Thinking about buying a Gateway M-1626? $650, is it worth it?

I have been looking at buying a Dell Inspiron and have been playing around with building one on Dell's website. I found some coupon codes for 20% off $999 and up or 30% off $1299 and up. To get the configuration close to what I want, I'm going to be spending around $950(after 30% off). I might be able to swing the thousand bucks but, of course, I would rather not if I can get what I want for less.

This Gateway M-1626 on sale at Office Depot has peaked my interest. It seems to have everything I want but for only $650!(it's listed at $799 less $100 instant savings and $50 mail in rebate) Normally if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. Gateway laptops don't seem to be as popular as the Dell's or HP's. Is there a reason for this?

I am an independant sales rep in the furniture industry so I travel quite a bit. I plan on using my laptop for small office presentations, movie watching-both on the computer as well as hooking it up to a DLP projector, traveling, and some light gaming.

Here are the specs for the Gateway M-1626 at a glance:

AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-60 (2.0GHz, 512KBx2 L2 Cache, HyperTransport™ technology at up to 1600MHz)
Genuine Microsoft® Windows® Vista™ Home Premium (64-bit) SP11
4096MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2-2048MB modules)
250GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard drive w/ 8MB cache3
8x Multi-Format Dual Layer DVDRW with DVD-RAM featuring Labelflash™
Integrated 1.3 Megapixel Web Cam
Black
Chassis w/ Integrated ATI Radeon® X1270 Graphics with up to 256MB of HyperMemory™ and ATI RS690T chipset

Also, the 2 year extended warranty is only $150 so if some of the negatives I am hearing about Gateway laptops are true and it is a "cheaply made" product, then service and parts will be covered for a couple of years.

 

how light is "light gaming"? and be warned, a friend of mine who has turions in his laptop says they heat up a lot.

 

Can you show me the link for this computer on Office Depot's site?

I'm looking into this one now.

Thanks!

 

No. I'd rather go with the Vostro 1500 with the 8400GS at $639 if you're remotely considering gaming.

The Dell Vostro 1400 at $664 with the 8400GS would be another strong choice since you'll be moving around a bit.

 

Thanks for the replies. Here is the link to the comp on Office Depot's website. They have it for $749 after the $50 mail in but it is advertised, in Houston Tx anyway, with $100 instant in store savings.

Light gaming means I don't currently play any complex games currently but I would like to have the ability to if I something sparks my interest. Gaming is not high on my priorities, but I would like it to remain an option. I would prefer a medium to bad ass video card, but obviously i dont know that much about it.

I am going to check out that Vostro right now

 

here is the link to Gateway's website which gives a better description:

http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668079.php