I've sent in like 20 of them over the past 3 years; the only one that actually came back was a $30 one from D-Link for my DI-524 wireless router.

That's not to say the offer isn't a good one, and if the out-the-door price on that Lenovo 3000 N100 is $799 + tax (if you pay sales tax), then yes, it's a fantastic deal.

But let's break it down a bit, since that's what I had to do myself when it came to my original choice of the MX6930 when it was $799.

It this is the laptop you're talking about (0768-DLU), it ain't $799:

Lenovo 3000 N100 at Office Depot

It's $1049, and I just verified the price by calling a local Office Depot here in Las Vegas. That's the price out the door, although the salesperson I spoke to didn't know if their was an MIR being offered. If there is, and it's the same $250 from before - or even higher - that would bring the price down to the $799 price you mentioned or possibly lower.

My guess is that yes it's offering a MIR of $250 total - and that's backed up by clicking the "Rebate savings" link just under the picture of the laptop. There are two rebates currently:

One for $150 from Lenovo, and a second for $100 from Lenovo also. Again, I don't have *any* luck at all with MIRs except that one time so my focus is always "Ok, how much does it cost me to take this home right now."

And having said that, it's $1049 + tax, again, if you pay sales tax in your state.

So, once again, the MX6930/6931 options are still better, with the MX6931 leaps and bounds over that N100 even if it's got Bluetooth (if you need it) and a fingerprint reader (if you need it).

Aside from that it breaks down like this:

N100 has 1GB of PC2-5300 667 Mhz RAM which performs almost identically in testing as PC2-4200 533 MHz RAM does (see the link I provided to the other posting here at this forum for testing, and several other websites show similar results in their testing). So, while that big 6-6-7 number there might automagically make you think it's better but 25%, it's not really that must faster, not by a longshot. In fact, the 667 MHz RAM is typically slower in most every operation - especially latency - than 533 MHz RAM is. So the MX6930 with 1GB of PC2-4200 trumps it; the MX6931 with 2GB leaves it standing still.

Next point: The 120GB drive. While the MX6930 has effectively the same hard drive, the MX6931 has a 160GB 5400 rpm drive that outperforms that 120GB because of platter density. While I don't specifically have benchmark data in my face to copy and paste to you, if you go searching around for other sites that have done benchmarking against a similarly configured 120GB drive and the 160GB of the same making just with higher density platters (2x60 vs 2x80) you'll see the 160GB wins across the board. Since they rotate at the same speeds, seek times are essentially the same - but the 160GB trumps the 120 in sustained reads and writes because it's reading/writing more data in less time because of that platter density. The N100 is nice, but the MX6930 equals or betters it; the MX6931 leaves it standing still, again.

Next point: If the MX6930 at this point truly is being outfitted with the T5500 Core 2 Duo, it's running at 667 MHz FSB just like the N100 is. But the lower latency 533 MHz RAM and the equal or better performing 120GB drive gives the MX6930 the edge once again. The MX6931... well... something is left standing still.

Next point: The N100 comes with XP Home Edition, 5 years old save for service packs and updates. Both the MX6930 and MX6931 come with XP Media Center Edition 2005, which is more current and comes with more updates already as part of the OS but still requiring you to hit Windows Update when you get the laptop online to get the very latest. This may or may not be a big selling point for someone: the multimedia features of MCE can actually be useful for some people, while others prefer to use their own DVD playback software (PowerDVD, WinDVD, etc). This one's up in the air, but I'd say MCE2005 is a better addition than vanilla XP Home.

The rest of the hardware is basically the same across all three machines: 8x dual layer DVD burner, 4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 Firewire, 1 S-Video out, 4n1 media card reader, etc etc. Similar across the board, however I prefer the layout of the MX6930/MX6931 USB ports personally: they're all located on the right side but near the rear of the laptop; the N100 form factor has 2 USB ports close to the front edge of the right hand side which could get in the way if you - like me - choose to use a real mouse at home or even on the go (for the right handed people, that is; left handed people only have to deal with the CD/DVD popping out on occasion.

The NIC on the MX6930/6931 is also on the right side, as the Firewire is, and the 4n1 media card reader also. This ergonomic situation might be a factor in making your choice as well.

I was very close to getting the Lenovo 3000 N100 (the low end model that retails for $899 without the Bluetooth and fingerprint reader) in mid-September, but passed on it at the time.

