Mx6453

Just bought one of these. The specs on it state that is has ATI 1150 graphics but on the laptop (device manager and display properties) it reports ATI 200M. 200M is actually an older version and Gateway told me when I called them that it is 1150 but the device manager reports it as 200m. Any idea which is it and should I be annoyed?

 

Yes. The 1150 is the newer 200. I've never heard of device manager reporting otherwise though. I don't think you should worry, as their performance difference is very slight.

 

Thanks. I read online though that the 1150 is about 30% faster than 200m. I'm hoping that what I was told by Gateway is correct otherwise, just from principle, I'm gonna get angry.

 

I have the same issue with my MX6454.

It supposedly has the 1150 chipset, and the entire 1100/1150 chipset has this issue. However, the chips actually say the correct type ON THE CHIP.

Still, it reports as a 200m in device manager, which while similar is NOT an xpress 1150. To me, thats like buying a Geforce 4 and the company tossing in an MX claiming its kinda the same. I just hope they are not mis-stamped and trying to pass these off as the newer, faster, versions.

There is an article at
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/359
which reviews this chipset in a desktop variation. While not a notebook, it is the same chipset and the same problems. I hope ATi / Gateway FIX the issue.

I want the Catalyst drivers to WORK with my laptop. I want to be able to utilize newer drivers with bug fixes. Unfortunately, I am stuck with the old version from Gateway.

I've called gateway 3 times about this issue and similar issues. I also have an issue to where if I raise the Video ram via ATi's catalyst drivers beyond 256MB, it causes graphics corruption when using my Fn keys. In fact, I have to reset my BIOS to default settings to fix the problem. Wierd Issue, I think so.