Need Help!!

Hello, guys. First time being here.
Recently, I'm thinking of buying a new laptop, and I just saw this Gateway MX6750 in store yesterday. From the price perspective ($1600), it seemed like a good deal to me. I went home and searched for some reviews online, but I couldn't find any maybe because it was just on the market. I checked the specification of the laptop, MX6750 has a 100GB 4200rpm PATA hard drive. Would the hard drive limite the performance of the laptop? I have some friends keeping telling me that I should buy a laptop with SATA hard drive with 8MB buffer memory. Is that correct? I really have no idea which one is better. So can anybody help me? Thanks a lot!!

1) What is your budget?
around 2000 dollars

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
b. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen

3) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
Just working on documents, listening to music, and watching movies. Sometimes I play some 3D games like Sims but not a lot

4) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?
I will take it with me all the time.

6) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
Brand is not important.

7) How many hours of battery life do you need?
At least 3 hours

8) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?
No. As long as it's a brand new computer shipping from a trusted website or store, I'm OK with it.

9) What country are you buying this in?
Canada

Screen Specifics

10) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?

d. WXGA = Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array; 1280x768 or 1280x800; This resolution offers the same as XGA except that there is more horizontal real estate; 1280 versus 1024. Popular for movie viewing due to support for widescreen.

e. WXGA+ = Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array+; 1440x900; This resolution is offered on 17" widescreen notebooks and is comparable to WXGA in terms of text and icon size versus available screen real estate. Popular for movie viewing due to support for widescreen.

f. WSXGA+ = Widescreen Super eXtended Graphics Array; 1680x1050; This resolution is comparable to SXGA in that it offers a middle ground between WXGA/WXGA+ and WUXGA. Popular for movie viewing due to support for widescreen.

g. WUXGA = Widescreen Ultra eXtended Graphics Array; 1920x1200; This resolution offers the smallest viewable text and images while offering the greatest amount of screen real estate.


11) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
No.

Build Quality and Design

12) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
Yes.

13) How long do you want this laptop to last?
At least 3 years.

Notebook Components

14) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 120GB?
100GB would be perfect.

15) Do you need a DVD, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-R drive?
I need a DVD burner.

 

I don't see an MX6750 on Gateway's site(under support), so I'm not sure what all the other specs are. If you want it for gaming, a 4200RPM drive is a bit slow. As far as PATA vs SATA...most laptop drives will NEVER benefit from SATA. The only time it will is if there's only one IDE channel(like in the Intel Pentium M processor chipsets) and PATA would require the drive to be on the same channel as the optical drive. In some instances, this can lead to a performance drop. Then using SATA would be beneficial, since the drive would be on a different channel(not cause it was utilizing the faster speeds of SATA though).

That said...it's not uncommon for some Gateways that list a 4200RPM drive to actually include a 5400RPM instead, due to parts availability. You'd need to check in the store what the model number of the drive is(via Device Manager in Windows) and look it up. Of course...it may not be present in all units...but if you have a return policy at the store, it might be worth a try.

 

You should consider the FAQ and there.

 

Where do you see the MX6750?
When I saw it at Bestbuy (site) some time ago, the harddrive was listed as 5400.. then again BB always makes large mistakes when it comes to hardware

 

Thank you guys so much!!

I'm really confused because I went to FutureShop today, and the manager told me MX6750 has a SATA drive(I forgot to ask if it was 4200rpm or not)~~on the FutureShop website( http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...angid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10070604&catid=22497)~~it indicates that the hard drive is 4200rpm~~the weird thing is that I couldn't find any introduction of MX6750 on the Gateway website~~so I'm not sure about the hard drive either~~

and one of my friends told me that I should by a laptop with 64bit processor because next generation of Windows will be designed for 64bit~~if I bought a laptop that didn't have a 64bit processor I would have to upgrade it pretty soon~~

So right now I'm totally confused and don't know what to do

 

I think the Asus W3j would be a good fit.

 

Thank you~~
Just searched~~barely found any information of this notebook~~not even in the ASUS website~~did those companies just stop posting the info on the web? Or is it a new product that has not been put in the market yet?

 

It's been announced but not yet released. Check projected availability dates here. And as far as the next version of Windows is concerned, it will support both 32 and 64-bit processors so I wouldn't worry so much about that. Link

 

It is due in late March/Early April. It is a 14" glossy widescreen with Core Duo, ATI x1600, DVD burner, yada yada yada...

 

Thanks for your responses. ASUS W3J sounds really great!! I'm definitely gonna consider that.

Just one thing though, if I buy it online~~will I only get one year standard warrenty~~? I want to have a 3 years warrenty that covers everything. And how much is w3j gonna be? My budget is 2000 CAD including tax~~

Can I find some pictures of w3j as well?

Thank you guys again!!