I'm very glad that I passed on it because I now have the MX6931 and I will continue to preach it as the best overall $1000 laptop on the market today for price-to-features.

The Lenovo is Lenovo's own baby: it does not come from the ThinkPad lineage that still remains probably the best selling laptop series in history, and it deserves it. That is the primary reason that I looked into the N100 when it first appeared, but after digging up the dirt, so to speak, I came to realize that it's Lenovo's product and not IBM's, nor does it look or function anything like a real ThinkPad.

Lenovo is doing ok for the time being, but the ThinkPads they are producing - the real ThinkPads - still aren't a match for the original IBM manufactured ThinkPads that are now part of history.

"ThinkPads are dead... long live the ThinkPad..." to paraphrase a famous saying. I've own 9 ThinkPads over the years, and they were and continue to be amazing products. Lenovo is trying, but they're just not "ThinkPads" like they once were.

But the N100 isn't a ThinkPad, never was meant to be, and so that should be a part of your knowledge when making a decision. Lenovo backs it, and supports it, but I passed on it for some of the reasons mentioned above.

YMMV

Hope this helps...

bb

ps
One last thing I remembered before clicking Submit Reply... while I can't absolutely guarantee this at this moment, I don't know if the N100 is limited to just 2GB of RAM; the MX6930 and MX6931 can both max out at 4GB (2x2GB sticks), but I'm guessing that since the N100 is more than likely based on the same Intel 945GM Express chipset, it will handle 2x2GB of RAM if you can afford it.

 

Both the MX6930 and the MX6931 are powered by the Intel GMA950 graphics processing unit, aka GPU. It's a 256 bit DX9 compatible part that is fully Vista compatible - meaning it does everything that Vista requires a video card to do to support the Aero 3D GUI in Vista.

As for video/DVD playback, it can easily handle normal DVD media, and even HD content. It's rated for 720i/p playback at full framerate without hassles, does MPEG2 hardware assisted decoding (that's assisted meaning the CPU is still involved but it definitely lightens the load on the CPU by using the GPU) and while I don't have any 1080i or 1080p video content, I bet it can do that as well. Maybe I should go find a few 1080i/1080p samples and see how it plays back on my external 1680x1050 LCD. Even that's not large enough really since 1080i/1080p is 1920x1080 in size; my LCD would just shrink it a bit to fit, but at least I'd know if it can handle the bandwidth.

I'll try to locate some 1080i/1080p samples and report on my findings.

The GMA950 is outstanding for 2D desktop work, 3D GUI needs for Vista Aero, and DVD playback across the board, and even HD content as I just explained.

"It just works..."

bb

EDIT:

http://download.microsoft.com/downl...9797-b3c98199085e/Alexander_Trailer_1080p.exe (126MB, extracts to an HD .wmv file with 1920x1080 resolution)

Just watched that clip, a short one but still a full blown 1080p clip. Playback held steady at ~24 fps on my MX6931 so, I don't expect the MX6930 to be much different. The playback bitrate for this clip is just shy of 10.1 Mbps (megabits per second), and the "regular" DVD standard is only 9Mbps max so... I'd say there's no issue at all with 1080i or 1080p content playback on either of these laptops or any laptop powered by the GMA950.

 

Ghost,

My wife is wanting a computer for her B-day/Xmas. they are very close.
She will use it to make a lot of printmaster type stuff for school. And my daughter will use it for learning. I will use it for surfing the net.. Burning DVD's and CD's, taking it on trips to watch movies.

As far as the next 3-4 years is concerned, will the MX6931 the better choice for a long lasting notebook?

Right now we have a Dell inpiron 5100. I want to use that for music recording. Maybe dump everything off of it, except the OS and just use it for recording music. It is getting real slow.... Like 1-3 minutes to boot up.. Is that normal?

not trying to jack the thread, but the advice is great, and the knowledge is too good to pass by..

thank you, I appreciate your help.

Jeff

 

I've got a Dell Inspiron 4150 that's been a companion of mine for 5 years now. It's been dropped, kicked, knocked off tables, had drinks spilt on it, etc. and it still works without a single issue, even runs Vista fairly well considering it's as old as it is. So that 5100 will probably last you a good long while; the 4150 and 5100 aren't too different and actually are made off the same chassis-style.

