f13.net forums - Rate this laptop

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July 21, 2025, 11:58:55 AM

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Gateway P-6831FX for 1,199.99 at Best Buy

Seems fairly stout:
8800GTS video card, 3 GB of RAM. The proc seems a little on the weak side but it got fairly decent reviews. But I trust the opinion of those here more than (possibly) paid advertising shills.

I picked this laptop up on monday of this week. I had been reading about it for a few weeks on this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=206261 which has in recent days slowed down.

Overall, I agree with the posts on that thread, it seems to be a really good build quality. The CPU is the weak link really, but the CPU can be easily swapped out for an extreme or penryn. So far, I have done a clean vista install, run 3DMark06 and it scores around 7000, my high was 7003. The only game I have loaded and played so far is POTBS, which plays fine...pretty much the same as my Macbook Pro(work laptop).

I did buy the Best Buy extended warranty for $300 that covers drops and spills too. (I mean c'mon it's a GATEWAY, so Im skeptical how long it will last.)

Quote from: SnakeCharmer on February 21, 2008, 09:14:03 PM

Better than the one i bought about 2 years ago for more. I would pick this up.

That is a very weak CPU. Also for a desktop replacement model I would not want a 5400 RPM hard drive.

Quote from: Trippy on February 22, 2008, 07:01:21 AM

That is a very weak CPU. Also for a desktop replacement model I would not want a 5400 RPM hard drive.

This laptop also has a spot for a 2nd hard drive, and it supports raid. You could add another 5400 drive and stripe it. Or you could add a 7200 and boot from it and use the 5400 for storage...or replace both with 7200 and stripe those. The low entry price really opens up the door for future upgrades. Even if you upgraded everything right now you are coming in well under the cost of a Dell XPS, or Alienware...or any other laptop out there.

Also, from what I've been reading you can buy direct from Gateway, and they will negotiate price. Gateway doesn't sell this model, but they do sell other models in the FX family with faster processors, hard drives, and higher res screens. But this Gateway from Best Buy is a really good buy for what you get.

What's the deal with the offset touchpad?

Quote from: K9 on February 22, 2008, 08:09:36 AM

What's the deal with the offset touchpad?

A little odd I guess, but it is centered under the QWERTY part of the keyboard. It is a full keyboard with number pad.

Quote from: Trippy on February 22, 2008, 07:01:21 AM

That is a very weak CPU. Also for a desktop replacement model I would not want a 5400 RPM hard drive.

It's not a replacement, per se. Just to use occasionally when I travel and/or bored at the office when it's slow.

If I could find one with a better CPU, the same (or better) graphics card, a 7200 RPM HD, +3 GB of RAM, AND with a 17 inch screen all for under 1500, I'd be happy. I don't need a massive HD, or a built in webcam, or any other crap.

I don't like (physically) large laptops, to me it seems to defeat the purpose. You pay for miniaturization and portability and then you lug around a huge-ass heavy piece of, well, crap. 14" screen is about as big as I'd go, when it comes to laptops.

But, kudos to you if you get it. Seems ok, like everyone else has said.

Not that anyone cares, but I get lots of wife aggro for retiring to the man cave to video game. However, I discovered that I could game on my laptop from the dining room table, so I'm there in the room, or within eye sight of her and this seems to be ok.

So, my desktop was getting a little long in the tooth, but I sure hate to upgrade it and never get to use it. Enter the P-6831FX from Best Buy. Not too terribly more expensive than what I would have spent on a desktop upgrade, and it has an 8800M graphics card!! Niiiiice. It is also easily upgraded.

I'm thinking that this laptop might force other manufacturers to try to be more competitive with their gaming laptop options.

2 things that set this laptop apart from the rest of the field: 1) That is the best graphics chipset available right now for a laptop, 2) The price is incredible.

The negative things I can say are that the native screen resolution is only average (and makes me suspect the overall screen quality,) I hate the orange trim, it's on the verge of being heavy, the HDD is 5400 RPM (and likely WD crap,) and lastly the CPU flat out blows.

A few more neutral obserations: 3 gigs is the max for Vista 32, and I don't recommend 64 bit yet. I don't see S-Video output, but I think I see HDMI and VGA. Do you know what the battery life is? - I could find no mention after looking around a bit.

That having been said, choosing a laptop has a lot to do with personal preference and intended use. To that end, I offer a couple of alternatives in the 17" gaming category.

The Sager NP5792 corrects nearly all of my problems with this gateway, although strangely it too has horrid orange trim. It's still heavy and the cost is reflective of the premium part that it is - about 1k more than the gateway.

The MSI MS-1719 is somewhat less graphically advanced, but it is otherwise a high quality part with a good screen, attractive look, decent battery life, and very good weight for a 17" notebook (a little over 6 pounds if I recall correctly.) Reasonably well equipped, it should sell for less than 2k.

Personally, if I were to buy the gateway (and I'd certainly consider it,) I'd replace the CPU ($300) and the HDD ($200,) as well as purchase a monitor for every place I'd be using it for extended periods of time (~$500.) Suddenly that price tag isn't so great, and I'd still feel like slamming a mountain dew every time I brought my xtreme orange monstrosity to a serious meeting.

So - personal decision, but for me? Pass.

Edit: Found battery life estimate at 1:30:00 surfing the web at under half brightness. That's horrible. 17" laptops are anything but easily portable, but that MSI laptop can do the same for about 3:00:00, while the Sager can for about 2:30:00. But if you never plan to use it away from an outlet, then that shouldn't matter.

Quote from: Dtrain on February 22, 2008, 07:52:13 PM

2 things that set this laptop apart from the rest of the field: 1) That is the best graphics chipset available right now for a laptop

It's not. The 8800M GTX is better.

Darn it Trippy - I was trying to ignore hardware advances for at least another 6 months after I researched a laptop buy for a friend. Was actually not expecting to see this part so soon.

So, second to most advanced part out there (mostly by virtue of having 64 stream processors in the GTS, v. 96 in the GTX,) but the price is still damn good.

Well, as far as rating this laptop. I have to say for what it is, it is a good buy. It is an entry level gaming laptop. I would argue that with the 8800M chip out for laptops, that it is a required component for any laptop that is going to be for gaming. The graphic performance of the 8800 vs. the 8600 is about double. For example I ran 3Dmark06 on a Macbook Pro (2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM, 8600M, running XP in bootcamp) and it scored a 3800. The gateway scored 7000.

I swear that Sager wasn't there 2 weeks ago when I went shopping to find a laptop that could beat the gateway in price/performance, but you still come out paying a lot more when you configure it as close to the gateway as possible. To get an apples to apples comparison, look up gateways other FX models on their website, they have faster CPU and higher res screens.

The sale will be almost over by the time I post this, but who knows it might be on sale again in a couple of weeks. 3 weeks ago it was $1249 plus a free game, this week it was $1199 with the game. Pretty sweet deal.