Buying Gateway vs. Toshiba laptop?

fishbowl · 08-17-2008, 05:17 PM

I'm considering buying one of these two laptops:

Gateway T-6836 (http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/gate...-33088556.html)

Toshiba Satellite U405D-S2852 (http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/tosh...-33088926.html)

The C-Net rating is higher for the Gateway, but I'm iffy about Gateway, and I can't seem to find any specifics about why the Toshiba has a poor rating (other than the relatively short battery life).

I'm mainly concerned about overheating, reliable parts, and the warranty/customer support.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. I've been reading through dozens of reviews about these computers, and I'm still having difficulty figuring out which is the better option.

macten · 08-17-2008, 09:43 PM

About 8 months ago I bought a new Gateway NX570X with Vista Ultimate. The only reason I went with Vista was to learn how to support it.

After reading all the bad news about Vista I was expecting a lot of problems. The box arrived and I started in on it. I was amazed at how fast and easy it
was to get on my wireless network. I was printing wirelessly in just a few minutes. 45 minutes later I was done. After reading all the bad news about Vista I was stunned at how easy it was. And that was the first time I've used Vista.

The new Gateway's are shipped direct from China and are much better than their older laptops. Movies look fantastic on this laptop. The screen is incredible.

I'm having very few problems with this laptop. Knowing that Vista needed a lot of horsepower, I loaded it up pretty well. I find that 2G of RAM is fine for what I'm doing. A dedicated video card is a must for Vista.

macten · 08-17-2008, 10:01 PM

Looking at your Gateway. 4G of RAM...wow! You might want to research that 64 bit Vista. Aren't they having problems with 64 bit?

Whatever you buy I would get the 3 yr. extended warranty.

I wouldn't buy Toshiba, HP or Compaq. It you want to step up from Gateway buy a Lenovo.

I also would recomend buying direct from the factory. I waited for a sale and got $200 off. I almost ordered online but it's a good thing I didn't. I called and the sales person saw that I was a repeat customer and knocked another $125 off. Total savings was $325. Also by buying direct, they send you all the software.

fishbowl · 08-17-2008, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macten

Looking at your Gateway. 4G of RAM...wow! You might want to research that 64 bit Vista. Aren't they having problems with 64 bit?

Whatever you buy I would get the 3 yr. extended warranty.

I wouldn't buy Toshiba, HP or Compaq. It you want to step up from Gateway buy a Lenovo.

I also would recomend buying direct from the factory. I waited for a sale and got $200 off. I almost ordered online but it's a good thing I didn't. I called and the sales person saw that I was a repeat customer and knocked another $125 off. Total savings was $325. Also by buying direct, they send you all the software.

Thanks -- I don't have an issue with Vista, it's what I have currently. I've had horrible issues with my current HP computer, so I'm definitely avoiding them.

Supposedly 64-bit is all right? I don't know. I've tried researching it but it's kind of confusing.

Anyway, thanks for the advice!

**Mcninjaguy** · 08-18-2008, 01:38 AM

I have vista 64 bit. The only problem I 've had is using stupid registry cleaners, you don't need or want them cuz they're a scam.
my comp specs are as follows

OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Version 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1 Build 6001
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name "not telling you"
System Manufacturer System manufacturer
System Model System Product Name
System Type x64-based PC
Processor AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+, 3013 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD ASUS M2N-SLI DELUXE ACPI BIOS Revision 1502, 31/03/2008
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale Canada
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.0.6001.18000"
User Name Neal-PC\Neal
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 4.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 2.08 GB
Total Virtual Memory 3.91 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.86 GB
Page File Space 0 bytes

the main thing to know is to update uverything to latest drivers. That includes the bios, video, mobo.

now I said I recently formatted my comp well its a charm having 4 gb on my system. I have a lot of processes running in background (1.5gb) and then when I turn on, lets say Mass Effect for my Pc it uses up another 750 mb of ram so I a have a little less than half my ram left over.