For the boot times, if it's taking that long to boot up you're probably running the original installation of Windows (whatever version). For myself, as a software and hardware tester, I do things other people wouldn't even dream of, meaning I typically reinstall Windows (whatever version) at least 5 times a week - seriously. The longest time I've ever gone with a single installation of any version of Windows is about 5 weeks, and that was a vacation for me basically.

When and if you decide to commit that 5100 to the recording duties, here's one suggestion: get a newer hard drive for it and absolutely max out the RAM if at all possible. I upgraded the original 20GB 4200 rpm drive in my Inspiron 4150 with an 80GB 7200 rpm drive, and then upgraded the RAM from the stock 256 to a full 1GB and wham, it was like a new machine all around. Then I reinstalled XP on it nice and clean and it screamed and still does - anytime you start over again with a nice clean fresh install of Windows on a bare formatted hard drive, you're going to get massive speed from it. Over time it'll slow down because of the apps you install, etc...

But there's simply nothing like a fresh install on any hardware. If you commit that 5100 to that purpose, get some more RAM if you can, get a newer and faster hard drive, do a totally fresh install of Windows and wham, it'll be like a new laptop to you.

As for the MX6930/MX6931, if you haven't figured out that I think they're awesome laptops with my overly long posts - me? Talk too much? Never! - then I'm doing something wrong.

I firmly believe - even at this early stage - that Gateway once again has a true winner in its corner. Both these laptops are amazing deals for the price and offer cutting edge technology for bargain prices. Not only that, but yes, I believe these laptops will last a good long while. Nice solid construction, easy access to the RAM and even possible CPU upgrades in the future (mentioned in a previous posting in this thread), upgradeable hard drive with easy access, etc. It's a win-win all the way around.

Hope this helps...

bb

ps
In case anyone noticed, my current nickname is bbz_Ghost; it's a sortakinda contraction. My normal nickname is br0adband, and I've been all over the Internet since before it was called "the Internet" but on some forums I use bbz_Ghost - bb's Ghost... get it?

So, Ghost is fine, but bb is where the nick comes from (bb = br0adband), just bb... thanks

 

Thanks to all for the information in this thread, it's really been great; particularly bb. bb, the information you've detailed on the hardware and performance on the MX6930/31 has been so detailed, I honestly don't have any unanswered questions in that realm. However, if you don't mind I wonder if you might expound a bit more on the aesthetics/functionality of the unit, building on what you touched on in the comparison to the N100. What do you think of the size and feel of the keyboard and touchpad? How is the screen? What do you think of the style,look and sturdiness of the unit in person? And what about the functionality of the wireless card, does it have good range? Thanks again for your help and all the info you've provided.

 

Thanks bb,
I am going to buy the MX6931 for my wife.

I am now confident that it will be the right choice for the next few years....

Take it easy!

 

I owned both a (black) MacBook recently, then returned it and traded up to a 15" MacBook Pro, then returned that to get a 20" iMac with a Core 2 Duo in it. Suffice to say even the iMac is now long gone and I'm sitting here bangin' away on the MX6931 now.

The keyboard on the MX6930/MX6931 (same form factor laptops so from this point on I'll just say the 6931 unless I need to specifically say something about the 6930) is fantastic. As I said earlier I've owned a bunch of ThinkPads - real ThinkPads not the Lenovo manufactured ones - and anyone that has owned a real ThinkPad knows they have the best laptop keyboards there are - period, end of story.

Suffice to say this keyboard fits me very nicely and I haven't had a single issue with it so far. I'm a touch typist, have been for decades now. You'd think I was born with a keyboard in my hands, I swear. I can hit 110 wpm or higher depending on what I'm typing about. Normal daily life is pretty fast while on technical matters I end up slowing down a bit because the language being used is... well... technical stuff usually means I have to use bigger words, simple.

The MacBook keyboard took some getting used to not only because it has different keys than I'm used to - been a PC person since before even the Apple I came out - so those keys were a bit odd to me. I did get used to it and appreciated the MacBook for what it offers, but I'm still pissed Apple charges a $200+ premium just because it's black.

The MacBook Pro was a bit of a step up keyboard-wise because it's a more full sized laptop compared to the 6931. The other cool feature was in low light or no light conditions the MBP keyboard is backlit - and I gotta say it works very nicely. More companies aside from Apple should do something like that for PC laptops, definitely.

The 6931 keyboard works great for me, and I've used most all of them from Dells to IBMs to Acers to HPs to Compaqs and most everything in between. Not much else I can say about it.

