gateway laptop factory software

[PTNL]

if anyone bought or owns a recent (preloaded with win xp) gateway laptop, then please let me know what kind of software cd's came with the laptop:

- separate operating system and application cd's
*OR*
- cd's that basically rebuilds hdd files to match factory, no way to reinstall just a separate application and operating system reinstalls will reinstall *every* program that came from factory

i know that dell ships separate operating system and application/driver cd's (which i really prefer), but i haven't seen any gateway laptops in a while. i am already familiar with sony, toshiba, hp/compaq, and e-machines on this subject. info about other brands (acer, sager, etc.) is appreciated.



off-topic: i'm looking for a gaming laptop. i've looked at the dell xps gen 2 or the 9300 with the nvidia 6800 256mb. the best gateway can do is a 3.4 ghz p4ee with a 9700 pro 128mb. other suggestions are appreciated; recommendations for hp, compaq, and sony will be laughed at.

thanks !!

 

[gerbiaNem]

If you wait, I hear rumors about a new gateway with an a64 processor and an x700 with pci express coming out soon. It should also be better with battery life since the pci-e laptops can disable 15 out of 16 lines when in battery mode.

 

[klowngoblin]

nothing beats the xps2 for the price or performance, not even sager, its got the 6800 ultra in it, what beats that for under 3000 CDN? NOTHING

the sager 9860 is hella quick but weights about 4-5lbs more than the xps, the xps also looks sexier. i would actually go with the xps2 if you want the fastest gamming machine for the cheapest price as well as the coolness factor. the xps2 lights up in all diffrent ways lol

sony sucks for everything
hp has okay machines but they are better for work use
compaq is hp
toshiba will just blowup and die

 

[Kvothe]

The Gateway I have (7422GX) didn't come with any premade recovery cd's. The unit has a recovery partition, and the first times you boot it, there is a program that continually prompts you to create recovery cd's using the included blank CD's or a blank DVD-R. It's actually pretty crappy that they were too cheap to include any sort of pre-made reinstall CD.

 

[klowngoblin]

The Gateway I have (7422GX) didn't come with any premade recovery cd's. The unit has a recovery partition, and the first times you boot it, there is a program that continually prompts you to create recovery cd's using the included blank CD's or a blank DVD-R. It's actually pretty crappy that they were too cheap to include any sort of pre-made reinstall CD.

yeah that is stupid, my asus laptop came with drivers, i imaged the laptop myself as 1 big drive (i can fit my dvd backups on the 80gb this way) im going to assume thatif you go to the gateway site they should have a place where you type in the serial no of the lappy and it will provide you with the correct drivers for that model. dell, systemax, tons of other companies do provide similar services

 

[Kvothe]

yeah that is stupid, my asus laptop came with drivers, i imaged the laptop myself as 1 big drive (i can fit my dvd backups on the 80gb this way) im going to assume thatif you go to the gateway site they should have a place where you type in the serial no of the lappy and it will provide you with the correct drivers for that model. dell, systemax, tons of other companies do provide similar services

Yeah, that's what Gateway does, but if you buy anything even remotely new, they don't get the drivers up until a month or so later. I've read many horror stories of how people with my model, or even the EMachines 6805 (same as my Gateway, just different specs) wiped everything out for a reinstall of XP to find they didn't have disks, drivers, or any details of what hardware might be under the cover. Not to mention once they do get drivers, they aren't even remotely near current.

 

[PTNL]

lots of great info so far, thanks to all that posted for the detailed info.

i'm probably not going to decide which model/specs to get at least until my tax refund arrives in 2-3 weeks. so far, dell is far ahead in my book considering the nature of the recovery cd's and that i can get a 6800 gpu.


follow up question for those with knowledge about the gateway laptops: did you order yours online directly from gateway or buy it off the shelf at a store like best buy?

 

[Kvothe]

I got mine at Best Buy mid-January. As best I can tell, the specs on the stuff they keep in stock won't have anywhere near the graphics power you want. The one I have is pretty loaded, A64 3400+ with a gig of ram. It's got a 4200 RPM HD which seems even slower that it sounds. The vid card is passable... Mobility Radeon 9550. I can play UT2004, and most other recent games, but detail levels suffer big time.

 

[merach]

On the gateway systems you have a number of options for factory software installs, the ghost image they use also has the ability to reinstall single drivers and applications, also you burn the recovery media when you get the system, it's packaged with blank CD-R's to burn them, and you can browse the disc and find the installers in the root folder under "bundled" in most cases.