MX7515 or 8510GZ at BB and buy demo unit or not?

I have in hand one of the MX7515s from Best Buy that was purchased on sale at $1199 (still new in box) but I noticed the 8510GZ is only $100 more and I think I may be exchanging the MX7515. After doing research on both I have come up with the following pro and cons for each:
MX7515:
+Faster CPU
+More RAM out of the box
+Slightly cheaper
-X600 GPU
-15.4" Screen 1280x800
-Not video upgradeable (from what info I can find, am I wrong?)
-No 10key
-Worse battery life

8510GZ:
+17" screen 1440x900
+Much better battery life
+10 key
+X700 GPU
+Video upgradeable
+Larger/Smaller batter options available
-Half the RAM out of the box
-Wider physically
-Slower CPU

Did I miss anything? I am thinking the 8510GZ will suit me much better and the RAM I can upgrade later. It looks to be Gateways flagship. I admit I like that the other components can be upgraded also and the chassis is carried over into the NX850X. Looks like the MX7515 chassis has been discontinued. I am really leaning towards the 8510GZ but though I would see if there are others that thought about the same thing.

Also, as the 8510GZ stock is getting low at the stores I have been to I do have the option of saving $150 by buying the demo units. I know there are BB guys in here and other that may have bought demo units before and wanted to get their opinions on it. Obviously I am essentially buying a used laptop, so is it worth the savings? Are indescibable acts performed on the demos when the public is not around? Physically, the demo looks pretty good with just a few minor scratches on the case. Perhaps a side benefit of the demo(used) system is it has been tested for sure and any initial bugs would have shown up by now. :decision:

 

When you buy a demo, many stores will wipe the entire hard drive clean to remove any possible information that someone may have left on it. They will then reload the OS and all of the software. This is done because of privacy issues.

What this means is that the partition that Gateway loads with all of the backup will be gone. Not necesarily a big deal but makesure that they give you all of the recovery disks including OS, apps and drivers. On the 7515 the apps and drivers are not included on disks but are on the partition that might be wiped out.

Hold out for original disks from Gateway if you can.

 

Actually...someone clarify this for me, the last year I worked at BB as a tech(early 2000) was right around the time when manufacturers started doing the partion-based restores, instead of always including restoration software. Just as they had always sent copies for the bench to have of the previous restore CD's, they started sending us copies of restore CD's for the partion-based restore models as well. So I would assume that most BB's would have software to restore that model. It's a budget thing for BB, cause many consumers will bring a machine in under the service plan and complain of a fault, that can be due to software. Also, even at the service centers, if they replace a hard drive or something, they'd want to be able to reload the stock software to prove to the customer that the unit is working.

So I'd assume they could put it back to the original state, allowing you to create the master restore CD's at your leisure, using hte program provided by Gateway. Or perhaps they do it themselves when they first pull a new model to use as a display? When they used to use older programs to lock down the display models, salespeople would bring a new one up to the bench and we'd set it up, verify it worked, load the software, and send it back to the floor an hour later for display. Possibly they do the restore disc creation then, just in case?

Either way, I wouldn't worry too much. I'm sure they can order the software cheap. We did it all the time for customers who bought open box units. Used to cost the store anywhere from $15 to free to get the restore software shipped from most manufacturers. So worst case, you may get a stripped down windows install for a few days while waiting for the restore software to show up.

 

Interesting comments.

My oen comments are based upon experience at "one" Futureshop store.

Possibly dangerous to generalize, but safe to caution what might happen.

Interestingly, I wiped out the hard drive myself because I was having problems deleting AOL and the stock virus programs. Then when I went to do a restore from the partition using the F11 key, I got an error mesage telling me that there was error in one of the DLL files in the recovery partition and I was prevented from doing the restore. At that point I had made the recovery disks and thought it would be just as easy to start with a clean install.

I wasn't even able to boot from the recovery disk because it first looked at the recovery partition that had the error. I eventually used Killdisk to clean the entire hard drive and reload.

I wondered if the stores might ghost a new machine to obtain the recovery information, but don't know what that would do to Windows XP. One doesn't need to enter the XP serial number when recovering completely so is each machine different or is there and OEM serial number that is used?

 

Silvertip, what kind of machine do you have? How has your machine done since you used "killdisk" (never heard of it...)?

Have you noticed any other problems?

