Gateway M680XL Review

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Ok hear it goes….

(Side note: I have pics of almost every part of the notebook, but don’t feel like uploading them. You can find great pics in czm2000’s review. But if you need a specific angle or something I guess I’ll work it out. )

Ordering Process: Ordering is fairly easy except you have to actually find a rep that is willing to haggle with the price of the machine. Many here have reported good luck with Otto getting them great prices. Personally I received a 13-14% discount off my purchase. (After talking to 3 different reps. )

Delivery: Ok one thing that kind of annoyed me was that Gateway did not keep their website well updated. They have 4 steps until they ship the pc, and for me they only updated mine on #1 and when they shipped. Kind of defeats the point of tracking the process of your pc. My notebook was delivered by Fedex and I was very pleased with their service. Got the notebook 4 days prior to the set delivery date. The box came in good condition considering it traveled more than half way around the world. (China > Alaska > Indiana > Los Angeles) The box was smaller than I thought it would be, but it was very well packed.

Opening the Box: Ok this was the most exciting and scary part of the deal. After reading all the reviews on this forum and problems people experience, you automatically expect to have every single problem you ever read about in these forums. (The one and only negative side of reading and getting educated before purchasing products.) The box does come with a windows operating cd which was a concern of mine and anything else that you might need.

Frame: Opening the box and taking out the notebook, the laptop felt light and sturdy. I had tried the 8510gz at Best Buy and it had a lot of flex throughout the entire body of the notebook. For some reason my notebook has little to no flex in the areas where the 8510gz flexed like crazy.

Keyboard: The keyboard is great. It’s firm, but not too firm. It’s also nice and responsive. The number pad is also a handy thing to have. Even if you barely use it, when the time comes youll be thankful you have it. The touchpad also has a nice feel to it. The scrolling bar on the right of the touchpad is also nice little feature present in many of the new notebooks today.

Screen: I’m sure the screen is one of the first things people consider when purchasing a pc. I was originally going to purchase a dell, but I didn’t want to take the chance of getting a sub par screen. Although not all screens may be poorly designed, I still didn’t feel that it would be the correct choice for me. I finally decided to purchase the gateway with the ultrabright WXGA. Although many here had suggested the WSXGA, I felt that it would not be in my best interest. In my opinion, if you ever plan on typing and using this notebook for homework, WXGA is the only way to go. After I turned on the computer, the first thing I notice is….OMG sparkles galore. Just kidding. No sparkles what so ever, as is the problem with many of the dells with their trubright screens. First thing I looked for were dead pixels. I thought I found four, but they were just specs of dirt. ( It’s a good idea to make sure the screen is clean before freaking out over dead pixels.) After checking for dead pixels I moved to look for light leakage. Light leakage is almost none existant with this screen. There is about a milimeter of brigther light towards the bottom of the screen, but its hardly noticeable. I would not have even seen the light leakage if I didn’t know what it was and actually look for it. The brigthness of this screen is just fantastic. I watched a DVD and saw details I never noticed. The screen is so bright that I really feel comfortable with 1 bar below medium brightness. The colors on this screen are also fabulous. The blacks are amazingly black and the whites and crystal clean. The colors are just excellent. One of the best screnes I have laid my eyes on.

Battery: I purchased the 8 cell because this is already a fairly hefty laptop and there is no need to add unnessesary weight. I have gotten 4hrs+ just browsing and tying as I am doing now on MAX battery. My personal opinion is that if you are the average notebook user you will be more than fine with the 8 cell. Not only does the 12 cell ruin the asthetics of the notebook, but like I said, it is unessasary.

Heat: Ok I don’t get what this entire “Oh the left palm area is SOOO hot!” thing. I understand that there may be some who have recieved defective laptops, but for the most part I’m sure its just blown out of proportion. The left palm area does stays cool to VERY slightly warm when browsing and light cpu usage. Under gaming and intense usage the palm rest does get warm, but its not HOT. Just slightly warmer than you might want. Unless you have extremely sensitive skin, the heat thing will not be an issue. The bottom of the laptop also gets warm, but again still bearable. I’m typing this entire thing on my lap.

Noise: Most of the time the notebook is virtually silent, but there are times when you can hear it cooling away. When both fans come on you can easily hear them, but even if there is slight background noise (traffic, etc) it will be drowned out.

Speakers: Probably the worst part. Just like most laptops, (Except the 17″ powerbook I used) the speakers are pretty much crap. A nice set of external speakers would compliment the machine quite nicely.

Graphics: The graphic card is more than enough for the casual gamer. (Like myself.) I scored 17550 on 3dmark01 which I think is a decent score for a non-gaming laptop. (This is without reformatting the computer and all the crap gateway installs.) I’ll probably run 03 and 05 too later, but just dont have the time right now. If your looking to get insane graphics move on to the M680XL or to a completely different notebook like the 9300 or the XPS2, but for most people the great balance between batter battery life and the graphic card offered by the 680 would be the better choice.

Wireless: Easiest set up ever. Picked up 8 signals, 3 with excellent strenght right out of the box. No complaints here what so ever.

If there is anything I missed to cover I’m sure youll find it in other reviews such as czm2000’s or simply post and I’ll try to answer.