Product Description

Travel easily with the thin design and connect to the Internet on the go with wireless technology of the Gateway MX8738 Notebook Computer PC. The cinematic 17-inch Widescreen Ultrabright display lets you experience high-performance 3D graphics, seamless action and fast overall performance. The Intel integrated graphics has up to 224MB shared video memory. The Intel dual-core processor gives you up to twice the flexible, multitasking performance to use demanding programs and view large files while consuming less power. Transfer files from your digital devices instantly and store them on the high-speed 160GB hard drive. Windows Vista Home Premium and preinstalled Microsoft productivity software make it easier than ever to manage finances, create documents and send email with new tools to expand your creativity and protect your system. 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive 2-Channel High-Definition Audio Built in Speakers 4-in-1 Digital Memory Card Reader - Secure Digital (SD), Multi Media Card (MMC), Memory Stick (MS) & Memory Stick Pro Pointing Device - Synaptics Touchpad with Vertical Scroll Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with up to 224MB of Shared Video Memory Interfaces - 1x RJ-45 Ethernet, 4x USB 2.0 Ports, 1x VGA Connector, 1x RJ-11 Modem Port, 1x IEEE 1394 Port, 1x S-Video Connector Optical Drive - 8x DVD+/-R, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+RW, 2x DVD-R DL, 2.4x DVD+R DL, 5x DVD-RAM, 24x CD-R, 16x CD-RW Write max and 8x DVD-R/RW/ROM, 4x DVD+/-R DL, 5x DVD-RAM, 24x CD-R/RW/ROM Read max Windows Vista Home Premium Operating System Dimensions - Width 16.06 x Depth 10.89 x Height 1.24-1.42 inch (408x277x31 to 36mm) Weights - 7.37 pounds, 3.3 kg

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3801 in Personal Computers
• Brand: Gateway
• CPU: Intel Core Duo 1.73 GHz
• Memory: 1000MB DDR2 SDRAM
• Hard Disk: 160GB
• Processors: 2
• Display size: 17

Features

• Includes - 6-Cell 2400 mAh Lithium Ion Battery, AC Power Cord, AC Power Adapter, Modem Cable, OS Recovery DVD, Windows Vista 32-bit WAU DVD, Setup Poster User's Guide, Non-Microsoft EULA, Getting Started Guide Hardware Reference Guide, Registration / Limited Warranty Card, Wireless Setup Card, COA Label for Microsoft Installed Software
• Intel Pentium Dual-Core Mobile Processor T2080
• 1.73GHz Processor Speed, 1MB L2 Cache
• 17-inch Widescreen Ultrabright WXGA+ TFT 1440x900 Display
• 1GB DDR2 Dual Channel Memory, 2x 512MB, 667MHz (2GB Max)

Customer Reviews

This supercedes the MX8738 and is a far better unit.
First a brief story on the MX8738: It was Gateway's immediate predecessor to the 8739. It was a superb unit, with one major drawback: Battery life. Many complained it lasted only 1 hr 15 minutes; not enough enough to watch a full length DVD movie. And this unit is a multimedia friendly device, with a very good screen for the price.

Gateway, apparently having heard those complaints, revamped the unit by adding in a battery twice as powerful, then replacing the 160GB hard drive with a 120GB one, and then selling it for $100 less.

Everything else is the same. Okay, the 8739's case is black and not silver, but black is cool and silver is better suited for toys.

For battery life, the 8739 is really good. With wi-fi and bluetooth turned on and screen brightness set to 30%, you can get about 2.5 hrs out of the battery and the screen is still quite watchable. Disable wi-fi and bluetooth and you'll get 3.5 hours out of it.

For system performance, of all the budget (under $800) laptops, this unit provides a solid punch. The dual core Pentium-M 1.73GHz processor runs Vista Home Premium competently, and the RAM score is solid. Graphics and 3D gaming graphics were good, better than some higher priced units, but I wouldn't use this thing to play Quake 4... it's meant for DVDs, word processing, internet, strategy games, but for 3D games you mileage may vary. Vista's Chess game ran very fast, so this PC is no slouch.

Now Vista Home Premium + Office 2007 (trial edition) can live very happily within 1GB, but I upgraded the unit to 2GB anyway. Until I run more apps, the RAM won't be of much use.

Included with the unit are a lot of trial software packages. I promptly removed them. I also removed MS Works (Full edition) that comes with this computer. Then I ran some registry cleanup programs and voila - everything runs faster.

In Vista, also be sure to disable some of the Aero 3D effects and other power guzzling features to help stretch battery life.

Oh, the 8739 also comes with an upgrade option to Vista Ultimate. The big bonuses with Ultimate are extra security enhancements and BitLocker, though the latter doesn't seem to work. This'll require some extra investigation, but there are 3rd party alternatives if need be... As for Vista Ultimate, there are other features (e.g. media center and others) but they seem superfluous in a mobile environment.)

The monitor is quite acceptable, even though it's obviously a basic TN type screen. Don't expect to use Photoshop to do intensive work on it, but for manipulating text and numbers or data, the 17" screen comes in very handy.

The keyboard, full layout with numeric keypad, is nice to use as well. It's not as flimsy as I'd expected it to be.

It also comes with a multi-format CD/DVD burner. Icing on the cake for local data archiving.

For under $800, this laptop is competitive and terrific for anyone needing a remote office. But for all things laptop, get an extended service or warranty plan. A replacement battery, CD/DVD drive, or LCD screen on their own costs big bucks. The warranty alone would be virtually made up for by replacing the battery 2 years down the road.

Terrible Reliability
I bought a Gateway Laptop w/Duo Core processor and it only lasted a year and a half before the motherboard died. It was my first and last Gateway Computer. After many emails to Gateway Support - and a internal Hard Drive was purchased that was recommended to fix the problem... and didn't - I tried to get it serviced locally. Only option is to ship back to Gateway factory and pay AT LEAST another $254, I decided to cut my losses and bought an HP computer. HP's customer service actually provides service and their produces are reliable. Gateways cost less, but you get MUCH LESS FOR THE MONEY TOO!! Save yourself heartache and trouble and bypass Gateway products.

not worth the money or aggravation
I have had this machine for six months and it has been nothing but aggravation. I think I know all of the Gateway Support Technicians on a first name basis. Out of the box, the laptop had issues. It locked up and crashed. Repeated calls to Gateway produced conflicting excuses - one technician told me that you had to run the anti-virus software at all times, another told me that the McAfee Software that came on the system was actually incompatible with Windows Vista. They recommended deleting programs that I would not use that came pre-loaded - it didn't help. I bought more memory - it didn't help. The machine just crawled at a snail's pace. My 17 year old won't even use it, she says it is too slow to bother with. The final straw was this week. The whole system just would start up and crash, start up and crash. So I called Gateway (again) and they told me to do a system recovery and back up. Well the recovery worked but the backup didn't. I lost all of my files. The tech said "oops". So now I have a crappy laptop and no personal files. No tax returns, no pictures, no personal files. And they say "oops". I will never buy a Gateway again. [...], and 6 months of my life.