Gateway 400SP Laptop $799

[dascud]

Seems like a decently specked laptop for the price. Oh yeah they look way cooler than the new Dell 1100 series.
Gateway

Mobile Intel® Celeron® Processor 2.2GHz with 256K cache
256MB DDR SDRAM
30GB 4200rpm Ultra ATA hard drive

Media Drives
Integrated 6 in 1 memory card reader
Integrated 24x/10x/24x CD-RW / 8x DVD combo

Graphics & Monitor
15" XGA TFT Active Matrix
Integrated Intel® graphics with dynamic video memory technology

Integrated sound and stereo speakers, headphone/speaker jack, and mic jacks

Lithium ion battery with AC pack and 1 yr. limited battery warranty

 

[Grminalac]

Doesn't look too bad I'm highly considering this as I'm going back to school in the fall. Adding the 15 inch TFT and a DVD/RW to the other cheap lappys put them close to, if not over 1 grand.
Thanks for the deal.

 

[CrazyPerson]

picked one up few days ago... looks sharp

 

[ivan2]

damn this is hot, kinda makes me regret on the 8500 i brought a month ago....

 

[tuffy]

Need advice, pls. Reliable brand? Co~worker (who's 'puter savvy--unlike me!) thinks G'ways on verge of being history. You 'pros' in AT land~~your opinion, please?

Also, for college Frosh considering interior design major, this a good notebk?

Thank ya!

 

[weepul]

Weight: 7.2 lbs - OH! MY BACK!

y cant <4lb laptops drop in price. =(

//krunk (^_^x)

 

[Tommyboy8]

Originally posted by: tuffy
Need advice, pls. Reliable brand? Co~worker (who's 'puter savvy--unlike me!) thinks G'ways on verge of being history. You 'pros' in AT land~~your opinion, please?

Also, for college Frosh considering interior design major, this a good notebk?

Thank ya!

Two of my co-worker used to work for Gateway. They don't think too great of Gateway's products. Why? Un-innovative, boring, not that reliable, tech support wasn't too great either. Why they don't work for them anymore? Their whole department got laid off to cut cost... They also think that Gateway is on its way out unless they come up with something... but what?

 

[jimmyhaha]

Weight: 7.2 lbs - OH! MY BACK!

y cant <4lb laptops drop in price. =(

unless u want it as a desktop replacement and not moving the laptop around, u don't want to lug 7-8 lbs everywhere u go ...

 

[DealBandit]

Originally posted by: dascud
Seems like a decently specked laptop for the price. Oh yeah they look way cooler than the new Dell 1100 series.
Gateway

Mobile Intel® Celeron® Processor 2.2GHz with 256K cache

Why buy a Celeron 2.2 when you can get a comparable speed P4 or Mobile Athlon for only a few $10's more?

256MB DDR SDRAM
30GB 4200rpm Ultra ATA hard drive

Media Drives
Integrated 6 in 1 memory card reader

256MB, decent... 30GB, slightly better than decent. The card reader is nice to have, but USB ones are only about $10-15 right now.

Integrated 24x/10x/24x CD-RW / 8x DVD combo

Graphics & Monitor
15" XGA TFT Active Matrix
Integrated Intel® graphics with dynamic video memory technology

Nice combo drive speeds, but Integrated Intel graphics is what makes this not a hot deal. Everything runs EXTREMELY slowly with IIG (not just games, but *everything*)

Check out this other post for a slightly higher priced, but way better bargain laptop deal IMO. Plus you can get a free, crappy 3-piece luggage set with some staples coupon. You can either resell it on Ebay or cut it up and use for insulation.

 

[dascud]

Check out this other post for a slightly higher priced, but way better bargain laptop deal IMO. Plus you can get a free, crappy 3-piece luggage set with some staples coupon. You can either resell it on Ebay or cut it up and use for insulation.[/quote]

If you spec out the compaq similar to the gateway the price is $1041 - $100(MIR) -$50 + $75 (taxes). That puts it around $950 range. Not a few $10's more but many $10's more. Not everyone wants to deal with rebates. The only difference is the faster (1.8 ghz) proc.

The integrated graphics should be fine for normal usage. I have a dell 700 iMhz celeron with 8 meg integrated intel vid card and it works fine for everyday tasks. of course if you plan to play CS on your laptop then you are better off looking elsewhere.

Choosing between compaq and gateway. Dunno which is better (or worse). For what its worth, i still have a gateway solo 133mhz from 1997 running strong as my router at home while i have had bad experiences with two compaq laptops in the past.

If you have the money to plonk on a good well built notebook, you can buy the IBM R32 1.6ghz, 20 gig, 256 megs , DVD + wifi + 3 year warranty direct from the IBM ebay store for $999 + tax.

 

[DealBandit]

If you spec out the compaq similar to the gateway the price is $1041 - $100(MIR) -$50 + $75 (taxes). That puts it around $950 range. Not a few $10's more but many $10's more. Not everyone wants to deal with rebates. The only difference is the faster (1.8 ghz) proc.

