New Toshiba X305 or Gateway P-173XL?

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Siryak

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 16, 2008
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Ok well I was planning on picking up the Gateway P-173XL in a few weeks, but now Toshiba has come out with a new laptop that looks compelling. I know the Toshiba laptop has faster RAM and I am not sure about the new processor.(It has a slower clock, but a higher bus) I am not sure how the graphics cards compare or which one is the better buy. Setting the price aside which one has better performance?

Toshiba: http://explore.toshiba.com/laptops/qosmio/X305/X305-Q701

Gateway: http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668093.php
 
One more thing is how does the 9700m GTS stack up against the 8800m GTS?
 
TempleDMDKrazd said:
geez that toshiba is such a nice laptop
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It is pretty slick looking. :D My brother looked at it and said he didn't like it, but I thought it looked pretty awesome myself! I am hoping that it is the better laptop! Nothing on it really bothers me except that I have no idea how the 9700m GTS will perform compared to the 8800m GTS.
 
Well consider price: The Toshiba is over $400 cheaper... but what you get in return from the Gateway? 1920x1200 resolution, 200 gigs more hard drive space in raid 0, faster processor. The Toshiba does have DDR3 ram though. But the Gateway also doesn't have flames on it :eek:

I think the Gateway is a nice laptop, but it's getting up to the prices where you could get a Sager with a new 9800m video card which is comparable or better than the 8800m GTS and with comparable specs...
 
Just FYI, the specs of the 9700m GTS are posted at Nvidia:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_9700m_gts.html

According to the shader count, only 48, seems like it'll fall in between the 8800m GTS with 64 shaders and the 8600m GT at 32 shaders... if you're going to be gaming a lot, it doesn't seem like it'll be a whole lot better than the older 8700m GT... better, but not by much. And the 8700m was basically just an overclocked 8600m GT.

If you want to game, I would stick with the 8800m or 9800m classes of video cards.
 
Citizen86 said:
Just FYI, the specs of the 9700m GTS are posted at Nvidia:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_9700m_gts.html

According to the shader count, only 48, seems like it'll fall in between the 8800m GTS with 64 shaders and the 8600m GT at 32 shaders... if you're going to be gaming a lot, it doesn't seem like it'll be a whole lot better than the older 8700m GT... better, but not by much. And the 8700m was basically just an overclocked 8600m GT.

If you want to game, I would stick with the 8800m or 9800m classes of video cards.
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It is noteworthy that the 9700m GTS is clocked at 530mhz compared to the 8800m GTS 500mhz. I honestly don't know if this is enough to make up for less shaders or not though. With that information in mind do you still feel that the 8800m GTS is a big leap over the 9700m GTS?
 
Siryak said:
It is noteworthy that the 9700m GTS is clocked at 530mhz compared to the 8800m GTS 500mhz. I honestly don't know if this is enough to make up for less shaders or not though. With that information in mind do you still feel that the 8800m GTS is a big leap over the 9700m GTS?
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I think it probably is... look at the 8700 GT, it's clocked at 625 Mhz, but it's still maybe HALF as fast as the 8800m GTS because it has half the stream processors. Clock speed isn't as important as the stream processors, that should be the first number you should look at.
 
Well normally I wouldn't go solely by 3dmark scores (or at all really), but you never know, it quite possibly might be better... if you have a little time, best thing you could do is wait until there is a few reviews out and see which one does better gaming on similar laptops and see which one is better.

Going by stream processors, the 8800m GTS "should" be better, but that's not always the case... so wait and see. Either way, they're both decent mobile cards.
 
Citizen86 said:
Well normally I wouldn't go solely by 3dmark scores (or at all really), but you never know, it quite possibly might be better... if you have a little time, best thing you could do is wait until there is a few reviews out and see which one does better gaming on similar laptops and see which one is better.

Going by stream processors, the 8800m GTS "should" be better, but that's not always the case... so wait and see. Either way, they're both decent mobile cards.
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Well I hope it is better or at least close to the 8800m GTS, because the laptop with the 9700m is $450 cheaper. :D Thank you very much for all of your help btw. Hopefully some reviews will come out before too long that can put my questions to rest.
 
