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Gateway Gateway 600XL 2.0GHz
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More…| PC WorldBench 4: Performance word scores reflect comparsions of PCs in the same category (power or value) running the same operating system. See Guide to the Top-Rated Products for more details. | Very good: 100 (Windows XP Professional) |
| Base configuration | Very good |
| CPU | 2-GHz Pentium 4-M |
| Screen size | 15.7 inches |
| System memory | 512MB of DDR266 SDRAM |
| Hard drive | 40GB |
| Graphics | 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 |
| Pointing device | Touchpad |
| Expandability | Two multipurpose bays, two PC Card slots, expansion bay port |
| Extra features | Very good |
| Bundled removable-media drives | 8X DVD-ROM and 8X/8X/24X CD-RW combination drive |
| Communications | Built-in V.92 modem, built-in network interface |
| Extra ports | Headphone jack, composite video, FireWire ports |
| Business suite | Microsoft Works 2002 |
| Overall design | Oustanding |
| Battery life (hours:minutes) | Average: 2:33 |
| Weight (typical/minimum, in pounds) | Very heavy: 9.9/8.8 |
| Vendor's reliability/service: A vendor's score is based on surveys of PC World readers. Vendors receiving Insufficient data scores did not generate enough responses in our most recent survey for us to make a determination. | Good/Fair |
| Support policy | One-year parts and labor warranty; 24-hour daily toll-free support |
Bottom Line
The 600XL would make a good desktop replacement for digital-video editors, graphics professionals, and others who need a portable with a large, powerful screen. However, it flunks the weight requirements for frequent traveling.
Gateway 600XL
Gateway 600XL 2.0GHz Review, by Carla Thornton August 23, 2002
WHAT'S HOT: What the gray-and-silver Gateway 600XL lacks in flashy looks it makes up for with big helpings of almost everything else--starting with its 15.7-inch screen, one of the largest available on a notebook. (Only the Sony VAIO PCG-GRX's 16.1-inch screen is bigger.) The 600XL includes all standard connections and two USB 1.1 connections, as well as embedded Wi-Fi (802.11b) antennas and a receiver for wireless networking. Presenters and digital-video editors get a composite TV-out port on the back, plus S/PDIF digital audio and FireWire ports grouped conveniently on the left side of the case, near the headphone jack and an extra audio line-in. ATI's powerful Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics chip with 64MB of DDR SDRAM keeps the pixels pumping smoothly to the 1280 by 1024 resolution screen.
Both of the 600XL's drive bays are modular. The right bay in our test unit came with a floppy drive, and the left held a DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination drive. Either bay can instead accommodate another optical drive or a 40GB hard drive; a user might also pair two combo drives or a DVD-ROM drive in one bay and a CD-RW drive in the other. The right bay can carry a second battery.
WHAT'S NOT: The 600XL is too big and heavy for regular road trips. Measuring close to 14 inches wide by 12 inches deep by 2 inches tall, it takes up more space on a desktop than other notebooks do, and it weighs almost 10 pounds with its AC adapter.
To swap bay-docked devices, you must completely shut down the notebook, slide a switch on the bottom, and then push a button on the side, a complicated process compared with the hot-swapping and simpler eject levers that other notebooks provide. The 600XL lacks an on/off button for its wireless networking hardware, offering software controls instead. Since the wireless hardware's constant scanning for an access point drains battery life quickly, a convenient shutoff feature is important.
WHAT ELSE: One of the first notebooks we've tested with Intel's new 2-GHz mobile processor, the Gateway 600XL earned a PC WorldBench 4 score of 100. Though that's not much faster than some of the older 1.2-GHz Pentium III-M notebooks we tested last year, it is about 5 percent better than the average Pentium 4-M notebook. However, the faster processor seems to have nicked the battery life: This 600XL lasted 2.5 hours in our tests, 13 minutes less than a 1.8-GHz version of the 600XL we tested in July.
The 600XL's oversize keyboard is spacious, quiet, and comfortable. Above it, four user-programmable shortcut buttons can launch your favorite Web sites or files. Below is a touchpad; two smallish, square mouse buttons we sometimes had trouble finding with our thumbs; and a centered scrolling toggle.
You can easily access the system RAM and hard drive by removing panels on the bottom of the notebook. The battery has an external LED, which makes checking the remaining life easy. You can play music CDs in the 600XL's optical drive without first turning on the notebook, thanks to a row of small audio-control buttons on the front of the case, including a dedicated power button.
Gateway also provides Audio DJ, a stark-looking DOS application that you can use to program and play tunes in various formats from a variety of sources, including audio CDs and MP3 files on the hard drive. This model fixes a problem we encountered with the first 600XL we looked at in July; that system forced us to program Audio DJ, even if we wanted to hear only a single music CD. The 600XL's speakers don't sound bad, but since they're in the palm rest the sound can be muffled if you're typing.
Bundled is a typically thorough Gateway user manual that covers everything from the notebook's parts to how to clean the unit to how to use the Internet.
UPSHOT: The 600XL would make a good desktop replacement for digital-video editors, graphics professionals, and others who need a portable with a large, powerful screen. However, it flunks the weight requirements for frequent traveling.
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Review Now! Already own it? Tell us What You Think
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Reviewed by: jrmbullrider
Strengths: Very fast. Great large screen. Runs great even with many applications running.
Weaknesses: I does tend to get hot and freeze every once in a while.
Overall: This is a great product. The only down fall is the weight. I currently only have one battery in it and it still fills kind of heavy. You can add two more batteries to it, which would obviously make it more heavy. Other than that I would recomment this product.
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