Gateway M-152XL Review

I just received mine, and am greatly impressed with the build quality. The blue looks very nice, and the chassis is extremely solid, very impressed with Gateway on this one. As for color, I've seen both, and unless you're a girl, Blue is the way to go, IMO.

 

Congratulations on receiving your laptop!

 

Thanks guys. And yeah when i said sharp i meant nice looking my bad haha. But, yeah i'll probably go with the blue then. Any pros or cons about the laptop that weren't mentioned in the review?

 

The palmrests get kind of warm when you play Crysis, but you get so lost in the game that you barely notice. I can't really find anything else to throw at the Gateway.

 

Yeah the 8510p's are unlocked now. Technically as the 2600 is just an underclocked 2600XT, it overclocks disgustingly well.

 

Ugh, I dont know where my laptop is...UPS tracking is not updating well; I bet its stuck somewhere in Texas. CANT. WAIT. LONGER.

 

Hold on. You'll get it soon.

 

How do you OC the M-152XL? Do I use RivaTuner or ATITools? ATITools 0.26 does not seem to support it, but if I go with the beta, random artifacts start showing even if I start overclocking it 7 MHz over the stock 500 MHz. What's up with that?

 

Gateway dropped price another 50 bucks to 999

 

I've been looking for a laptop.

It will be my first laptop. I just graduated from High School and I'm going to college in the fall, but I want a computer I can play WoW and CoD4/CS:S/BF2021 on. I decided on this computer thanks too all your reviews.

Just curious if anyone could tell me how well it will run WoW maybe?

AwV45 thanks for the promo code Where did you find it?

 

I have not tried it, but you should be able to run wow atleast medium, if not high settings.

if you dont already have it, search on google for a 75 dollar off coupon

 

Im seriously debating it. HDD on left-palm rest seriously is holding me back , otherwise perfect.

 

It won't have any trouble running WoW. In fact you'll probably be able to play @ max resolution running basically max settings + full bloom (not full AA/AF though). You'll love it!

 

Hey Ackeron. I was just reading your review on your HP. It looks pretty sweet. Would it run better than the M-152XL?

 

Depends on the configuration. The NBR review model's M-152XL is roughly equal to the 8510p + Penryn (the older ones generally carry T7300 instead of 8300); so in terms of specs/internals I'd say they're similar. Changing the config on either model would of course have an impact.

I've never seen or used the Gateway but from the review it looks like the 8510p's screen is better. The other thing to remember is that the 8510p is a business machine, designed as such and built like a rock. The Gateway looks nicer but won't be as sturdy.

Finally, the 8510p comes with a 3 year warranty for roughly the same price as the Gateway's 1 year.

 

Same price?
The Gateway's going for 999 right now. Toss in the 3 year accidental warranty and it goes up to 1,200. Call them up and get another discount of about $100 or so. A T8300 equipped HP8510P's nowhere near $1,100.

The HP 8510P does have one other advantage you didn't mention, a higher resolution screen.

 

Ah ok, I was just going off the price written in the review ($1300), which is what I paid for my 8510p last August. And yeah I didn't actually look up a T8300 8510p...was just guesstimating the price based on last year's value + new processor. Thanks for pointing out the higher resolution as well

 

Right. So how much does the HP cost now with the specs equivalent or about equal to the Gateway.

 

I need ur help on sth its kindda complicated....i dont live in america, and i really wanted a Gateway M-152XL so i asked this friend of mine whoz coming back from the usa to get a M-152. So he ordered it and he had no idea about the coupons and stuff.....so he paid 1050 for the laptop.......the day it was delivered, gate way further reduced the price of the laptop by 50 dollars so he actually paid 125 more than the current price....ill have to pay by friend back....so is there any way i can get part if $125 back?

 

Haha...i check gateways website again...they are not offering a 250 dollar discount any more they r charging $1300 for the M-152XL

 

um no they are not.

http://www.gateway.com/systems/series/529598026.php

 

Call up Gateway and ask. I'm sure they won't reach out of the phone and hurt you or your friend...lol. Really, just ask. Gateway really needs your business anyway.

 

Yup. That was true a few days ago. I look on the website and surely enough the price was back to 1300 USD, but now I check, and I see they've reduced it to $999. I don't mind paying $50 more anyway, I LOVE my laptop! (lol...)

 

Why would that hold you back? I have read your comment right, left, inverted, upside down, and tilted from 0 to 360 degrees...lol. Really, I am still not understanding why that is holding you back from buying this perfect laptop. I love Crysis on Med-High-Very High settings on this laptop. This is one powerful workhorse!

 

call them and tell them that they dropped the price an extra 50 bucks a week after you ordered it. they will refund 50 bucks. they did for me =)

 

I called them after the laptop was deliver...so they were saying that since it has been already been delivered we cannot refund the money bla bla bla.... ...very impressed with the laptop though

 

Because the left-palm rest is where my hand is placed whenever im gaming or typing. I want that area to not even get a little warm (right now my broken dvd drive is below it so it always stays at room temperature). I know how hot my right-palm rest gets on my current gateway laptop and I could not deal with that heat if it was coming from the left-side.

 

hey so i've been reading this thread for awhile for pros about this laptop...

I'm deciding between this (Gateway M-152XL) and the HP 6700z with comparable features (2.4GHz AMDx2 w/ 3 GB ram, 256MB nvidia 8400). Currently with everything I want for the Gateway it runs about $1,150. The HP runs about $1,250...