As for aesthetics, I know that really matters to some people <hint, Apple owners, hint hint> but to me it's really secondary to how it works. For me, functionality outweighs performance every single time.

If I had a Ferrarri with no engine in it, and a Yugo that gets me to and from work, which one is actually more valuable?

Hence, for me, function is more important. The 6931 has a great "feel" to it, fits the hands nicely, and I'm 6'6" tall with big hands - ladies, take note.

Ok, just kidding, just kidding... hehe

But as my Wife likes to say, I have huge hands compared to her tiny ones. "Normal" isn't a word that does much for me in this lifetime because I am "larger than life" meaning I'm no average Joe by any meaning of the saying.

But for me, it's one of the best non-ThinkPad laptops I have ever owned, if not the best non-ThinkPad so far. I still love my trusty Dell Inspiron 4150 - I even looked at it earlier today, just sitting there and almost felt sorry that I'm neglecting it for this "new baby" of mine. Imagine that...

So I'll set that one up again running XP Pro and doing something, maybe crunching numbers for Folding@Home or whatnot... no sense just letting it sit there for no good reason. It's still an incredibly useful and powerful laptop that I simply won't get rid of anytime soon.

Ok, let me back up a bit and say that there is one situation where form - meaning ergonomics and layout - does seem to matter a great deal to me, but not enough to turn me off of a product as long as it performs well, as the 6931 does.

The USB ports/NIC/modem/Firewire/media reader issue.

I really wish companies would not put all those ports on the right side of the laptop - and here's why. I'm right handed, so I'm not saying this to slight those left handed people that might be reading this; I'm merely expressing my opinions on the matter.

I would prefer that, since the overwhelming majority of people on this planet are right handed - and no I don't have any documented proof of this statement but geez, look around... - it seems a bit more, how can I best say it, logical (?!?!) or perhaps makes more sense to move those ports to the left side of the laptop just on the off-chance that the laptop owner might use a mouse, on the right side of the laptop, and would prefer not to have to worry about all the cables and such sticking out from the right side of the laptop?

See my drift there?

So, for the 6931, I'd say Gateway took at least some of that perspective into consideration when they put in the design and manufacturing request to Compal (the company that made the MX69xx series laptops for Gateway from all the info I've gathered) and had the designers move the majority of the ports to the rear half of the right side, thereby giving a person that likes to use a mouse at home and most places - someone like me - the opportunity to do so unimpeded by all the cables and plugs.

I know that most manufacturers have moved to the "battery in the back" style of laptop design nowadays, meaning the large battery packs are now designed to attach at the rear of the laptop and not as slide in or drop in components that take up actual case real estate. The MX series is like that; so is most every other design on the market today except...

Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro. While I like the design of both (front slot loading CD/DVD drives are pretty awesome) then they shoot themselves in the proverbial foot by putting all the ports on one side or the other. The MacBooks are better I'd say because even the mini-DVI connector is on the left with the NIC and USB ports. The MacBook Pro puts that stuff on the right side... ugh. Where was the design team on that pooched idea...

Here's one thing that still amazes me even to this day:

To a lot of laptop owners, remarkably they never even consider plugging in a real mouse for use at home or on the go. USB is the predominant connection now, and some Bluetooth mice do exist for truly wireless operation without adapters or transceivers like most USB mice - including my Microsoft Wireless Optical Notebook mouse - but overall you're looking at USB connections of some type.

I can't stand using a trackpad/touchpad/eraser/pointer/etc unless absolutely necessary in any situation. Now, that's not to say some people are actually more adaptable to using the trackpad/touchpad/eraser/pointer/etc, but when you have real work to get done, you simply cannot do it with such devices. You need a mouse for all that stuff, but that's my opinion and I'm... stickin' to it...



So, there's more of my incessant rambling about technology and me, hope there was something useful in there that you can use. If not, ask specific questions and I'll give specific answers...

bb

 

Don't mind me, just bumping my post count... hehe

Sorry about not answering the question related to the wireless. The MX6931 has the standard Intel 3946 802.11abg wireless card in it these days. I haven't spent too much time doing testing; all I can say so far is that I have used it, in 11g mode, with my D-Link DI-524 router and got an excellent connection - but my router is like 7 feet away.

I use wired connections at home, with both our laptops (the Wife and I) using 15' CAT5 cables to 2 ports on the router which is then connected to our cable modem, etc.

