Gateway M-6851 15.4" Notebook PC

Discount Price: $1,149.60

Features:

• Box Contents - Gateway M6851 Notebook, 6-Cell Lithium-ion Battery, AC power adapter, Power Cord, Software Bundle - Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition with Service Pack 1, Microsoft Works 9.0, Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition - 60-Day Trial, Norton Internet Security 2008 60-Day Subscription, 1-Year Limited Warranty
• Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 1.83GHz Processor
• 2MB L2 Cache, 667MHz Bus speed
• 4096MB DDR2 (PC2-5300) RAM
• 250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive

Customer Reviews:

Gateway will not stand behind their products [Posted on 2008-06-07]
I bought this notebook a little over two months ago. In the last 2 weeks I noticed when I would put it in my laptop bag that there was a little rattle inside. I would not hear it all the time and when I opened up one of the little panel on the back I could not see anything odd. I am not a computer person, so other then something glaringly obvious, I wouldn't notice anything anyway. Last weekend when I started it up I got a blue screen error code and had to recover my hard drive...twice. Tonight, my computer would not start at all. This time my husband opened up the memory panel and there were two metal pieces floating around in the case. We could see where they came from, but we could not see how they were attached or a reason why they would come loose. One of them shorted out my motherboard. The burned spot is huge. We called Gateway and explained what happened they said it was "User Error" that caused the dammage and that I was out of luck. They were much more rude then that, but that is the gist of what they said. When the customer service rep would not say anything but it was my fault, I asked for the manager. He also said it was my fault, only more rude. He would not give me any information to contact his managers. I am really angry with myself for not getting the extended warranty, but at the time I really didn't think I needed it. I dont do a lot with my computer other then take it back and forth to the library a couple times a week. I didn't drop the computer and I didn't mistreat the computer in any way. My other two laptops lasted between 5-8 years each, and were only retired out of old age, so I must know how to care for them a little. I am angry about this not only because I saved for a year and a half to buy this computer and now I am out of a lot of money. But also because the people at Gateway refused to help me even though parts were dropping off from inside of their computer. When doing a little research tonight I have found a couple of other references to people having this same problem. Please save yourself a lot of heartache, dont buy this computer. Or if you do, back up your information daily so you dont lose your pictures, videos, music and important files like I did.

Powerful machine on a budget [Posted on 2008-07-09]
Before I go any farther, I wanted to note that the price as it exists at the time I wrote this comment is about 20% higher than you should be paying, if you look around.

That said, this is a great laptop for the price. I am a software developer, and I've been using this machine for work, which means that I am always running all of the anti-virus stuff that is required for our corporate network, plus a big bloated Office suite with all of the collaboration tools, at least one or two running instances of heavy development software, and a web browser... at a minimum. This little laptop takes it all in stride. I demand quite a lot of it, so I can say with confidence that it should be more than adequate for almost everyone looking at it.

Gaming is also very doable, the with ATI Mobility Radeon HD2600 GPU (with 512MB of dedicated video ram). You may not be running the most cutting edge games which have come out over the last few months, but I was running Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe DVD with fairly high settings a couple of nights ago, and I was getting good frame rates. (One related point: the GPU runs hot, and the hot air is blown off of the left side toward the front of the machine. This can actually be hot to the touch, and a bit disconcerting. It hasn't caused any trouble for me, though.)

It comes with the 64-bit version of Windows Vista pre-installed. You can replace this with the 32-bit version if you like. When I did this, the 32-bit drivers were not available for download, but I was able to install all of the drivers by having Windows search online for the drivers--it found them and installed them with no trouble. Of course, keep in mind that if you install the 32-bit version you won't get to take full advantage of the 4GB of RAM.

My only real complaint is petty. On the bottom row of keys on the far left, they have the Fn key and the Ctrl key swapped from where I would like them. I would prefer the Ctrl key to be the bottom-left-most key on the keyboard, but instead Fn is there and Ctrl is to its right. This causes me to miss the Ctrl key pretty much every time I try to hit it with my left pinky. I have no idea why they designed it this way.

There is a trade off when you get this much power this cheap, of course. This laptop feels plastic-y and somewhat fragile, particularly the cd tray, which feels like it could snap off if it gets roughed up. You're saving a lot of money by buying this machine, so take $50-$75 of the money you saved and buy a nice, protective laptop bag. Just make sure you don't abuse the machine, and it will treat you well.

Dont buy this [Posted on 2008-07-21]
this is a great labtop but you can get it for half the price at gateway.com and get the warrenty. http://www.gateway.com/systems/series/529598025.php

Caution: Vista 64-bit is INCOMPATIBLE with some software! [Posted on 2008-07-25]
This Gateway laptop is a pretty good computer, IF (and that's a big "if") you know what you're getting. A lot of listings and online ads (like Amazon's) just say that this system runs on Windows Vista 64-bit, without any explanation as to what that truly means.) Apparently, 32-bit is the Vista "Gold Standard," and, as a result, many programs and peripheral devices (printers, mp3 players, etc.) will NOT work with Vista 64-bit, but only with 32-bit systems. I only learned of this unfortunate bit of info when I opened the laptop box and found a "notice" inside saying that "some programs and devices" might not work on my computer. I suppose a 64-bit system might be fine if you're extremely tech savvy, and can design/hack a work-around. But it proved to be a "deal-breaker" for an average consumer like me. The final straw was when I found out that a key piece of software necessary for my job would not run on the 64-bit Vista laptop. So I exchanged this computer for a different laptop running Vista 32-bit. I sacrificed a little on RAM (3 gigs vs. 4 for the Gateway), and hard drive space (160GB vs. 250GB on the Gateway), but saved my self a ton of headaches in terms of non-working software and peripherals.

I'm not knocking this Gateway laptop model, but buyers should be aware of what they're purchasing. If you notice a laptop that seems to have a lot of "bang for the buck," like this one, be sure to ask a lot of questions, including whether it's a Vista 64-bit system. Then you can make an informed decision.

Broken right out of the box :( [Posted on 2008-08-04]
I purchased this computer elsewhere at a much lower price. I was so excited to get it, I pulled it out of the box and it is just beautiful! However, I was terribly disappointed when it wouldn't even boot up. There was an error with the cpu fan. I called Gateway support and they said the fan either came loose in shipping or there was a problem with the motherboard. He indicated that it was a defect common with this computer. Now I'm very hesitant to purchase the same computer. I was able to send it back to the place of purchase for a refund so, fortunately, I'm not out any money.

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