So this is what I'm thinking: the HP has half the video ram as the gateway, but it's got a tv tuner (something i'd get with the HP if i got it... not really what i'm looking for in a laptop though)... but it's also more expensive.

What do you guys think? I'm guessing it will be a bit of a biased review... but whatever.

The main things I'm looking for in a laptop are processing speed/power, video processing speed/power, and battery life. I'm an aerospace engineering student and I work with a lot of heavy programs for school and work. I need a reasonable battery life because I'm almost never home and I don't want to carry the charger with me everywhere (my current laptop gets MAYBE 40-50 minutes of battery life if i'm lucky). This is sort of why (along with terrible processing capabilities and keyboard lockup - not registering keystrokes if it gets even the slightest bit warm - are why i'm looking at a new computer).

Anyway...... I know this is very long, and to shorten all of this, I guess I should just ask... should I get the Gateway or the HP?

 

Firstly, the HP's processor is somewhat weaker, it's GPU however, is quite a bit weaker. They aren't very comparable in specifications. Specs wise, the Gateway's quite a fair bit better.

 

as dtwn pointed out, they arent very comparable machines. the Gateway has a superior processor and GPU. I cant vouch for battery life because i always have mine plugged in tho...

talk to a sales rep for extra discount, i got mine for 899

and about the ram on the graphics card...512 cards are really just gimicks, they dont use much, if at all, over 256 anyway, so dont worry about it. Except the HD 2600 >>> 8400M GS

 

yeah I was thinking the same thing... aesthetics aren't really that important, but I do like the blue M-152xl...

The main thing i'm looking at is the 12 cell battery that comes with the HP. I'm definitely getting the 9cell with the gateway if i do get it.

Anyway, I'm fairly certain that i'm going to go with the gateway... I was just wondering if there were any major flaws that you guys have seen after some use. All I have to do is wait one more week till pay day

 

This question is for the gateway M-152XL owner...how long does the battery last on an average?

My second question is can i upgrade the processor? and does the sistem support a second hard dive?

 

I think the battery that is included by default with the system lasts for about 2 hrs 15 min to 2 hrs 30 min on a balanced profile. It also depends on what you are doing when you are on battery power.

I am not sure if you can upgrade the processor; I never really checked or tried, but there seems to be some connection thing there that might allow it to be replaced. The system does not support a second hard drive, unless you are connecting it with the USB or Networking ports.

 

No really major flaws except that it gets a little warm on the left side of the notebook because right under the left side of the notebook near the vents is the GPU. Other than that, not really!

 

Just wanted to confirm something. Does the included ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 have 512mb dedicated RAM or 256mb dedicated with up to 512mb shared?

 

512 dedicated. Remember its GDDR3

 

I find it disapointing that we don't see anymore WSXGA+ 15.4'' like we did last year. Even dell is going with WXGA+ & WUXGA on 15.4''

 

Just ordered by pacific blue M-152XL today, paid 1008 for it. From what I read is that this is an amazing laptop, I'm finally upgrading from my acer 5630, the thing squeaks like crazy! I got a quick question though, I made a new thread of it but nobody answered. I'm going off to college and this is gonna double as my htpc as well, I was wondering if any owners were able to playback dts 5.1 audio through the hdmi port since the specs on ati's site says it supports AC3 or DD 5.1 audio but not dts, it would be a serious problem if it can't, thanks.

 

Just out of curiosity, idq1000, how did overclocking the HD 2600 go? What clocks can you run it at stably, and what 3dmark06 score can you get? Also, you mentioned that you played Crysis on very high... I don't see how that's playable on an HD 2600 unless at a ridiculously low resolution.

 

Interested in your response as I am seriously thinking about buying this laptop instead of a building a desktop. So I can play Crysis

 

i havnt tried to clock the thing yet but i hear it can be clocked very well to match the performance of a HD 2600 XT

 

Still thinking hard about buying this laptop. I chatted with an online rep to see if they had any refurbs and he gave me thins site.

http://www.gateway.com/reman/reman_landing.php?seg=hm

No refurbs for this model currently available. Also the discount code for this quarter is only $50 instead of $75. Guess I should have pulled the trigger on Friday.

Edit;

Here is the coupon code for this quarter, AFF08Q3. $50 off

 

sales rep gave me 100 bucks off, forget the coupon.

 

I replied to the follow up email the sales rep sent me asking if they had any other discounts but haven't heard back yet. If he gives me that I will pull the trigger. Tax was like another $80 bucks though.

 

Well I pulled the trigger and called sales. Dude on the phone wasn't giving up any discounts. I used the code though for a total of $1050 shipped to my door.

I will say that he wasn't pushy with the warranties and accessories that I didn't want.

Can't wait for it to arrive!

 

I'm gonna be ordering this within a week... i'm pretty excited.

My reason for posting... COUPON CODE: AFF08Q3 gets you 50 bucks off your order.

Oops just noticed someone else posted it. Ah oh well. Couldn't hurt to have it twice.

 

Do anyone know where I can get this Motherboard for this laptop

 

Hello, I am thinking about getting this laptop, is it possible to put x64 vista on this laptop and have all of the components work? I.E the fingerprint reader and other useful stuff?

 

you would have to find the drivers but ya.

 

I looked on the site it and offers drivers for everything but the finger print reader, bluetooth, and the wireless.