P.S. I running my folding@home GPU2 client so my graphics card is being used up and an extra 400 mb of ram, as you can see in the msinfo32 info

08-17-2008, 05:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
fishbowl Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: USA Posts: 9 OS: Vista SP1	Buying Gateway vs. Toshiba laptop? I'm considering buying one of these two laptops: Gateway T-6836 (http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/gate...-33088556.html) Toshiba Satellite U405D-S2852 (http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/tosh...-33088926.html) The C-Net rating is higher for the Gateway, but I'm iffy about Gateway, and I can't seem to find any specifics about why the Toshiba has a poor rating (other than the relatively short battery life). I'm mainly concerned about overheating, reliable parts, and the warranty/customer support. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. I've been reading through dozens of reviews about these computers, and I'm still having difficulty figuring out which is the better option.

08-17-2008, 09:43 PM	#2 (permalink)
macten Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 239 OS: xp	Re: Buying Gateway vs. Toshiba laptop? About 8 months ago I bought a new Gateway NX570X with Vista Ultimate. The only reason I went with Vista was to learn how to support it. After reading all the bad news about Vista I was expecting a lot of problems. The box arrived and I started in on it. I was amazed at how fast and easy it was to get on my wireless network. I was printing wirelessly in just a few minutes. 45 minutes later I was done. After reading all the bad news about Vista I was stunned at how easy it was. And that was the first time I've used Vista. The new Gateway's are shipped direct from China and are much better than their older laptops. Movies look fantastic on this laptop. The screen is incredible. I'm having very few problems with this laptop. Knowing that Vista needed a lot of horsepower, I loaded it up pretty well. I find that 2G of RAM is fine for what I'm doing. A dedicated video card is a must for Vista.

08-17-2008, 10:01 PM	#3 (permalink)
macten Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 239 OS: xp	Re: Buying Gateway vs. Toshiba laptop? Looking at your Gateway. 4G of RAM...wow! You might want to research that 64 bit Vista. Aren't they having problems with 64 bit? Whatever you buy I would get the 3 yr. extended warranty. I wouldn't buy Toshiba, HP or Compaq. It you want to step up from Gateway buy a Lenovo. I also would recomend buying direct from the factory. I waited for a sale and got $200 off. I almost ordered online but it's a good thing I didn't. I called and the sales person saw that I was a repeat customer and knocked another $125 off. Total savings was $325. Also by buying direct, they send you all the software.

08-18-2008, 01:38 AM	#5 (permalink)
Mcninjaguy Mentor, Games Team Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 10,366 OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: Buying Gateway vs. Toshiba laptop? I have vista 64 bit. The only problem I 've had is using stupid registry cleaners, you don't need or want them cuz they're a scam. my comp specs are as follows OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium Version 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1 Build 6001 Other OS Description Not Available OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation System Name "not telling you" System Manufacturer System manufacturer System Model System Product Name System Type x64-based PC Processor AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+, 3013 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s) BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD ASUS M2N-SLI DELUXE ACPI BIOS Revision 1502, 31/03/2008 SMBIOS Version 2.4 Windows Directory C:\Windows System Directory C:\Windows\system32 Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1 Locale Canada Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.0.6001.18000" User Name Neal-PC\Neal Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB Total Physical Memory 4.00 GB Available Physical Memory 2.08 GB Total Virtual Memory 3.91 GB Available Virtual Memory 1.86 GB Page File Space 0 bytes the main thing to know is to update uverything to latest drivers. That includes the bios, video, mobo. now I said I recently formatted my comp well its a charm having 4 gb on my system. I have a lot of processes running in background (1.5gb) and then when I turn on, lets say Mass Effect for my Pc it uses up another 750 mb of ram so I a have a little less than half my ram left over. P.S. I running my folding@home GPU2 client so my graphics card is being used up and an extra 400 mb of ram, as you can see in the msinfo32 info __________________ If you have problem, PM me and I'll respond in the thread you made. power-supply-information-selection Nvidia Drivers ATI drivers Direct X Last edited by Mcninjaguy; 08-18-2008 at 01:41 AM.