I did some testing with the 3945 in terms of speedtests and got my expected 10Mbps down and 1 Mbps up - actually it came up as 10.9 Mbps down and 1.6 Mbps up, go figure.

A handy tip: http://netspeed.stanford.edu

The KING of all speedtests on the Internet, Java powered ( www.java.com if you need to install it), and offers more info than any other speedtest available, even the ones at DSLReports.com. Also, if you scroll down the page of the Stanford test, at the bottom you'll find links to other super high speed speedtest sites just like that one. Most of them are on Internet2 links with speeds reaching 10 Gbps (that's Gigabits per second) so I'm pretty sure they can thoroughly saturated any connection you might have.

Connections stay connected, throughput is there as expected, not much else to say. It's infinitely INFINITELY better than either the 2915 or the absolutely hideous 2200BG card in most every Centrino laptop over the past years. Hell, even the original 2100 card was better than the 2200BG which was plagued for the longest time - and still is - by power issues and driver support.

The 3945 is a solid performer, that much I can attest to not only because it's in this MX6931 but because I have an extra one that I've used in other laptops and swapped out as required.

Hope this helps...

bb

 

More post count bumpage!!!

Just kidding... wanted to report that I remembered seeing that the Gateway Vista Express Upgrade site was going to be live today, December 5th, so I just took a chance about 10 mins ago and checked, and sure enough it's live and ready to roll.

So I did the registration thing, punched in the brand, laptop model, serial number, COA ID (not the Product Key; it'll have a link to a popup with a pic to show you what number they're looking for), and then put in the mailing address and that was that.

It does ask you to select credit card as a method of payment, but it does not ask for one because Gateway, unlike some other companies, is doing this Vista Express Upgrade for free with zero cost to us, their customers.

I think that's pretty damned cool, and this $999 extraordinary value laptop just became even more valuable to the tune of another $159 which is the suggested retail for Vista Home Premium Upgrade version.

So if you've got an MX6930 or 6931, or any new Gateway laptop purchased after October 26th, head over to:

www.gateway.com/vista/express

and get registered...

bb

 

anyone else notice it asks you for a quantity... you can select 1-5 and the price doesn't change from $0...

 

It's because you can get more than one copy if you purchased more than one laptop or product at a time, up to 5 with any one request. The next screen will ask you for all the product models/COA IDs/etc... it's not as easy to get multiple copies as just saying "Oh yeah, sure, gimme 3 Home Premiums, to go..."

Little more involved than that. But it would be nice, wouldn't it?

bb

ps
Yes, I admit, I tried 5 then got to the next screen and saw the form for all the serials/COA IDs and clicked Back. hehe

 

Thanks again, bb. I'm gonna go down to Best Buy this evening and unless something looks/feels terribly wrong in my hands-on, I'll pick the 6931 up... and hopefully report later.

I notice that Circuit City is offering the same price but 6 months of no interest... unfortunately, Best Buy is right by my house and Circuit City is quite the drive. Anyone know if Best Buy will match financing deals for an already card-carrying member?

 

They price match, but I seriously doubt they'll "finance match," but I guess it can't hurt to ask.

Good luck, either way...

bb

 

bb
I know this will be a silly question, but my wife wants know if she can plug a mouse into it. She hates the touchpad.

SLIM>>>>
Best Buy has 90 days same as cash when you use your card. 3 months is better than none.

Jeff

 

Just Bought Mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Me too... got it earlier. I had decided to just not worry about the financing, since the price really wasn't breaking my bank. Strangely enough, when I go to pay and present my Best Buy card, the guy mentions they were offering six months of no interest! This was despite no mention of all of that promotion in the weekly ad or online. I may not have needed it, but if they were going to let me keep my money in the bank longer, I was sure going to let them! Anyway, I'll post some impressions a bit later.

 

Well, I have to wait on mine. It is a present for my wife, and her birthday is not until the 20th.

When I talked with Best Buy on the phone, the "Computer Specialist" said that on the website, the sale is minute to minute. It could end in 5 minutes, or 2 days. And she kind of pushed me to buy it right there, eventhough I told here I would purchase it on the internet.

I am sure that its all a ploy to get a sense of urgency on the sale!

