Gaming Laptop?

I did it and now I am installing my games. The machine is very nice so far. So far my 8800 ultra in my desktop and my Core 2 E6850 ( overclocked to 3.6Ghz) with 4 gigs of DDR2 ram blew the laptop out of the water in a steam stress test with the exact same settings. It did post a respectable score of 258 fps with the recommended settings.
Overall I'm happy with it so far and will keep you all posted on anything that comes up.
Thank you all for the help!
 
Fire488 said:
I did it and now I am installing my games. The machine is very nice so far. So far my 8800 ultra in my desktop and my Core 2 E6850 ( overclocked to 3.6Ghz) with 4 gigs of DDR2 ram blew the laptop out of the water in a steam stress test with the exact same settings. It did post a respectable score of 258 fps with the recommended settings.
Overall I'm happy with it so far and will keep you all posted on anything that comes up.
Thank you all for the help!
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that laptop video cards aren't exactly the same as the desktop equivalent, so your ultra + core2 blowing this out of the water is expected.
 
I recently purchased the P-173xl, which is the brother of the 7811. These laptops are incredible values and I don't think they can be beat on the bang for the buck. I highly recommend them to anyone that's looking for a gaming laptop and don't want spend ridiculous amounts of money.
 
i have a hp dv9700 17"
intel core 2 duo t5550 1.83ghz
3gb ram
320gb hdd
NVIDIA Geforce8400m gs
i get 25-30fps consitantly on crysis
lightscribe
hdmi
its great my grandma bought it for me... :)
 
I have a Lenovo T60

15.1
T7100
3GB DDR2 (due to RAM limitation on the MB)
ATI X1200 256MB
Fujitsu 120GB HD

It does the job, as far as my work goes, but I think the only game I can play without becoming angry at it's lack of performance is Counter Strike. I also use it for MP3's, so I get good use out of it regardless. :)
 
I have the P7811FX for a few months now and I have to admit it is an amazing laptop for the money. My friend purchased the Dell gaming laptop for almost $5,000.00 and mine can just about keep up. I feel great! I added another hard drive because the 200 gigs is not enough. I have learned to like vista 64 bit as well. It is a nice op sys. Some of my favorite games will not play on Vista 64 such as BF2, 2142 and Fallout 3, but I just play them on my desktop.
Overall this laptop is worth every penny.
Also, I have never crashed to date as I have heard some has in past reviews.
 
I have my e1705 running a sweet overclocked 7900GS. It's a pretty fantastic machine that I'm prolly going to sell soon.
 
I just bought the P7811 back in November but it was a "xmas present" so I wasn't allowed to touch it until xmas.
I convinced the wife that we needed to at least check it out that night to see if it at least turned on.
To make a VERY long story short, it was used!

I got it for a good price(not as good as the $750 some people were getting it for) and it was the only one in my area so I didn't want to give it up. So arguing with the Best Buy manager got it knocked down a couple $100 more and they cleaned up the comp.

It's crashing playing games, so I am on the horn with Gateway to try and get it fixed. They are running me through the loops, let me tell you. I was thinking about getting an extended warranty but being on hold for 45 minutes made that decision easy.

It's a fast little machine though and I do NOT want to have to give this thing up.

Grats to Fire488 for getting exactly what he wanted: a top notch rig without the top notch prices.
 
Thank you Shawnasee.
For the most part I am very happy with this machine. I wanted it for mobile gaming when I could not be home. I have also learned to appreciate vista. I have come to the conclusion though, that this machine's gaming drawbacks are not related to its hardware, but directly related to its operating system. Vista (especially 64 bit) is not meant for gaming at all. it is very good for multi media and office application,but games and their protections do not work well with it. I do play games on it and some run well (the ones that work), but takes forever to load up and glitch out from time to time. Things that NEVER happen on my XP machine. I have tried a dual boot of XP Pro and it does run well, but unfortunately it doesn't handle the 4 gb's of ram. I am still tweaking things.
Overall, this is a very good machine for the money. If i was able to find it for $750.00, I would say that it is the best value for the money.
 
