Laptop review - for the heck of it
-
I was sitting here working late, yet again, and needed a break ... SO, I'm posting this "review" of my new work laptop. This is a Gateway M350X[^] series laptop. Overall I find the machine excellent. Plenty of space on the keyboard to rest your hands, and the keys give great feed-back. I was a little concerned that the screen is only 15", but running at a crisp 1400x1050 resolution, there's plenty of real-estate for even the most demanding development environments. Running a true P4 HT processor at 2.8Ghz, this puppy screams power; and I'm all about that. It's a rather weighty machine at 7.5lbs, however, I've never cared for "light" laptops, as they are too easy to knock over or crush. This machine is very durable and the case is made of a sturdy hard plastic. Finally, with 512mb memory, a 60GB HD and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive, there's plenty-o-storage on this thing for just about, well, the entire Dev Studio and MSDN collection (HEY! I said "just about"). X| Seriously, this is a great machine, if you're looking for pure portable processing power at a reasonable price. I know many people want those M processors for extended battery life, but even with the P4 I get a solid 2-3 hours work time before I'm looking for an outlet. If you're seeking a laptop with a "wide-screen" and a 64MB Radeon card, this isn't it, but for WORK stuff ... this one's got major bang for the buck; did I mention the 2.8Ghz P4 HT processor? :drool: Just my two cents - take it - leave it - give me change. :cool: D.
-
I was sitting here working late, yet again, and needed a break ... SO, I'm posting this "review" of my new work laptop. This is a Gateway M350X[^] series laptop. Overall I find the machine excellent. Plenty of space on the keyboard to rest your hands, and the keys give great feed-back. I was a little concerned that the screen is only 15", but running at a crisp 1400x1050 resolution, there's plenty of real-estate for even the most demanding development environments. Running a true P4 HT processor at 2.8Ghz, this puppy screams power; and I'm all about that. It's a rather weighty machine at 7.5lbs, however, I've never cared for "light" laptops, as they are too easy to knock over or crush. This machine is very durable and the case is made of a sturdy hard plastic. Finally, with 512mb memory, a 60GB HD and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive, there's plenty-o-storage on this thing for just about, well, the entire Dev Studio and MSDN collection (HEY! I said "just about"). X| Seriously, this is a great machine, if you're looking for pure portable processing power at a reasonable price. I know many people want those M processors for extended battery life, but even with the P4 I get a solid 2-3 hours work time before I'm looking for an outlet. If you're seeking a laptop with a "wide-screen" and a 64MB Radeon card, this isn't it, but for WORK stuff ... this one's got major bang for the buck; did I mention the 2.8Ghz P4 HT processor? :drool: Just my two cents - take it - leave it - give me change. :cool: D.
FWIW I'm still enamoured with my Compaq Evo 800C. It's only a 1.8GHz, but with 1Gb RAM, ATI RADEON 7500 w/64Mb, UATA 60Gb HDD, CDRW/DVD combo, 15" screen, USB 2.0, touchpad and joystick, WiFi and 3.5 - 4hrs battery life it's sweet. It's about 5lb (I think) and reasonably slim, but very sturdy. The poor thing has been bashed around in my backpack on dozens of flights, rides on my mountain bike to work, slung under subway seats, stashed in the rear of cars, sat on, slept on, used as a foot rest and coffee holder, and, occasionally, used to do work on. It's evidently also one of the few laptops that the PDC bits of Longhorn will work on. cheers, Chris Maunder
-
I was sitting here working late, yet again, and needed a break ... SO, I'm posting this "review" of my new work laptop. This is a Gateway M350X[^] series laptop. Overall I find the machine excellent. Plenty of space on the keyboard to rest your hands, and the keys give great feed-back. I was a little concerned that the screen is only 15", but running at a crisp 1400x1050 resolution, there's plenty of real-estate for even the most demanding development environments. Running a true P4 HT processor at 2.8Ghz, this puppy screams power; and I'm all about that. It's a rather weighty machine at 7.5lbs, however, I've never cared for "light" laptops, as they are too easy to knock over or crush. This machine is very durable and the case is made of a sturdy hard plastic. Finally, with 512mb memory, a 60GB HD and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive, there's plenty-o-storage on this thing for just about, well, the entire Dev Studio and MSDN collection (HEY! I said "just about"). X| Seriously, this is a great machine, if you're looking for pure portable processing power at a reasonable price. I know many people want those M processors for extended battery life, but even with the P4 I get a solid 2-3 hours work time before I'm looking for an outlet. If you're seeking a laptop with a "wide-screen" and a 64MB Radeon card, this isn't it, but for WORK stuff ... this one's got major bang for the buck; did I mention the 2.8Ghz P4 HT processor? :drool: Just my two cents - take it - leave it - give me change. :cool: D.