 

Apart from the restore disk or partition format issues, is there anything physically that would make a demo unit a bad choice or not worth the savings. New stuff is great but will quickly become used stuff within a few uses (duh). From what I can tell I will miss out on having the box since those get discarded.

 

No, there are really not any issues that shoud stop you from buying the demo unit provided the discount is appropriate. It is still classed as a new machine and you can buy the extended warranty for it to protect you from any future problems. You can even take it home and if you find something that makes you unhappy, take it back in the first couple of weeks.

Bamboo one, I have the 7515. Killdisk is a program that writes 00 to all of the hard drive effectively cleaning it and removing all partitions. If you Google it you will find the web site for the program where you can download a free copy that does a single pass cleanup.

After I ran Killdisk, I ran the recovery disk to reinstall the operating system and then loaded all of the apps and drivers that I wanted from the recovery disk that I had made. In this way I was able to avoid loading AOL, Macafee and Norton completely. Untill you load the drivers, the machine is pretty dumb, low res video, no ethernet or wireless, etc.

When I was finished I noticed that the video was not as crisp, but found out about Clear Type in another thread on this board. I also was missing the Gateway desktop background but also found it in a thread on this site.

Was it worth it? Considering the error I kept getting when I pressed F11 to do a recovery I really had nothing to lose. I was also able to start with a clean install. In retrospect, I probably should have acquired XP Professional and loaded it. Now I will wait until the 64 bit Windows is released.

I measured the performance using 3DMark03 and got a result of 3171 using the stock drivers. From what I read, that is a pretty good performance. I didn't install the optional video drive, Omega I believe it is called, because I don't need faster video response.

 

ok.. we have the same machine with the same issue of the recovery partition. I am just asking because I am curious if you noticed any other problems that might have caused this and would still be around after a clean install. Also, I was wondering if you could get it to load off of a disk since it was not wanting to but appearantly cleaning up with killdisk will eliminate that problem.

Correct me if I am wrong on any of that or if you have any other insights because I am debating whether to do the complete reformat (with no recovery partition) or not.

Also, I have gotten over 3400 on '03 without doing anything special. I think I set the "Open GL" and "3D" settings to optimal performance and that was it. There is a driver update on Gateway's website so if by "stock" you mean that you haven't gotten that one then there you go.

 

Interesting if you had the problem with the recovery partition also. Whenever I tried to enter it it gave me an error that a .dll, cshell or something like that, was corrupt. Because the partition was protected I could not try to replace that file. Hence the wiping out of the drive and reinstallation.

Whenever I tried to run the recovery disk, it would first go to the recovery partition and lock up because of thecorrupt file.

Absolutely no problems after erasing the entire hard drive and doing a reinstall. The OS loaded smoothly from the recovery disk and I then loaded all of the drivers and apps that I wanted. As far as I can tell everything works well and there are no problems.

After all was done I left an image of the drivers and apps on my hard drive so I can burn a disk if necessary while travelling.

I figure that all I missing without the recovery partition are the drivers and I probably would never need them when I am on the road. At home I have the recovery disks. If I am really concerned I can take a copy of the recovery disk with me.

 

Thanks. Yep it sounds like same problem.

This is from the customer review page on this site:

"Be warned before buying this product. The system restore on some DOESNT WORK. When you reboot and you see the "press F11 for system recovery", It will just reboot over and over. The restore cd doesnt work either. I took it back to best buy and they thought I was crazy after the second one that they tried they could not beleive it was happening. I was very upset. This is one of the coolest and fasted laptops I have ever seen or used. Its built really well for a Gateway. I use it for Digital Audio running Protools 6.9 it was so fast and responsive I wanted to make love to it. (the micophone in was too big) anyway before you buy it have the sale puke restart it and then press F11 if it boots to the restore screen your good to go if it just reboots over and over RUNNNN!!!

Cons: System restore doesnt work on some makes. The pukes on gateways chat didnt beleive me when i told them about it they just ignored me and kept giving me links that didnt work"

...So we're not the firsts either.

All and all I like the computer. Previously I have heard bad things about Gateway but other than this issue the computer seems fairly well built. Even has immitation leather (well sorta) for the face of it for anybody wanting to know.

Thanks.

 

When we wipe the HDD, we dont really "wipe" it, if we can we just use the restore section of the hdd to put it back exactly to stock settings... no disks, no personal information, no problems. Im a BB employee.