Yes it is $450 cheaper, but the Gateway P-6860FX is sold at Best Buy for even less than that Toshiba and has the 8800m GTS. Only thing it really lacks from the Toshiba is the processor and it has a 5400 rpm hard drive rather than a 7200 rpm hard drive... which probably shouldn't be a huge difference.

If you have enough money for the $200 Gateway, I would get the Gateway from Best Buy instead and buy a better processor... then after that you can decide if you want a higher resolution screen (which you can also install yourself), a faster hard drive, etc.... one of the best deals on gaming laptops out there right now. But that Toshiba isn't half bad either, and you can most likely do all the same things to it that you can the Gateway.

I would guess that soon a review should be out on the Toshiba at www.notebookreview.com, I'll keep an eye out for it.
 
Citizen86 said:
Yes it is $450 cheaper, but the Gateway P-6860FX is sold at Best Buy for even less than that Toshiba and has the 8800m GTS. Only thing it really lacks from the Toshiba is the processor and it has a 5400 rpm hard drive rather than a 7200 rpm hard drive... which probably shouldn't be a huge difference.

If you have enough money for the $200 Gateway, I would get the Gateway from Best Buy instead and buy a better processor... then after that you can decide if you want a higher resolution screen (which you can also install yourself), a faster hard drive, etc.... one of the best deals on gaming laptops out there right now. But that Toshiba isn't half bad either, and you can most likely do all the same things to it that you can the Gateway.

I would guess that soon a review should be out on the Toshiba at www.notebookreview.com, I'll keep an eye out for it.
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Yah I thought about the Gateway at BB, but I had static fry a computer on me once so I am kind of skiddish on upgrading that. I think I would die if it happened again! While I might could be talked into doing it on a desktop a laptop is totally and completely foreign territory to me.
 
Siryak said:
Yah I thought about the Gateway at BB, but I had static fry a computer on me once so I am kind of skiddish on upgrading that. I think I would die if it happened again! While I might could be talked into doing it on a desktop a laptop is totally and completely foreign territory to me.
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Wow, you don't hear about that actually happening all too often... I wouldn't be too worried about it... All you have to do is take out the battery, try not to wear socks on a carpet... to be safe, touch something that is metal and is grounded to discharge the electricity, or buy one of those anti-static wrist bands from Radio Shack... and it should be a pretty simple CPU switch.
 
Citizen86 said:
Wow, you don't hear about that actually happening all too often... I wouldn't be too worried about it... All you have to do is take out the battery, try not to wear socks on a carpet... to be safe, touch something that is metal and is grounded to discharge the electricity, or buy one of those anti-static wrist bands from Radio Shack... and it should be a pretty simple CPU switch.
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Doesn't that void the warranty though?
 
yes it voids the warranty.

if you need to send it back put in the old cpu. apparently, they don't put a warranty void if broken sticker on the concerned parts you would have to move to upgrade. So, I've read in another thread.
 
Upgrading the CPU shouldn't void the warranty if you don't damage the computer during the procedure. It's a user-upgradable component, so you can change it while keeping the warranty intact. This applies to the RAM and HD(s) as well.
 
i own the P172X Fx and do not regret it at all, amazing quality.. and the third quarter series is exactly the same except they are expanding each hard drive to 200GB. upgrading your cpu will void the warranty, so i was told. but i do not want to upgrade anything, it runs maxed on all of my games already with no slow downs.. cept crisis o.o excellent buy in my opinion.. really turned my views on typical gateway build quality around.. and reps like to cut deals, call them. i got 10% off and free shipping.
 
I just bought the QOSMIO (silly name!) x305-701 and I had the option to go for the Gateway 6860 FX instead. However I think I made the right decision. I like the look of the Gateway better, but having them side by side, the Gateway was just radiating tons of heat and it was very noticeable through the case when I put my wrists on it. The QOSMIO has been impressing me time and again with how cool it runs. From what I've seen, video performance on both machines are about equal.
 
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