That sounds like a great machine to own! Nice review - thanks!:-D "Your village called -
They're missing their idiot." -
I was sitting here working late, yet again, and needed a break ... SO, I'm posting this "review" of my new work laptop. This is a Gateway M350X[^] series laptop. Overall I find the machine excellent. Plenty of space on the keyboard to rest your hands, and the keys give great feed-back. I was a little concerned that the screen is only 15", but running at a crisp 1400x1050 resolution, there's plenty of real-estate for even the most demanding development environments. Running a true P4 HT processor at 2.8Ghz, this puppy screams power; and I'm all about that. It's a rather weighty machine at 7.5lbs, however, I've never cared for "light" laptops, as they are too easy to knock over or crush. This machine is very durable and the case is made of a sturdy hard plastic. Finally, with 512mb memory, a 60GB HD and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive, there's plenty-o-storage on this thing for just about, well, the entire Dev Studio and MSDN collection (HEY! I said "just about"). X| Seriously, this is a great machine, if you're looking for pure portable processing power at a reasonable price. I know many people want those M processors for extended battery life, but even with the P4 I get a solid 2-3 hours work time before I'm looking for an outlet. If you're seeking a laptop with a "wide-screen" and a 64MB Radeon card, this isn't it, but for WORK stuff ... this one's got major bang for the buck; did I mention the 2.8Ghz P4 HT processor? :drool: Just my two cents - take it - leave it - give me change. :cool: D.
-
So THAT's what a butter safe looks like :) Rob Manderson http://www.mindprobes.net "I killed him dead cuz he was stepping on my turf, cutting me out of my bling the same way my ho cuts cookies, officer" "Alright then, move along" - Ian Darling, The Lounge, Oct 10 2003
-
I was sitting here working late, yet again, and needed a break ... SO, I'm posting this "review" of my new work laptop. This is a Gateway M350X[^] series laptop. Overall I find the machine excellent. Plenty of space on the keyboard to rest your hands, and the keys give great feed-back. I was a little concerned that the screen is only 15", but running at a crisp 1400x1050 resolution, there's plenty of real-estate for even the most demanding development environments. Running a true P4 HT processor at 2.8Ghz, this puppy screams power; and I'm all about that. It's a rather weighty machine at 7.5lbs, however, I've never cared for "light" laptops, as they are too easy to knock over or crush. This machine is very durable and the case is made of a sturdy hard plastic. Finally, with 512mb memory, a 60GB HD and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive, there's plenty-o-storage on this thing for just about, well, the entire Dev Studio and MSDN collection (HEY! I said "just about"). X| Seriously, this is a great machine, if you're looking for pure portable processing power at a reasonable price. I know many people want those M processors for extended battery life, but even with the P4 I get a solid 2-3 hours work time before I'm looking for an outlet. If you're seeking a laptop with a "wide-screen" and a 64MB Radeon card, this isn't it, but for WORK stuff ... this one's got major bang for the buck; did I mention the 2.8Ghz P4 HT processor? :drool: Just my two cents - take it - leave it - give me change. :cool: D.
