Gateway laptop for $399

[sammm]

The is wanting a laptop for home use. I was thinking about getting one of the Asus Eee's, but I just saw this one this morning -
LINKIE

Comments?

[channelmaniac]

A laptop is a laptop... The bigger questions are who will service it and provide parts? Will the company be around in a couple of years?

The specs look decent. I'd recommend more memory for Vista. Anything you can do to minimize swapping to virtual memory will save you battery time.

[HudsonHawk]

Gateway as a company blows. I will never buy another computer from them after my one and only experience.

[cam76034]

Funny this should come up as this morning I am attempting, again, to get Gateway to honor their warranty on a laptop that lasted less than 3 months. Go to ripoffreport.com or google "gateway customer service" and you'll find lots more.

[sammm]

3 out of 3 thumbs down. Gateway is out. Thanks guys.

[HudsonHawk]

This is why I refuse to ever buy gateway.

<Rant ON>

We ordered a refurbed computer from gateway for my brother. They billed our CC. A couple of days later we get a notice that the computer was not available. The day after that a NEW computer shows up at our house. I looked at the invoice and realized the assholes charged the full price of the new computer to my wifes CC on top of the other charge and opened a line of credit in her name without our authorization. (Of course this put the CC way over the limit) I went ballistic and spent 1.5 hours on the phone screaming at people until they reversed the charges, closed the line of credit and sent an RMA for the computer we did not order.

The really fucked up part is the next day the origional computer (the one they said was not available) showed up. The only saving grace was that they screwed up and refunded a lot more $$ than the second computer was so we only paid about half the cost of the refurbed unit.

This is why I will tell everyone I know for the rest of my life not to buy Gateway. And given what I do for a living, my opinion holds a lot of weight with the hardware purchasing descisions in the companies I work for.

I have already talked my previous employeer and my current empoyeer out of using gateway products.

<rant off>

[altiain]

This brings up a good topic - Mel and I were recently shopping for laptops as well. Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Wireless web surfing at home
• Moderate Excel and Powerpoint use*
• Light video editing (now that I have a camera for the car)
• Decent battery life so we can use it as a DVD player on trips
• I'd like to have one with a 10-key keypad, like some of the current HP models

We're looking to spend less than $600. Any recommendations in this price range?

* - We already own a copy of Office, so do not need the software bundled with the laptop

[CosmosMpower]

Do you need a real laptop or just a surfing/email computer? There's a huge gap in computing power/ram/hard drive space between a real laptop and netbook. If you need to do any real work or anything graphic intensive you probably need a full scale laptop. The Atom N270 processor in most of the netbooks aren't powerful enough to run stuff like HD video/photoshop etc.

I just bought a Dell Inspiron Netbook from the outlet (plus 15% coupon code) a few weeks ago. 12" display, 1.6 Atom processor, 1 GB ram, 80 GB harddrive for $340 incl tax and shipping. If would reccomend the Dell or there are some newer netbook models out there with LED backlight and 6+ hours of battery life (like the MSI Wind).

The 9-12" Netbooks have come a long way from the original EEE PC (was a POS 7" plastic toy) but I think they still have some big improvements in the future.

[POS Racing]

My daughter has a older version of that Gateway she got it X-Mas before last it has held up to the torment and constant use from a 13 year old girl.

She does everything Altian wants to do with a laptop plus more.

For the price we paid we figured we couldn't go wrong and so far we are correct!

[altiain]

Do you need a real laptop or just a surfing/email computer?

I would prefer a real laptop. I'd also like something with a 15"+ screen.

[goofygrin]

a "real laptop" to me implies < 15" screen and for DANG sure no 10 key on the side. This isn't 1985 with the keyboard that pops out with a curtly cable :)

I won't own another portable with a screen bigger than 13.3".

As with cars, weight kills. Those huge 15-17" laptops get terrible battery life, weigh a TON, get hot and are a pain to use portably (like in the car or on a plane).

I currently am using (and have been for a year or so now) a Dell XPS m1330 with the LED screen. Small, light, powerful, good battery life. I use it every day for developing software, so it's not a slouch. I bought it refurbed from Dell with a coupon. I had some issues, but XPS support rocked my socks off, sending a technician to the office and my house every time anything needed done. All XPS reps are Americans in America and speak real english.

The wife uses a Lenovo x61s (she's had it a bit over a year too). It's smaller (10") and doesn't have an optical drive and has poor XGA resolution (1024x76, but, get this, she can go 10+ hours between charges of the battery. Lenovo support has been great, replacing the battery (twice! once because we asked them to and once because she dropped the laptop and cracked the shell of the battery), hard drive (from the same drop that cracked the battery) and keyboard (from abuse by a then 2 year old). No questions asked, just overnighted a new part.

[CosmosMpower]

I would prefer a real laptop. I'd also like something with a 15"+ screen.

Not sure about 15+" screens but I bought my T61 Lenovo Thinkpad with a 2.0 Dual core processor, 2GB, 120GB HD for about $600 a while back. Check some bargain websites, there are always deals.

www.fatwallet.com
www.slickdeals.net
www.bensbargains.net
www.gotapex.com (my cousin runs this one)

[sammm]

Check some bargain websites, there are always deals.

www.fatwallet.com
www.slickdeals.net
www.bensbargains.net
www.gotapex.com (my cousin runs this one)

Add this one to the list -
http://www.techbargains.com/

[HudsonHawk]

My favorite laptop is a Fujitsu ultra-portable. Unfortunately it is limited to 384Meg RAM and is just not up to the task of modern apps. I have had it since 2003 and its a great little machine. 10.5 Wide format screen. built in cd/dvd, external vid, 1gh low voltage proc. 7 hrs battery life. great to use as a terminal for remote work.

[altiain]

a "real laptop" to me implies < 15" screen and for DANG sure no 10 key on the side. This isn't 1985 with the keyboard that pops out with a curtly cable :)

If it were just for me, I'd probably opt for something smaller as well, but my wife will be using this as a "portable desktop" more than anything else. As a teacher she inputs a lot of numerical data, and she (and I) both prefer using a 10-key for that.

[Miatamoto]

If it were just for me, I'd probably opt for something smaller as well, but my wife will be using this as a "portable desktop" more than anything else. As a teacher she inputs a lot of numerical data, and she (and I) both prefer using a 10-key for that.

[goofygrin]

or... get a monitor and a full keyboard for when she's using it as a desktop on a desk.

As a traveling consultant I look pretty funny with a keyboard sticking out of my backpack as I walk into a building, but I won't type on a regular keyboard for long stretches unless I really have to.

Plus my keyboards already have my funk on them... and funk is good.

[altiain]

or... get a monitor and a full keyboard for when she's using it as a desktop on a desk.

Thanks guys, but I don't want to buy another monitor and a keyboard. I want a laptop. For less than $600. It does not need to be capable of taking over the world. I am not a software developer, and I don’t really care if I don’t have the superzoomiest laptop on the planet.

A 10 key would be nice, but it's not a deal breaker. If it is not physically connected to the laptop she will lose it or complain about having to keep up with it and neither of those outcomes will make me happy, so I’d prefer it.

She would prefer 15”+ screen.

I don't want to pay more than $600 for the whole package (and preferably a lot less than that).

Does anyone have any suggestions that fit these parameters?

[sammm]

Does anyone have any suggestions that fit these parameters?

I do, but you probably wouldn't like them.

[HudsonHawk]

I don't know of anyone who puts a 10 key pad on a laptop.