Customer Reviews

Gateway 200X 1.5 GHz Laptop (1.5 GHz Pentium M (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, 802.11b Wireless, DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive)

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

 

 

This computer is spectacular, it looks great and also runs well. It is very small, but the keyboard is of usable size and has a good feel to it (my old gateway notebook definitely had a bit of a flimsy feel to it).

A few things:
1) GET THE HIGH CAPACITY BATTERY. The stock battery is awful, but such is life. Don't order it from gateway though, check out other places, such as a particular online warehouse with a three letter name. I got mine for almost 1/2 the price Gateway was charging there, and the service was a lot better.
2) The speakers suck too. The computer is less than 1" think. What do you expect? They're finally beginning to come out with wi-fi products that will use your connection to stream music from your computer to your stereo. I can't wait to get my hands on one, until then, plug it into to your stereo or use headphones.
3) Adding more RAM is highly recommended. I added an additional 512MB that I got from a well-known auction site for $50. The difference is immediately noticable; XP devours RAM.
4) Download iTunes. Seriously, even if you don't want to download music from them, it has to be the most user-friendly (not to mention free and visually pleasing) music library managment software on the planet.
5) STAY UPDATED. Every time you read about an attack, its because people don't update their OS, antivirus, and firewall software/hardware. It takes a few seconds every few weeks, and any decent company will alert you to the updates automatically. This will also eliminate 99% of problems people may experience with their wi-fi connections; the software updates usually fix glitches that weren't anticipated when the product was manufactured (I use a D-Link DI-624 router, and it's been phenomenal).
6) You'll want to get a USB drive if you need to move files off-network regularly. They're compact, hold a lot, and have become really inexpensive. I ended up buying one and couldn't be happier. Or you can do as I used to: just email files to yourself and access them at your final destination (I had a habit of losing/leaving behind floppies when I was in college).

All that said, for the price, this system simply can't be beat. Even without all the extra BS I bought for mine, it's still a great notebook. It runs cool and fast and looks great. You won't find many other notebooks with these specs and functionality.

I wanted a sleek looking little laptop with a decent size screen and 512mb of ram... and I got all that and more! It does everything I need, never hiccups, it's lightweight... I'm really glad I bought it. It's beauty is not only skin deep, have a look at the specs :) It's great. The only complaint... buy a backup battery... the standard one runs out so quickly.

Post script... June 12th, 2006 (original review was made circa August of 2004 - thank goodness Amazon lets you edit reviews!): I would NOT recommd this machine AT ALL. Exactly 12 months later, a week after the Gateway warranty expired the CD drive went kaput. Three or four months later, the fan started screwing up. Also, the machine doesn't wear well. What once looked sleek and sexy, looked plasticy and cheap after a year of wear. My friend's Mac looks just as fabulous as it did the day he opened it. So guess what? I bought a Mac. Don't waste your money with this cheap Gateway. You certainly get exactly what you pay for!!!

The 200X has an ultramodern design -- sleek silver case, cool blue keyboard all in a slim lightweight package. Plus is has insides to back it up -- a quick 1.5Ghz Pentium M, DVD drive, 14.1-inch screen and built-in wireless. There are three buttons above the keyboard you can program to launch your favorite applications and a fourth button shines with a blue light when the integrated wireless is activated. Very nice. It also has an extremely comfortable keyboard.
The only bad news was the short battery life. Buy the optional, high-capacity battery. Armed with the new battery, the Gateway 200X lasted nearly 4 hours. With enough juice, this is a great notebook. Easily more for the money than any of the other systems I've looked at in this price range.

I'm going to cover what hasn't already been written about. So, here are things that make this laptop stand-out or stink-up.

Pros:
- The Centrino Chip clocks at 1.5MHz; I have heard that this translates to a P4 2.5MHz processor. This part is confusing; just know that games and applications work fast.
- Screen checks in at 14.1" which is a good working size - slightly more to carry than those 12" screens, but much more useable and it leaves room in the chassis for a full-sized keyboard.

- Comes with internal DVD/CDRW which I find really cool (as opposed to external, which would be a pain to carry).
- AC adaptor is pretty cool. It's made so you can wrap the cord around it neatly when you're not using it, and then there is a little snap thing on the plug so the cord doesn't get unraveled.
- Lots of useful external ports (2 usb's, firewire, ethernet, modem, PCMCIA slot, video out, S-video out, etc). I especially like the optical out, which I don't use, but I still like it being there.
- Wireless works well. Go Centrino technology!
- Comes with many programs inside (Windows XP, MS Works, Picture It!, Jukebox, etc)
- The battery looks cool. If you take it out, there are some little led lights and a button you press that shows how much battery life is left.
- This is one of the sleekest designs and coolest looking notebooks around. If you want to stand out from all those other black books in the airport or commuter train, you won't go wrong with the 200.

- It comes with a comprehensive hard-copy user manual (yes, printed on real paper -- not a CD or web address).
- The battery is upgradeable.

