Customer Reviews

Gateway M505XL Notebook (1.5-GHz Pentium M (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive, DVD-RW Drive)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After a long search for a replacement laptop my search ended with the m505. I needed a notebook with solid construction, long battery life (Centrino), portability (under seven pounds and sturdy), capable of some gaming and graphics. My seach was narrowed between the Dell 8600 and this Gateway m505XL.

The m505 is all that is advertised.

Pros:
+ Solid Construction: Strong case with well built feel. Not aftraid to take anywhere (within reason)
+ User Interface: Both keyboard and trackpad have a nice feel and easy to use. The mouse buttons are a little hard to press initially but after some use move easier. The keyboard has a cool look but more improtantly has a nice sound and solid feel. Standard layout. It has an AC control panel that I will never use but is nice. The quick launch buttons are handy and well located.
+ Screen: This 15.4" WXGA screen is very crisp and bright. Perfect for computing and gaming. Movies look very nice but not as nice as they would on a WUXGA offered by some other systems (IMO the only advantage of a super high resolution screen).
+ Battery Life and Heat: Very cool and very long battery life. Can be considered a true laptop by not buring your lap (just gets a little warm during gaming)and providing over four and a half hours of normal operation.
+ Gaming: With the Radeon 9600 and 64MB video card, coupled with the 1.5 Centrino, this plays even the newest Direct X 9b games with great performance and look. Unexpected ability from a mobile notebook. Have played Tron 2.0, Call of Duty, Deus Ex - Invisible War and all look great.
+ Slot loading DVD-R. Nice front loading design with solid perfomance from this drive.
+ Many ports to choose from. 2x USB 2.0, 2x Firewire, S-Video, etc.

Cons:
- Ability to customize the order (upgrade drive or processor)
- Headphone jack is in the back. Strange.

Overall great notebook with a very good price. Gatway support has been overall very good and they have been responsive to my concerns or needs. The m505 is also sold by Gigabyte under the name of the n601. I am very happy with my purchase and I have had the notebook for over two week with a lot of exposue. Keeping me happy.

This laptop has everything one could need:
-Fast processor, good amount of memory, GREAT graphic card, DVD writer, and a wide-screen ideal for games, DVD viewing and any other multimedia applications. For music enthusiasts, a built-in music player on the left of the keyboard can be used to play audio cds or mp3s without even turning the laptop on. Also, the speakers are of very good quality and the laptop even has a built-in subwoofer.

I tried a lot of notebooks before buying the M505XL and I can safely say that this is one of the best. At this price, you can't get a better deal.

For gamers, as I mentioned the graphic card is amazing. You'll be able to play the latest games with the settings maxed out at an amazing frame rate. ONLY games such as Far Cry which actually compete with the graphic engine of Half Life 2 might show some slowdown, but removing advanced settings such as Anti-Aliasing will boost the frame rate while keeping excellent visual quality. Games that work perfectly with all the settings turned on: Need for speed underground, Halo, Call of duty, Final Fantasy XI, Unreal Tournament 2003...

Finally the notebooks's pretty light (6.7 pounds) and you can easily take it with you wherever you go.

As a web and graphic designer, I constantly put my computers to the test. This one keeps up. I can have several high-intensity programs running at the same time without bogging down all my system resources. Furthermore, the battery life is amazing (mine is over 4 hours), it is completely silent, doesn't get hot, light for its size, and stylish to boot. I am in love.

The only thing that marred my experience with this computer is receiving one with a dead pixel in the center of my display. Big bummer. Gateway won't fix it. Otherwise, this is one amazing laptop.

I've had this notebook for 3 months now and it was amazing right from when I received it. Amazing features of this notebook includes Nice wide screen display and a pair of good internal speakers with subwoofer ideal for listening to music and watching movies. Recent games such as Final fantasy XI, Max Payne 2 and NFS underground runs very smoothly and the speedy pentium M processor handles most demanding applications well. The slot loading DVD drive is cool too, and most of all it has a AV control panel and it is light enough to be carried around. A quality product from Gateway.