 

It is a ploy and a sales tactic, and the public website pricing does not change on a minute to minute basis. I tell ya, there is enough business to go around, there's simply no reason for any employee to lie about such things, good lord. I know about 70 people around the country that work at Best Buy; I just told 8 of them on my YIM contacts list about your experience and they said the sales management asks them to "influence" the customer to purchase any way they can, even if it means fudging the truth a bit.

Lamers, I swear.

Anyway, yes, with 4 USB 2.0 ports you can most definitely plug in a USB mouse. I use the a wireless mouse which you can find more info about here:

Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse 3000

The coolest thing about this mouse to me is the fact that when you're not using it, the tiny USB transceiver (about half the size of a pack of Wrigley's chew gum, give or take a few fractions of an inch) snaps into the base of the mouse itself and turns off the mouse to conserve battery life when you're mobile.

It tracks great, gives me close to 2' (2 feet) of range and I have no issues with it. When wireless mice first came out, they'd lose tracking, etc, constantly and the battery life sucked. I have no such issues with this one since nowadays they've pretty much perfected the wireless technology for these types of devices.

You can use any USB mouse, wireless or wired, makes no difference. As I said in an earlier posting, if you're serious about using this laptop, the touchpad - while great especially with the scrolling section on the right - simply can't match the ease of use of a real mouse in your hand.

Hope this helps... and congrats on your purchase, Slim, and your future one, jmb.

bb

 

DOWNLOAD THIS!

First off, Congrats on the new members to the MX6931 fold! I really like this machine!

A tip to all: If you want to step into the next-gen programs right now, Microsoft is now offering a full-blown Office 2007 free trial download. Very cool. Amazing features that sing on this baby.
You can get the big four programs for 60 days like Outlook 2007, Word 2007, Excel 2007 and PowerPoint 2007 -- and even the super-premium suites if you think two months is enough time to explore them all like Publisher 2007, One-Note 2007, Groove, Business Contact Manager, visio, Sharepoint, Small Biz Accounting, and whatever else Microsoft has cooked up to go with Vista, but all run just fine on XP MCE.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101741481033.aspx

Many of these programs were offered to lucky beta testers (who like me, went through some rough versions) but soon filled up their quota of testers. Now the real thing is available to all, at least for the time being -- at least I would not count on them offering it when they go on sale in Jan.

Note: You have to uninstall Outlook 2003 if you have already installed that -- or Outlook 2007 will copy to your machine, but wont install. You can do so in add/remove progs, go to office and hit the change button. Then UNcheck outlook 2003 and save.

Hence a suggestion to those who haven't started their 60-day Office 2003 try-out -- you might want to wait. You can run 2007 now -- and always trigger the timer on 2003 after the 2007 timer is spent. There is a chance 2007 is an "upgrade" and has to "see" an earlier version, I don't know. But I am sorry my 2003 clock it ticking away while I'm cavorting with 2007. It owuld have been a nice backup.

I think it said my Office 2007 was good until Feb. 28, 2007 at some point during the download and installation, but I was moving fast! Maybe someone can confrim if it is good until Jan 30 or February 28.

6931 owners will appreciate their 2gb RAM, I have four programs open now and am nearly at 1gb of usage. With Vista Premium running, I think that second gig will be essential. The progs probably shrink to fit RAM size: All I can say is that they are blazing fast on the 2gb RAM.

I can't tell you how sweet the new Outlook,Word and Excel are, so many intelligent features and improvements. Though I have heard people in forums dissing this or that about O-7.

Finally, I just ordered my Vista Premium Upgrade online and sent ModiusLink my receipt in Utah. I don't see how that one company is going to send out OEM discs to just everyone who bought a Vista-ready computer recently. Especially If they try to personalize each disc to run with our CFA numbers or whatever.

Happy Computing...

 

Cool beans, as some people say.

One thing that I think a lot of people should do, and I seriously mean this, is watch the keynote speech from Steve Ballmer from last Friday's Office 2007/Vista Business launch. In that keynote/webcast, you'll get to see some clips of Office 2007 in actual use done by one of the product managers for that program.

I was pretty much excited to begin with, but after seeing some of the really cool stuff it does and can do, I was even more excited to finally get a trial edition just now, so thanks for that info, HappyCamper.

Downloading it now, but seriously, if you can watch it and set aside the marketing speak just to see Office 2007 in action, it's found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/events/executives/webcasts.mspx

Click the links by Ballmer's picture for the various streams, obviously 500Kbps being the best quality. Jump to about the 14 minute 15 second mark where the presenter fires up Word 2007 and gets rolling. Amazing stuff to see in operation.