Now to some real low-cost computing stuff (remember that ridiculous low-cost computing event /w oracle and sun btw?). IBM Thinkpad R40e (Mobile Celeron 1.7GHz, 512MB RAM, XP Pro, 14'). Pro + Sufficient power to run development environment (VC6 + occassionally SQL Server2K) + Good display, but not perfect ++ very, very silent ++ very good keyboard ++ very cheap (it was 899€ here) ++ quite light (2.7kg) + extensible (ultrabay, etc), spare parts are no problem + trackpoint rocks Cons: - Battery power ~ 2.3h :( - no USB 2.0 and other (firewire, wlan, etc) - Radeon IGP (Shared memory Radeon /wo T&L), but basic OpenGL is fine! I love it. Its my desktop replacement. 1024x768 is just perfect for 14'. Its a bargain. its my cutie. I love it. I never want to miss her eeehhrr it :) Greetz ______________________________ Java: The living proof Moore's law won't solve all your problems
-
I was sitting here working late, yet again, and needed a break ... SO, I'm posting this "review" of my new work laptop. This is a Gateway M350X[^] series laptop. Overall I find the machine excellent. Plenty of space on the keyboard to rest your hands, and the keys give great feed-back. I was a little concerned that the screen is only 15", but running at a crisp 1400x1050 resolution, there's plenty of real-estate for even the most demanding development environments. Running a true P4 HT processor at 2.8Ghz, this puppy screams power; and I'm all about that. It's a rather weighty machine at 7.5lbs, however, I've never cared for "light" laptops, as they are too easy to knock over or crush. This machine is very durable and the case is made of a sturdy hard plastic. Finally, with 512mb memory, a 60GB HD and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive, there's plenty-o-storage on this thing for just about, well, the entire Dev Studio and MSDN collection (HEY! I said "just about"). X| Seriously, this is a great machine, if you're looking for pure portable processing power at a reasonable price. I know many people want those M processors for extended battery life, but even with the P4 I get a solid 2-3 hours work time before I'm looking for an outlet. If you're seeking a laptop with a "wide-screen" and a 64MB Radeon card, this isn't it, but for WORK stuff ... this one's got major bang for the buck; did I mention the 2.8Ghz P4 HT processor? :drool: Just my two cents - take it - leave it - give me change. :cool: D.
Thanks for the review. I was just at a Gateway store last night and was wondering what the battery life was on that unit. I was kinda worried since it had the desktop CPU. I originally went to the store to check out the new M275 .. it's the one that converts from a normal notebook to a tablet .. unfortunately they didnt have it in the store yet .. so I have to go back in a couple of weeks. Thanks again :-)
-
FWIW I'm still enamoured with my Compaq Evo 800C. It's only a 1.8GHz, but with 1Gb RAM, ATI RADEON 7500 w/64Mb, UATA 60Gb HDD, CDRW/DVD combo, 15" screen, USB 2.0, touchpad and joystick, WiFi and 3.5 - 4hrs battery life it's sweet. It's about 5lb (I think) and reasonably slim, but very sturdy. The poor thing has been bashed around in my backpack on dozens of flights, rides on my mountain bike to work, slung under subway seats, stashed in the rear of cars, sat on, slept on, used as a foot rest and coffee holder, and, occasionally, used to do work on. It's evidently also one of the few laptops that the PDC bits of Longhorn will work on. cheers, Chris Maunder
Chris Maunder wrote: The poor thing has been bashed around in my backpack on dozens of flights, rides on my mountain bike to work, slung under subway seats, stashed in the rear of cars, sat on, slept on, used as a foot rest and coffee holder Right now, somewhere, there's a Compaq H/W Tech that's softly weeping into his pillow ... ;P D.
-
l a u r e n wrote: *doesnt mention her 16.1" screen* It's always about the size huh, lauren? ;)
-Nick Parker DeveloperNotes.com
-
l a u r e n wrote: *doesnt mention her 16.1" screen* It's always about the size huh, lauren? ;)
-Nick Parker DeveloperNotes.com