Fire488 said:
Thank you Shawnasee.
For the most part I am very happy with this machine. I wanted it for mobile gaming when I could not be home. I have also learned to appreciate vista. I have come to the conclusion though, that this machine's gaming drawbacks are not related to its hardware, but directly related to its operating system. Vista (especially 64 bit) is not meant for gaming at all. it is very good for multi media and office application,but games and their protections do not work well with it. I do play games on it and some run well (the ones that work), but takes forever to load up and glitch out from time to time. Things that NEVER happen on my XP machine. I have tried a dual boot of XP Pro and it does run well, but unfortunately it doesn't handle the 4 gb's of ram. I am still tweaking things.
Overall, this is a very good machine for the money. If i was able to find it for $750.00, I would say that it is the best value for the money.
Click to expand...

I got mine for $900 so I am pretty happy.
The only games I have played on it are City of Heroes and WoW. Freezes it right up. I haven't heard that Vista isn't game friendly though. Are you basing this on anecdotal evidence?
 
@ Shawnasee,
Funny thing is my son plays WOW on this machine with no errors. The other probelms were found out by trial, error and sweat and frustration.
 
Can you tell me something? Does the first part of your Serial number start with P2887 or P2888?
Don't need to post the rest of the serial number, just the first part.

There is a theory going around I would like to test.

Does your FX ever lockup?
 
Shawnasee said:
Can you tell me something? Does the first part of your Serial number start with P2887 or P2888?
Don't need to post the rest of the serial number, just the first part.

There is a theory going around I would like to test.

Does your FX ever lockup?
Click to expand...

My serial # is: P2887.

It never locked up yet, but does freeze for a few seconds from time to time.

What is your theory on this?
 
Fire488 said:
My serial # is: P2887.

It never locked up yet, but does freeze for a few seconds from time to time.

What is your theory on this?
Click to expand...

As I said before, mine is locking up and going through Gateway customer service has been a complete nightmare. I started hunting around to see if anyone else is having the problem and I came across a thread over at NotebookReview.com. A very pissed off and VERY thorough fellow had this to say:

"K - this is totally weird - laid down flat on a desk it is at 72C/161F. How does that temp stack up? A few other things I observed - the GPU fan did not run full tilt during the test - it kept cycling up and down - and - it appears that the airflow out of the left side of the laptop (I am pretty sure the GPU is vented out the left side and the cpu is to the right rear - please correct me if I am wrong) is directed a bit downwards. The intake for the fan is directly under the left side of the exhaust port and about an inch in. I wonder if the thing is sucking hot air back into the intake. Propped up the exhaust air is allowed to flow away from the laptop and maybe the intake is able to pull in cooler air. I am going to re-test after this by taping some paper to the bottom of the laptop to ensure that the exhaust airflow is directed away from the intake. I am re-running again propped up at the rear just a a check."

and this:

"With a peice of paper taped to the bottom, I was able to lower the temp of the GPU down to 69C. I repeated the test twice, and re-tested without the paper - and it shot back up to 73C. This means that it is definately pulling in hot air from the exaust to try and cool itself. Now I am only doing one run through 3dMark-Vantage - and only the two first GPU tests - so I am not pushing it up to the point of failure - so I am not sure what the max temp actually gets to. Regardless, this is definately a design flaw. I have to determine if I am going to live with some kind of vent to ensure exhaust air stays away from the intake, along with some kind of prop up to get the bottom of the laptop away from the bottom of the desk it is sitting on. Obviously, propping up the back lowers the temp more than 10 degrees - so there is something also wrong with the way they designed the clearence of the intake ports off of a flat surface. I am thinking that finding some thicker rubber feet and replacing the stock ones might do the trick - along wiht a guide to re-direct air flow. I still haven't made up my mind yet if I am keeping this thing or not - it seems that it is turning into something that I really didn't want to buy in the first place."

and this:

"Ok - so I exchanged my unit. And this one IS different that the other one. The underside of this model is made in a way to allow air to flow into the intakes much better - and the GPU cooling system fan blows air at a much greater rate. Also, the DVD drive is a different model - and this one doesn't eject falsely just by grabbing the side of the notebook. The keyboard is also different - there is a raised circle on the Windows key - and the font used on the keys is different. Starting the testing now - but I would assume with the ability to pull in air at the bottom of the machine will fix the cooling issue - along with the seemingly more beefy GPU fan. Will keep you all posted."

At this point another person asked him what his serial number was and he said the replacement laptop was a P2888 and the one he sent in was a P2887.

You can read all 7 pages here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=297754

tl;dr version: the guy was very meticulous in his research of why his P7811-FX was locking up and I think he may have inadvertently found something in his musings.
I'm checking it out over there too.
 
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