Office 2007 looks to be damned promising. This is a rather significant time for Microsoft since it's the first time they've ever released a new version of Windows (5 editions!!!)as well as a new version of Office (13 editions!!!) at the same time or almost on top of each other.

"Ready For A New Day..." is a great way to put this into perspective.

Glad you like the MX6931, HappyCamper. It goes without saying it's an awesome machine...

bb

 

Well campers, if you downloaded the freebie trial Office Suite 2007 and are digging it as much as I, you may as well have it LOOK like it will when released in conjuction with Vista. Here is how to set the color scheme for Office on MX6930/31's that next-gen folks will be seeing for years to come:

Go to Word 2007. Ribbon apps have a setting you can change. That setting can be found by clicking the Office Button (that gold Windows thing on the top left), then going to Word Options (bottom of the pop-up window) then Popular and then "Color Scheme". Black is the color, baby, though some like the silver. It changes all the programs, though that old-fashioned blue pops up once in a while for reasons to arcane to sully you with.

What blows me away about this way-cool trial is that it is the real deal, you only need a product key to permanently have exactly what's going be on the shelves next year. You get the updates and everything for 10 of the world's most-used programs. Us O-7 beta testers put up with some real garbage before it got to this point, but it was kinda worth it to learn of and then get this download. (The correct celeb names in the spell checker are mine! Just TRY to spell Scwarzenegger wrong...)

Again, I wouldn't wait too long if you want to try it. When I tried get a Vista beta earlier this year and again with "Preview Release" this month, the download page was gone in like two days. This does not appear to be like that first-come, first served opportunity, but Microsoft moves in strange ways...

 

Thanks, Im sold. I'll go get my 6931 today. However I need to know if I should get the extended warranty that BB offers. The 2 or 3 yrs , with or without the ADH protection? Please let me know ASAP so I can head over to BB and get my 6931 Thanks to everyone.

 

I would say go for the 3 year plan if you've got the money. I know from my own personal experience that I had one laptop a few years ago, had the 3 year extended service on it, and it developed some nasty motherboard issues literally 2 years and 11 months into my ownership of it. I took it in, BB techs took a look at it, declared it unsalvageable and offered to replace it with whatever they had that matched the retail price I paid for it when I got it.

So, in 2 years and 11 months, technology moved pretty fast. I ended up "trading out" the P4 1.5 GHz laptop for a Pentium-M 1.6 that was a far far better laptop, and it didn't cost me a cent in the long run - save for the cost of the original laptop and the 3 year plan.

It's worth it, in my opinion based on my experience. Not everyone will have issues, and that's why those plans typically are 100% pure profit for most retailers that offer them. But on some occasions, like my situation, it does pay off for me, the consumer, because I end up staying a customer.

Best Buy has some pretty shady tactics (the previously mentioned in-house pricing as opposed to the public website pricing, etc) but overall they've done things for me and customers I've referred to them that gives me reason enough to continue buying items from their stores.

Circuit City, CompUSA, etc... those other places have screwed me and other people I've worked with too many times. I sure hope Best Buy doesn't give me the same reason anytime soon. I'm running out of local places to shop for hardware.

Hope this helps...

bb

 

I just did the upgrade request through the gateway website. I gotta say I'm a bit disappointed when I saw it's only 32 bit windows vista version. It's a hell of a processor in the mx6930 and 31 and its a shame seeing it go to this waste.

 

It's not "going to waste" as you put it. All of the Vista Express Upgrade offers will only get the 32 bit version(s) of Vista on the DVD. You can then make a request for the 64 bit version(s) DVD at that time once you acquire the 32 bit DVD, most likely for a nominal shipping and handling fee.

Microsoft isn't distributing both versions (32 and 64 bit) at the same time; this in a way works well for them because it then allows them to gauge the interest in the 64 bit version(s) of Vista.

A little bit more hassle, but you can get it, basically for free just like the 32 bit version(s). Just takes a little bit more time but since we're probably not going to get our 32 bit DVDs till mid-to-late February and possibly even as late as March, it's worth the wait if you want 64 bit version(s).

bb

 

So you're saying we can get two copies of Vista with the express upgrade coupon (minus s&h)? What's the point when one can wait on it and get the 64-bit version straight off instead?