Cons:
- Yes, battery life and speakers suck. Use the high-capacity battery and a pair of headphones.
- The mouse scroll, while it is useful, takes a long time if you use it to scroll down web pages because it moves the pages down slowly
- While the screen brightness key function works well, the audio volume adjustment is annoying to use. It doesn't respond to (function) (up) or (down) very well. hard to describe, but if you get a chance to actually play around with this laptop before you buy it, try the audio up down function and you will know what I'm talking about. What would have been better is a little manual scroll wheel on the side of the computer that would control the system volume.
-Maybe it's my computer, but the battery life status doesn't seem to be completely accurate. It goes up to 99% somewhat fast, and then stays there for another 10-15 minutes before it finally says 100% charged. It's the same with low battery status, where it doesn't fall below 9%. but it does give me a warning message. (But the LED light doesn't start blinking at low battery, like the manual said it would)
- No floppy drive. I guess buying a USB flash drive will do.
- Two usb ports. While it may be sufficient to some, I wish there were more. I guess buying a USB hub will do.
- Too bad there is only space for one pc card slot
- It would have been nicer if the ethernet port was in the back of the notebook so that the cord doesn't bother my left arm, but it's no big deal.
- I hate support programs. They take up space and I feel like I have a bunch of junk programs running every day. I say if you're confident of your computer skills and can take care of the little computer problems yourself, take them out.

Overall: Yes, battery life is bad. If you need more than 2 hours get a new 6-cell one for 100 bucks. Yes, speakers are bad, but what do you expect from a 4 pound laptop? This is cool looking, good performing system without the bulk. Highly recommended.

I've been happy with my old Gateway notebook's performance and stability, so I went to look for a sleeker, better-looking one. I found it in the 200 series. The 1.5GHz 200X looks nice inside and out and is amazingly thin and light. I can easily put it in my backpack (with a neoprene sleeve covering it) and it weighs less than a college textbook. This laptop is fast enough for everything I do on it (burning CDs, Adobe Photoshop, word processing, surfing the net, etc). Although it would've been nice if it was even faster with HT technology, but considering most centrino notebooks out there, 1.5GHz seems pretty fast already. The only comparable notebook in size and looks is the Sony Vaio PCG-Z1A, which costs over $200 more at only 1.3GHz.
Now that I've had it for a while, I've gone to the Gateway's support site to check on drivers. The site contains plenty of downloads for the 200 and decent FAQs. Better still, the site has a section where you can chat in real time with a tech-support rep and avoid telephone wait times.

At first I thought it was too good to be true,I mean the very compact size, the moderate sized screen, and the overall look... and after a while I found out that it was too good to be true, at the time of trying to install an old printer in my computer, I found out that there is no parallel connection for a printer only one for some other thing, like a monitor or somehting. Even though I did not want to buy a new printer because I liked my old one a lot, I saw myself forced to buy one that had a usb connection. After that it was all good, except there is only 2 usb ports in the computer, and they are all taken up, so at the time of wanting to plug in my camera to the computer I have to disconnect either the printer or the floppy drive which is external (the computer does not include one) a usb hub should solve that though. Other than that the only other bad thing is the TINY speakers, they suck, but earphones or a regular set of pc speakers should solve that problem. Otherwise the keyboard is great, I feel it is very confortable, and it runs very smoothly, battery life does suck, but with a spare battery (one bought at some other place with more battery life)that problem was fixed. The scrolling wheel is pretty small so it is slow, but if the finger is rubbed against the right corner of the mouse pad then it moves much faster. Even though I have encountered problems with this computer they have been very tiny problems and they have all been fixed, otherwise the performance and overall speed of this notebook are very good. This tiny slim and sleek notebook has been the best thing that I have ever bought. :)

Ok, right off the bat I want to say that the computer is alright and deserves better than one star. But...Gateway the company is THE WORST! I write this to warn you that they do not care about the customer and once they take your money they will not give you the time of day.
I ordered and paid for the 200, with 80gig HD and 512 RAM. I recieved the 200 with 40gig HD and 256. I called my sales person, and she never called me back. I got a hold of her 2 weeks later (after multiple tries) and she promised to ship out a new HD and additional memory. They never came, she never placed the order. She will not return my calls (she actually changed her extension). Her sales supervisor will not return my calls. The supervisor's supervisor will not return my calls. Customer service gives me the run around.
Total blow-off.
I am now dealing with the Gateway reps that my University department uses to get this straightened out, and it has yet to be resolved. As I write, I have had the WRONG COMPUTER for 2.5 months, and have been unable to get any work done with the 256RAM. Gateway has done everything in their power to ensure that I can't return it and/or do not get the computer that I paid for.

So there you go. Buyer beware.

This review isn't just about the machine but the company also. I have had terrible luck with this machine. I have had two power supplies go bad. I bought the worthless extended warranty on it. When I bought the machine I bought the $200 extra long life battery. It died just outside the 12 month warranty and low and behold they do not cover it under the extended warranty. That cost me $179.00 to replace. Then when the power supply died it took them almost two weeks to get it to me. I had to call mundocorp and order one and pay for it out of my own pocket so I could use my laptop that week for school.

The hard drive was replaced twice. It randomly wouldn't boot and would say that it couldn't find the hard drive. I sent it in, they wouldn't fix it. I took it out of the box when they sent it back and it wouldn't boot.

I'm a system administrator and this thing has frustrated me to no end. They won't ship me parts like Dell, so I have to ship it off each time. It's never been reliable.

Even when I first ordered it, I called to make sure that I would get it within three weeks so I could use it for a Flash class I was taking. They assured me I would get it. It took 2 months! I think with all the upgrades and warranties I paid just under $2500 for this machine.

I WILL NEVER BUY A GATEWAY COMPUTER AGAIN. I support Dells in my job and have never had so many problems with one machine. Not only that, but Gateway wastes your time. I called in about my battery and they had me jumping through all sorts of hoops and doing all sorts of stuff over a period of three days, calling back several times.... and then AFTER all of this they told me the battery wasn't even covered under the warranty. All that, and they could have told me BEFORE.

I really recommend you look at another brand before you buy a Gateway.