Gateway Generations: Dots, Power Supplies, and S-Video Cables
So far, Gateway M460s come in 3 flavors.
First 128--Black Dots--Intel Video Cards--65-Watt Power Supplies
The first 128 laptops have the following barcodes:
- 76430-76437
- 76508-76627
- Non-levy M460s: 75386, 76307-76308, 76340-76342, 76491, 76733, 76915, 76919, 76921, 76923-76926, 76947-76950, 76975, 76977, 76978, 77242, 77508-77510, 77512
Power Supplies
These first 128 came with 65-watt power supplies that have a black tip on the plug end. To help identify these laptops, an effort was made to put black dots (to coincide with the power supply tip color) on the power supplies and the laptops. Later M460s required higher-wattage power supplies, so powering a later M460 with a 65-watt power supply could cause some severe problems.
As a permanent solution, the big swap is under way! All those with 65-watt power supplies have been contacted and asked to send those 65-watt power supplies in to receive a higher-wattage power supply in return. So if you received an email from Saundra Smidt and haven't done anything about it yet, what are you waiting for?
Intel Video Cards and S-Video Cables
The first 128 came with Intel Video cards. Provided you hook the laptop up to the document presenter, and then the document presenter to the projector (as shown here), everything works fine. However, if you need to hook the laptop directly to a projector, VGA cables just won't work. Everyone with an Intel M460 received an S-Video cable to carry around in their laptop bags to use in those rare occurrences when connecting directly to a projector.
The Big Power Supply, the Dock, and the Blue Dots
All the laptops that came with docks (port replicators) also came with big power supplies that have grooves molded into them. These 120-watt power supplies have gray tips on the plugs. Since they don't make gray dots, we went with light blue dots. Again, an effort was made to put blue dots on the docks and 120-watt power supplies to help people figure out that they plug into each other.
The Next Several Hundred--ATI Video Cards--Yellow Dots
After the first 128, all M460s came with ATI video cards, 90-watt power supplies, and a new problem to solve!
ATI Video Cards and Windows Media Player
While the ATI video cards solved the problem of being able to hook directly to a projector, we discovered that Windows Media Player would play on the laptop, but just show a blank square on the projector. Find the solution to that problem here!
90-Watt Power Supplies
So all laptops after the first 128 came with 90-watt power supplies, which have a yellow tip on the plug. So, you guessed it, we put yellow dots on 90-watt power supplies and ATI laptops to help match those up.
Eraser Mouse M460s
Finally, a change was made in the laptops that didn't cause a technical problem! The last several hundred M460s are exactly like all the other yellow dots, except for the addition of a blue eraser-head mouse.