Best Buy's ad booklet for the week starting Octo

saahmed · 10-10-2005, 05:17 PM

I just noticed the battery on a pic at gateway.com. how big is that battery? I didnt know that it extended below the laptop. That looks really weird and would make it very hard to stick in a backpack. You would have to remove the battery.

Duke · 10-11-2005, 12:15 AM

Re: The battery size and shape.

The Gateway is heavy. The battery sticks out almost an inch below the underside of the machine. At first I thought this was going to be a problem. But it has advantages and disadvantages to it.

Disadvantages: Heavy, awkward shape, annoying for laptop cases. These are all valid, and all true. There's no doubt about it.

Advantages: When holding the laptop on your forearm like a pad in portrait mode, you can position it such that your hand is grabbing onto the battery. What this strange battery allows you to do is actually hold the laptop more ergonomically. Your thumb can be wrapped around the batter on the inside with the rest of your fingers wrapped around. You get better grip this way, and it feels more natural. Also, when sitting on a flat surface it puts the laptop at an angle giving you a slight slope that's better for writing or drawing on it (but ultimately not enough.. I prop it up even higher, but nowhere near as high as the stupid stands people sell). In your lap when working, this extra inch up the battery gives you keeps the undersurface of the laptop from touching your clothes/skin.. that's a real bonus because I've never seen a laptop in my entire life that doesn't get hot.. so I don't want the damn thing touching my leg anyway!

The question is do the advantages that I advance are true make any difference to you, and is it enough to outweight the heavy, awkward shape...

I haven't gone and looked elsewhere on this forum, but just to share random trivia with you all... I have a friend who is a Chemistry Professor at Radford Univ. in Virginia. Radford gave I think just about ALL of their faculty Gateway Tablets last year. The general response from him, and what he says most of the other people he knows that he works with is that they are wonderful for teachers. Even more so in the sciences.

saahmed · 10-11-2005, 03:05 AM

Thanks for the great info Duke!

ejhdigdug · 10-11-2005, 03:15 AM

Someone mentioned to me that this Gateway laptop doesn't use Wacom Technology. I assume he's right, but just in case I wanted a second opinion (I was just about to buy this laptop before I found out). Can anyone confirm that this laptop doesn't use Wacom Technology for it's pointing device?

I'm going to use the tablet primary for drawing so this is a deal breaker for me.

Scaevola · 10-11-2005, 03:48 AM

its confirmed it usesa finepoint digizter not Wacom..and no stylus eraser is currently avilable(sp)

Duke · 10-11-2005, 04:08 AM

On a more meta level I thought I'd share the following:

Everyone who uses tablets for hardcore animation, drawing, graphics production apparently is in need of using Wacom over FInePoint. The Gateway CX2610 doesn't do that. Case closed. If you honestly think you'll be needing / using that to make it a dealbreaker.. than this laptop just isn't for you.

What people seem to be generally complaining about is that companies make computers that suck (for any number of reasons). The most glaring thing out of this is that given the choice, Wacom is better than FinePoint. Ok, I've seen arguments and I think I'd agree with that.

So what now? We have an advancing technology. All the computer companies do market research (albeit some ignore the results from it.. achem.. Microsloth). They visit sites like this one and READ OUR POSTS. They even pay people like us to participate in discussions about user issues. This guides them forward. If anyone here has read The TIpping Point, Gladwell does a better job of talking about this in laymens terms than I do.

What, unfortunately, is a problem is that as people who use technology and are earlier adaptors of it, we can harm it if we're not careful. I think Gateway made a HUGE step forward in the quality of the CX2610 and affordability for it as compared to what it had done in the past. Sure, there is stuff on it that could be better.. but its an advance nonetheless.

At this stage, it presents a very very functional, reasonable, and powerful tool for a big section of the population. Mainly high school and college students, buiness professionals administrators, and teachers of any flavor. Most anyone falling in that category that doesn't have to do serious graphics production requiring integration into things like illustrator, photoshop etc. (essentially some of the high end users who would post regularly on this forum.. like animators and graphic artists) could reasonably be advised to buy a laptop like the CX2610 because it'll perform all the tasks they need well, it'll be at a reasonable cost, and it's a good introduction into the market.

What I've said already that's even more interesting is how BestBuy does its warranty. If you can manage to buy other tablets there (they sell a toshiba for about 300-500 bucks more) that you like better, than those are very viable options as well. I'm not sure of the FinePoint v. Wacom debate on the other machines offered at BestBuy.. but for the hardcore graphics folks (I have no bad feelings for you guys.. you use these things on the bleeding edge of their usefulness and ultimately drive forward the innovation and progress on them...) if BestBuy has a Wacom tablet.. jump on it and grab one, cuz you'll have found yourself a deal as well.

Summary: It's not fair to advise a newby to the tablet world against an intro-level machine. There is a small number of important people (mainly folks on this forum) who will be essentially pushing tablet development forward, but the needs of an intro level user (who represents the highest % of the population) don't require the kinds of things everyone else needs. Sure they are better off and you have to push for that development, but don't make them think they need it right now in order to buy a tablet and use it for what they will actually do.

Ok.. I'm off my pedestal now.. I hope I didn't offend anyone....

ejhdigdug · 10-11-2005, 05:47 AM

You make a good point Duke. I'm looking for a tablet but I'm on a really tight budget. I think this Gateway Tablet is great, if your not going to draw I say go get it. I had already decided to buy one and was reaching for my wallet when I heard about the non-wacom thingie. I was so disappointed and I felt like I needed to double check first so I posted. I wasn't tring to put down the tablet for others. Sorry if I missed the previous wacom thread, this is the first I heard of it.

ifonline · 10-11-2005, 12:22 PM

quote:Originally posted by saahmed

Great job ifonline!! Thanks for all the info and clarifications.

You're welcome... as long as everyone understands that I *might* be wrong, especially considering that I have only had this notebook for two days now!

ifonline · 10-11-2005, 12:26 PM

quote:Originally posted by DrGooey

The only concerns I have are:
- Multiple taps can be a problem.

I am finding that this *might* be an issue with the stylus and not the screen. If and when I find more, concrete support for this, I'll post up.

quote:- I know the memory is expandable up to 2Gigs, but any idea what type of memory it comes with? After building my own desktops for years I've had many flake issues simply due to the fact that my memory was from different manufacturers, regardless if they claimed to be the exact same thing. Have 1 stick CorSair, and 1 stick Kingston and you got problems. I'd rather not run into that with a laptop.

First, you really don't want to mix two brands of memory, although generally speaking that *shouldn't* be a problem. However, the memory for these notebooks is:

533mhz 200 pin DDR2 SO-DIMM in a max of 1gb stick per slot.

Hope that helps.

ifonline · 10-11-2005, 12:27 PM

quote:Originally posted by saahmed

I just noticed the battery on a pic at gateway.com. how big is that battery? I didnt know that it extended below the laptop. That looks really weird and would make it very hard to stick in a backpack. You would have to remove the battery.

Two things to add about the battery... it has a rubber cover over the bottom of it to provide a nice grip for holding the notebook as a tablet. It adds height to keep the bottom fan off the surface the notebook is sitting on.