Ok,

Athlon XP-M 2200
15" XGA - Upgraded from 14.1 XGA
30GB HD - Upgraded from 20GB
256 DDR
Firewire port
DVD-CDRW - Uprgraded from CD
ATI Radeon M Graphics

for $1018 - $100 MIR - $50 Coupon - $20 Ebates + $60 Tax = $918 (plus a free 3-piece luggage set you can resell for at least $40 or so)
(it must suck to have such a high tax rate, my county is only 5.75%)

or

Celeron 2.2
15" XGA
30GB HD
256 DDR
DVD-CDRW
6in1 Media reader
Intel Integrated Graphics

for $799 + $46 tax = $845
(You've still gotta pay sales tax on this one too, right? Maybe even shipping, I didn't check...)

Sounds like a no-brainer to me. Sorry, but Intel graphics are just poor. Obviously with an older celeron you wouldn't notice it as much, but why buy a faster processor only to limit yourself with such an antique, minimal vram video "card"? For about $75 more (which you can probably partially recoup with the sale of your coupon freebie(s)), you get
a) Not a Celeron
b) ATI Radeon graphics (still not great, but far, far better)
c) a firewire port

After getting a "new" notebook from an ebay store in the past (complete with several dead pixels, the upc torn off thus negating my ability to send in rebates, and regular, unexplained HD freezes) I would caution against considering them in your "new" notebook purchasing decisions. You could get lucky, or you could get what you pay for (as I did)...

BTW - the prices have jumped up on staples since that previous post was posted. Not much, but enough to make my argument a for this staples deal a little less sound.

 

[AAman]

friend just got laid off from GW here in SD, their future is unknown-

for a student
not playing games, this look pretty good for whatever you need, I need a cheap lappy,
hmmmmmm

my GW 6400 was a rock solid machine, but the MB and chipset were good on their
own (modded to put GW's name on it)

 

[dascud]

You factored in ebates which applies for gateway too.
The compaq has a 20 gig hdd.

> for $799 + $46 tax = $845
> (You've still gotta pay sales tax on this one too, right? Maybe even shipping, I didn't check...)

No shipping or sales tax other than 3 states.

The R32 i was talking about is from the IBM ebay store. Its not any ebay store but IBM direct with regular IBM 1/3 year warranty. IBM_Store

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: DealBandit

If you spec out the compaq similar to the gateway the price is $1041 - $100(MIR) -$50 + $75 (taxes). That puts it around $950 range. Not a few $10's more but many $10's more. Not everyone wants to deal with rebates. The only difference is the faster (1.8 ghz) proc.

Ok,

Athlon XP-M 2200
15" XGA
30GB HD
256 DDR
Firewire port
DVD-CDRW
ATI Radeon M Graphics

for $1018 - $100 MIR - $50 Coupon - $20 Ebates + $60 Tax = $918 (plus a free 3-piece luggage set you can resell for at least $40 or so)
(it must suck to have such a high tax rate, my county is only 5.75%)

or

Celeron 2.2
15" XGA
30GB HD
256 DDR
DVD-CDRW
6in1 Media reader
Intel Integrated Graphics

for $799 + $46 tax = $845
(You've still gotta pay sales tax on this one too, right? Maybe even shipping, I didn't check...)

Sounds like a no-brainer to me. Sorry, but Intel graphics are just poor. Obviously with an older celeron you wouldn't notice it as much, but why buy a faster processor only to limit yourself with such an antique, minimal vram video "card"? For about $75 more (which you can probably partially recoup with the sale of your coupon freebie(s)), you get
a) Not a Celeron
b) ATI Radeon graphics (still not great, but far, far better)
c) a firewire port

After getting a "new" notebook from an ebay store in the past (complete with several dead pixels, the upc torn off thus negating my ability to send in rebates, and regular, unexplained HD freezes) I would caution against considering them in your "new" notebook purchasing decisions. You could get lucky, or you could get what you pay for (as I did)...

BTW - the prices have jumped up on staples since that previous post was posted. Not much, but enough to make my argument a for this staples deal a little less sound.

Why are you so hung up on Intel graphics. This is a laptop, not a gaming rig!

 

[sxr7171]

Originally posted by: jimmyhaha

Weight: 7.2 lbs - OH! MY BACK! y cant <4lb laptops drop in price. =(

unless u want it as a desktop replacement and not moving the laptop around, u don't want to lug 7-8 lbs everywhere u go ...

Personally, I would get a nice 1", 3.5 lbs model, but a friend of mine needs as big a screen as possible (med school text and images) and says that he always runs on AC power (library or home). I then realized that there actually is a group of people that could do well with these heavier, cheaper units. As for weight/size he says it doesn't really matter for him.

 

[DealBandit]

No shipping or sales tax other than 3 states.

The R32 i was talking about is from the IBM ebay store. Its not any ebay store but IBM direct with regular IBM 1/3 year warranty. IBM_Store

Sweet, and sweeterer...
I officially take back what I said about eBay stores.. (well, at least for distributor direct ones like this)

nice find

:beer: