Customer Reviews for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
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Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Model: P-6831FX
SKU: 8651167
UPC: 827103142938
With powerful Intel® Centrino® processor technology and lush NVIDIA GeForce Go 8800 GTS graphics, this laptop delivers ultrafast performance and eye-popping gaming visuals sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. Windows Vista Home Premium preloaded Which Windows Vista edition is right for you? Compare. Take a product tour. Read a product review from our trusted partners at CNET. 1349.99
Average Customer Rating:
4.7
out of 5
(80 Reviews) 80
Rating Snapshot 80 reviews
5 stars
66
4 stars
9
3 stars
1
2 stars
2
1 star
2
92% of customers would recommend this product to a friend
(
74 out of
80)
Customer Reviews for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Review 1 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
A great Laptop
Customer Rating
5.0
What's great about it: Graphics Card, Memory
What's not so great: Similar product out now, same price
This computer has everything you would want in a laptop. The processor is not as fast as some (1.7 GHz) but the graphics card is excellent (Nvidia 8800) which means that it can play practically any game out there! Also great is a good price, lots of memory, and a nice design. The only con that I can think of is that Best Buy just released the upgraded model of this computer (4GB RAM vs 3) which has a slightly faster processor as well (1.83 GHz) for almost the same price. I would recommend this product if it weren't for it's older brother in the arena.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+1point
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Review 2 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Amazing Notebook
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: AMDJunkie64
from Naperville, IL
on 05/10/2008
What's great about it: 17" screen, 250GB HDD, 8800m GTS 512mb graphics, amazing looks
What's not so great: Fans can get loud when playing games for a while, no fingerprint reader, heavy (not a con for me, but might be for some)
Amazing laptop. Very fast, considering the CPU is only 1.66ghz. Word of advice; this laptop is loaded with bloatware (a bunch of useless programs you wont need that just eat up memory and HDD space). What I did is I uninstalled all the bloatware and installed my own programs (like anti-virus and antispyware). Also, I removed a ton of startup programs from the MSCONFIG program. After installing all of the updates from Microsoft, my laptop is about twice as fast as it was before and the RAM usage has been cut in half.
***Another note, and this will be important to those who plan on playing games...the default drivers that this laptop comes with do NOT allow you to enable DirectX 10 in ANY games that support DX10..yes this is very strange. I made sure I had my DX updated as well, and to no avail. Anyhow, I updated the drivers from www.laptopvideo2go.com and now I can enable DX 10 in games such as Bioshock, Company of Heroes, Crysis, etc. Just a word of advice.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 3 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Best gaming laptop
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: MrsW
from St. Louis, MO
on 05/02/2008
What's great about it: Fast, lots of memory, large screen, webcam and it plays and writes cd's and dvd's
What's not so great: A bit heavy
This is the 3rd laptop in the family and is by far the best. This laptop is also faster than my desktop. I especially like the speed I can play my war game. The 17" screen makes the game look great and watching DVD's nice. I enjoy ripping music and making copies quickly. It looks good too, so taking this laptop to the coffee shop is a pleasure, I think other people are envious. The only downside is it's weight, 8.34 lbs.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 4 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
just got it the bomb!!!!!
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: bigdaddy59
from chicago
on 05/02/2008
What's great about it: every things
What's not so great: none
great laptop got it all at a great price play wow and runs great with no problems replaced a old laptop up grade bling
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 5 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Best Gaming Laptop for Less Than $1500
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Raptor13am
on 05/02/2008
What's great about it: Graphics Card, Hard Drive, RAM, Media Buttons, Cool Design
What's not so great: Processor, Vista
This is the best gaming laptop you will get for under $1500. I was able to play crysis on it, even though it did freeze up a little, but i will handle just about every other game out right now. If you upgrade the processor to a t7500 or a t7700 you will be set for a while to play just about every game on high. That would also make the best gaming laptop you could possible get for under $2000. You can't find a laptop that has this graphics card in it cheaper than this.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 6 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
great priced laptop
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: hunalee15
from eagan, mn
on 05/01/2008
What's great about it: plenty of memory, good video card, good sound
What's not so great: slow processing speed and could have a larger hdd
Nothing comes close to this laptop when u look at its price and specs. It'll run for hours and not overheat. Good wi-fi capabilities as well as a smooth keyboard. Hdmi is very useful with the supported 8800gts 512mb gpu. Gateway is finally on the map for gaming at great prices. Purchase extended warranty, you won't regret it. Thanks
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 7 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
OMG AMAZING
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: GatewayAndLovingIt
from Conway, AR
on 05/01/2008
What's great about it: Huge Screen for a laptop, easy to use media buttons, keypad, large memory
What's not so great: a little bit heavy
I've owned this laptop for a while now and love it just as much today as I did the first day I brought it home from BestBuy! My 12 yr old son is wanting a laptop and I'm considering buying him one of these as well...it would be an investment that he'd be able to use for quite sometime, unlike the cheap laptop I bought him 6 months ago that crashed for no apparent reason!!
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 8 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Great Product for the Money!
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: Allthatisman
from Moore, OK
on 04/28/2008
What's great about it: 8800M GTS, 3Gigs memory, Price
What's not so great: Bloatware!, Processor (T5550)
I recently purchased this product after deciding that the price/performance ratio was better than any other product on the market at the time. After performing some minor surgery to Vista, I am extremely impressed with this laptop. I am currently playing Quake 4 on ultra with AAx4 and this puppy doesn't miss a beat. I have also played F.E.A.R. with great results. The Crysis demo is also "surprisingly" playable. The build quality is very good. The keys do not feel cheap and the speakers are very decent for a notebook. There is an eSata port for connecting to an external hard drive and an HDMI port for connecting to an HDTV. The only downside is the processor. To keep this computer at its price point however, what can you expect? This being the case, the processor is also easily upgraded. Overall, I am very pleased with this purchase and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a well-built, though inexpensive gaming laptop.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 9 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
LOVE IT!
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: SMERFCIA
from chicago!
on 04/28/2008
What's great about it: SPEED, SLEEK LOOK!
What's not so great: NONE MAJOR
I love this laptop! This is my second gateway computer, the first one was great and lasted about 8 or 9 years until i got bored and wanted a laptop for a change. i absolutely love the laptop it looks great, its fast and wouldn't exchange for none other! its a great buy for the price!! I read a lot of reviews before making my mind once I did and got i waited 7months to see if any problems would accure! nothing so far!!!
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 10 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Revolutionary Gateway-BestBuy Notebook
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Traplinemechanic
from Bellingham, WA
on 04/27/2008
What's great about it: 8800 gpu, Copper Heatpipe Heatsinks, Core 2 Duo cpu, 3Gig ram, 250Gig hard drive, HDMI output, Wireless N, eSATA,Webcam
What's not so great: Poor choice of color markings for the number keys, very difficult to read.
Revolutionary P-6831FX BestBuy-Gateway PC Deserves an Award.
I bought the P-6831FX last week, which is the model before the P-6860FX. I am basing my review on the model I purchased which is nearly identical, and any differences in the P-6860 improve the model line even further! I am already saving up for the next generation Gateway-BestBuy gaming notebook.
It took me about 3 minutes to decide to buy this laptop and about 3 seconds to shed my regret of purchasing it.
LIKES:
1. I like the offset synaptics pointing device(to the left), mouse pad, reason is that it leaves a little counter area where I can use a traditional usb mouse on the laptop counter surface to the right of the built in device. Handy for gaming while the notebook is on your lap.
1. I like the offset synaptics pointing device(to the left), mouse pad, reason is that it leaves a little counter area where I can use a traditional usb mouse on the laptop counter surface to the right of the built in device. Handy for gaming while the notebook is on your lap.
2. Great components ie 8800 gpu, Copper Heatpipe Heatsinks, Core 2 Duo cpu, 3Gig ram, 250Gig hard drive, HDMI output, Wireless N capable, eSATA,
3. Nice 17" screen for gaming, works great even when power adapter is unplugged.
4. 8800GTS GPU responds well to Nvidia software.
5. I can upgrade the cpu to the T9300.
DISLIKES:
1. I can not read the number keys to the top of the keyboard as they are marked in dark orange.
If your room is not well lit, or you are at an angle you can not read these keys.
1. I can not read the number keys to the top of the keyboard as they are marked in dark orange.
If your room is not well lit, or you are at an angle you can not read these keys.
2. Precious room is taken up by a number keypad to the right of the main keyboard. I have
no use for this at all.
no use for this at all.
3. I wish there was a backlight for the keyboard or the option to have keys that are back lit
when you are gaming in a dark room.
when you are gaming in a dark room.
This notebook is AMAZING . For people who game, I am going to cut right to the point.
3DMark06 6932
Note: All benchmarks are with the T5450 cpu and would be MUCH higher with the T9300 upgrade
Note: All benchmarks are with the T5450 cpu and would be MUCH higher with the T9300 upgrade
CRYSIS
(Yes it can play Crysis!)
Resolution 1440x900 all settings HIGH FRAPS fps 32 fps
Resolution 1440x900 HIGH and 8x AA 11fps (but surprisingly still very playable)
The 64bit OS on the P-6860FX will play Crysis even better as Crysis also has 64bit option
(Yes it can play Crysis!)
Resolution 1440x900 all settings HIGH FRAPS fps 32 fps
Resolution 1440x900 HIGH and 8x AA 11fps (but surprisingly still very playable)
The 64bit OS on the P-6860FX will play Crysis even better as Crysis also has 64bit option
BATTLEFIELD 2 resolution 1152x864 all settings HIGH
FRAPS benchmark fps min avg 69 max avg 82
FRAPS benchmark fps min avg 69 max avg 82
CALL OF DUTY 4
resolution 1440 x 900 all settings HIGH or EXTRA
FULL AA and AF
FRAPS avg fps 62 to 109
resolution 1440 x 900 all settings HIGH or EXTRA
FULL AA and AF
FRAPS avg fps 62 to 109
F.E.A.R.
1152 x 864 Max settings
FRAPS 109 fps
1152 x 864 Max settings
FRAPS 109 fps
TEAM FORTRESS 2
1440x 900 All settings HIGH and 8x AA Fraps fps 97
1440x 900 All settings HIGH and 8x AA Fraps fps 97
I am still beaming with my purchase a week later, especially since I got this notebook with
excellent performance for about half of what other competitors market 8700GT and 8800GTX
models for. It is noteworthy that the gpu in this notebook is the third fastest in any machine
right now. It only ranks below the 8800GTX and the 8700SLI notebooks, and GREATLY outperforms the
8600GT and 9500GS video cards in other laptops. I have made the decision to get rid of all my
desktops and use this notebook as a total desktop replacement. If I need to work at a desk, I will plug in a usb mouse, keyboard and hook the notebook up to my desktop monitor and close the lid as the notebook still operates while closed.
excellent performance for about half of what other competitors market 8700GT and 8800GTX
models for. It is noteworthy that the gpu in this notebook is the third fastest in any machine
right now. It only ranks below the 8800GTX and the 8700SLI notebooks, and GREATLY outperforms the
8600GT and 9500GS video cards in other laptops. I have made the decision to get rid of all my
desktops and use this notebook as a total desktop replacement. If I need to work at a desk, I will plug in a usb mouse, keyboard and hook the notebook up to my desktop monitor and close the lid as the notebook still operates while closed.
Even though I have dislikes, they are minor setbacks to this notebook. I highly recommend this computer to anyone. I like the FX graphics on the lid and the large 17" screen. These two attributes may not be suitable for a professional or someone travelling onboard an aircraft with limited room to move. If this notebook can churn through the games as I have witnessed, it can also handle any other software you throw at it for office use. Overall the best notebook for gaming when looking at the performance to cost ratio.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 11 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
P-6831FX
Customer Rating
1.0
Posted by: unko
on 04/27/2008
What's great about it: Good for the price
What's not so great: Why get when you can get the P-6860FX
I have the same positive comments as everyone else but wanted to say to get the P-6860FX instead. I just got the P-6831FX 20 days ago and the return policy is 14 days so I can't return. The P-6860FX has a bigger hard drive & 1GB more ram. Why wouldn't you do that for the same price. I wish I waited a little longer to get a notebook so I could have gotten the P-6860FX
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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Review 12 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Best PC I ever bought
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: NanoSuit
on 04/27/2008
What's great about it: Good for multitascing, great price for what you get, can play crysis!
What's not so great: processor undermines amount of memory
This a great gaming pc (though you should get the newer version for the same price) It can play crysis, which means you can play any thing on this machine, It also makes it a good media player, though it can't play blue-ray or hd dvd, it can play dvd's and has media center for easy acess for all your media, in full screen, while your at it you can whatch online media as well, It's got a lot of ports to for any accessories you might want to add for gaming. So all and all It's a great machine and the new one's probebly even better.(for the same price!)
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 13 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Very nice laptop
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: David86
from CA
on 04/25/2008
What's great about it: very nice graphics card. nice design
What's not so great: cpu, but RAM and graphics card makes up for it!
This is a great gaming notebook, especially for the price. This plays all games great. I run COD4 at around 50 fps! This is a must get product. Great Job Gateway!
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 14 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Don't get this one.
Customer Rating
1.0
Posted by: Cheesus
on 04/23/2008
What's great about it: Overall, it's a good laptop
What's not so great: ...but I had to reinstall windows one month after I got it, which means I lost everything.
This isn't a bad laptop, but it crashed on me one month after I got it, resulting in many lost files. I would play it safe and go with another laptop, preferably not from Gateway.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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Review 15 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Great Laptop
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: Sdsampila
from Chicago, IL
on 04/23/2008
What's great about it: Graphics Card, speed, look
What's not so great: Bloatware
I bought this laptop basically because everyone has been talking about it. The Best Buy by my house had one left in stock and it was the only one at a BB in the state! I was a little weary of the bloatware, but the package deal came with an upgrade to vista ultimate, so a clean uninstall solved that problem. I'm also happy that this laptop can easily be upgraded down the line. Will probably get the t9300 everyon is talking about. I'm very pleased with this laptop so far and will see how it does with Crysis tonight.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 16 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Great, Even Better With Upgrades
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Gumby72
on 04/11/2008
What's great about it: Video, Ram, Screen, Esata, Labelflash
What's not so great: Orange colored numbers on keyboard
Let me say that this laptop is a great value if you are a gamer or if you just do Photoshop or burn movies. Right out of the box the graphics score is 5.8 and 5.9 in Vista and the processor and ram are 4.8 and 4.5. Not bad at all for a laptop. With the 512 video you will be able to play any game you want that is out righ tnow with a decent frame rate. With the money I saved on this laptop I splurged on a few upgrades.
First I upgraded my T5550 (I got a 1.83 in my box, very nice suprise)to a T9300 from newegg. There is a $60 difference from the T8300 to the T9300 so I splurged for the 10 to 15% performance increase the reviews on the chips say as well as it is supposed to have a 10% longer battery life with this processor. I don't know about all that but this laptop is giving me 3 hours plus on web surfing and email, office applications, etc. Not bad for a 17 inch high performance laptop. Yes the battery does stick out a little from the back but it is worth it to me to get extended battery life as well as a little support so your ac plug is not by itself back there, there is a base that will keep you from maybe bending or catching it on something. So after upgrading the processor I noticed an increase immediately, boot up time was less than 30 seconds for me. I have wiped the laptop and put the fresh copy of Vista on it from the cd rom provided from Gateway. It is nice because when you are done you have a computer with no bloatware and apps you don't need that just slow it down anyway. NOTE: before wiping the laptop and restoring it with the cd you need to go to Gateway on the start menu and create a recovery disk for your drivers and apps because the cd is Vista only, nothing else. So after the upgrade my processor score went from a 4.8 to a 5.4 and due to the increase in processor performance my memory was able to move data faster and it went from 4.5 to 4.8.
Secondly I took out the 250 gig Western Digital and put in two Hitachi 200 gig 7200 RPM 16mb cache hard drives that I bought at BEST BUY for $179.99 a piece. It is expensive but the speed is so worth it. Windows loads like a champ and the Hitachi also comes with an external USB housing that you can put the 250 gig WD in and use as a backup hard drive. It even comes with bootable software that allows you to boot your computer up and put the new drive in the external enclosure and copy your 250 gig to the new Hitachi and then you can swap them out and not have to reinstall Windows. I however set up my two Hitachi's in a Raid 0 stripe configuration taking advantage of this laptops onboard RAID controller, how sweet is that? By this upgrade I maxed out my hard drive score to the max, a 5.9 and with the addition of these drives my Memory score went up to a 5.0. So now I have a 5.4 processor, 5.0 memory, 5.9 and 5.8 on video and a 5.9 on hard drive, how perfect is that.
Another feature I love about this laptop is the Esata connection. USB is fine and I have gotten transfer rates at 20mb or so sustained, but Esata is the way to go. I have tested this controller out with two Esata hard drives. a 500 gig WD My Book and a Seagate 500gig. The Seagate ripped transfers at a rate of 40mb per second and I got 30+ mb per sec with the WD. Put it this way when I restored 48 gigs of data it toook less than 30 minutes with the Esata controller. Also if you are not familiar with labelflash, it is like lightscribe but it is different. They require different cd's to burn on the top of but the labelflash detail will blow you away. Go buy a 10 pack and make a few labels, the text is crisp, the pictures have great detail. Adds a nice touch to dvd's you may not want to label with the Magic Marker :) The speakers are ok, not going to blow you away but then I really don't expect a concert from a laptop, it is not a main feature to me but if you put on a pair of headphones, it will rock your socks off. Also to not the processor upgrade took less than 15 minutes to complete. Make sure you have Thermal compund to put on you rnew one and you clean your old compund off before reseating and putting the thing back together. I have the T9300 running at 37 Celcius on avg and playing games so far it has not peaked up above 60 degrees.
The only complaint and it really it is not a complaint but it is the only thing that I would change is the number keys are in orange to match the color scheme and in lower light situations it is very hard to see those keys but you always have the 10 key and it works for me. Go get this laptop, it is worth the money.
First I upgraded my T5550 (I got a 1.83 in my box, very nice suprise)to a T9300 from newegg. There is a $60 difference from the T8300 to the T9300 so I splurged for the 10 to 15% performance increase the reviews on the chips say as well as it is supposed to have a 10% longer battery life with this processor. I don't know about all that but this laptop is giving me 3 hours plus on web surfing and email, office applications, etc. Not bad for a 17 inch high performance laptop. Yes the battery does stick out a little from the back but it is worth it to me to get extended battery life as well as a little support so your ac plug is not by itself back there, there is a base that will keep you from maybe bending or catching it on something. So after upgrading the processor I noticed an increase immediately, boot up time was less than 30 seconds for me. I have wiped the laptop and put the fresh copy of Vista on it from the cd rom provided from Gateway. It is nice because when you are done you have a computer with no bloatware and apps you don't need that just slow it down anyway. NOTE: before wiping the laptop and restoring it with the cd you need to go to Gateway on the start menu and create a recovery disk for your drivers and apps because the cd is Vista only, nothing else. So after the upgrade my processor score went from a 4.8 to a 5.4 and due to the increase in processor performance my memory was able to move data faster and it went from 4.5 to 4.8.
Secondly I took out the 250 gig Western Digital and put in two Hitachi 200 gig 7200 RPM 16mb cache hard drives that I bought at BEST BUY for $179.99 a piece. It is expensive but the speed is so worth it. Windows loads like a champ and the Hitachi also comes with an external USB housing that you can put the 250 gig WD in and use as a backup hard drive. It even comes with bootable software that allows you to boot your computer up and put the new drive in the external enclosure and copy your 250 gig to the new Hitachi and then you can swap them out and not have to reinstall Windows. I however set up my two Hitachi's in a Raid 0 stripe configuration taking advantage of this laptops onboard RAID controller, how sweet is that? By this upgrade I maxed out my hard drive score to the max, a 5.9 and with the addition of these drives my Memory score went up to a 5.0. So now I have a 5.4 processor, 5.0 memory, 5.9 and 5.8 on video and a 5.9 on hard drive, how perfect is that.
Another feature I love about this laptop is the Esata connection. USB is fine and I have gotten transfer rates at 20mb or so sustained, but Esata is the way to go. I have tested this controller out with two Esata hard drives. a 500 gig WD My Book and a Seagate 500gig. The Seagate ripped transfers at a rate of 40mb per second and I got 30+ mb per sec with the WD. Put it this way when I restored 48 gigs of data it toook less than 30 minutes with the Esata controller. Also if you are not familiar with labelflash, it is like lightscribe but it is different. They require different cd's to burn on the top of but the labelflash detail will blow you away. Go buy a 10 pack and make a few labels, the text is crisp, the pictures have great detail. Adds a nice touch to dvd's you may not want to label with the Magic Marker :) The speakers are ok, not going to blow you away but then I really don't expect a concert from a laptop, it is not a main feature to me but if you put on a pair of headphones, it will rock your socks off. Also to not the processor upgrade took less than 15 minutes to complete. Make sure you have Thermal compund to put on you rnew one and you clean your old compund off before reseating and putting the thing back together. I have the T9300 running at 37 Celcius on avg and playing games so far it has not peaked up above 60 degrees.
The only complaint and it really it is not a complaint but it is the only thing that I would change is the number keys are in orange to match the color scheme and in lower light situations it is very hard to see those keys but you always have the 10 key and it works for me. Go get this laptop, it is worth the money.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 17 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Best bang for the buck
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: AxelCloris
from Cincinnati, OH
on 04/08/2008
What's great about it: 8800 graphics card, 3GB RAM, sturdy design
What's not so great: Low viewing angle and processor
I recently picked up this laptop as a replacement to my now dead HP model. Thankfully I had the service plan so I was able to swap out the old one for this amazing machine. There aren't many laptops on the market that have the NVIDIA 8800 GTS onboard and even less that are in this price range. You also have 3GB of RAM to support you when you're gaming or using demanding programs.
One drawback of the machine however is the processor. The good news is that Gateway didn't leave you high and dry. They've set up the motherboard so you can upgrade the processer to a faster CPU down the road; I'm considering the Intel T9300. And even with the lower speeds of the 5450 the 3GB of RAM will help when you're running games so you don't lose too many frames.
All in all, this is a machine I would highly recommend to any gamers out there who are on a budget. Sure it's not the top of the line right now, but you can add to it later and make it a dream machine, and it's much cheaper than buying other models with the 8800 inside.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 18 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Anonymous
from Tigard, Oregon
on 04/07/2008
What's great about it: 8800 GTS Video Card, 3gb DDR2-667, 250gb Hard Drive, and all the rest of it's awesome features!
What's not so great: No fingerprint reader, CPU could be a bit faster
I'll say this once: Despite the cons, I am NOT complaining ONE BIT! This is one INCREDIBLE machine. I've never been complimented carrying a laptop with me, but SEVERAL strangers have stopped me on the street to say, "DUDE! Nice laptop!".
I've never owned a laptop before, but have borrowed and used many, and this one, by far, is the nicest laptop I've ever used. It's FAST FAST FAST! I did my homework, and found that the closest price for a laptop with the same specs as this one, was almost $2,700. Do yourself a favor: Forget the fact that it's a year-old model... This thing is almost as powerful as my monster Quad-Core desktop machine! It gets about 6300 on 3dMark06, VERY RESPECTABLE.
I am a computer consultant, and though some of my business is driving around to my clients, the rest I do remotely. So, essentially, I've been strapped to my desk, so that when clients would call, I could take care of the issue. WELL, NO MORE!
I picked up a Verizon mobile internet adapter, and can now do much of my business anywhere I have cell service. I need to get a power inverter for my car so I get more than 2 hours of battery life on a trip before I have to find a wall socket.
I'll warn you this though: You can game with it... Just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD.... at least while running on batteries :) You'll get about 15 minutes out of a full battery when playing Need for Speed Pro Street or Crysis.... Just a word of warning. I was in a place where I couldn't find an outlet when I decided to game on the battery... D'oh. Live and learn ;) But if you're not doing anything graphics intensive, you'll have a couple hours, even powering a cellular broadband adapter.
This is one truly amazing, truly powerful, piece of hardware. My friend was really upset with me when I brought it over, and handed it to him to play Need for Speed on.......and it played better and looked much nicer than his home computer. :) I haven't found one person yet who doesn't want one.
If you can get this laptop, DO IT. You'll be glad you did.
OH YEAH!!! It has a SECOND, UNUSED SATA HARD DRIVE BAY!!!!!! YOU CAN ADD A SECOND INTERNAL HARD DRIVE TO THIS THING! CPU is also very accessible; about 12 screws. Many laptops require taking the whole chassis apart to get to the CPU; not this one. I'm going to see if it will take a 2ghz chip here in a few weeks. BUY THIS LAPTOP!!!! :)
I've never owned a laptop before, but have borrowed and used many, and this one, by far, is the nicest laptop I've ever used. It's FAST FAST FAST! I did my homework, and found that the closest price for a laptop with the same specs as this one, was almost $2,700. Do yourself a favor: Forget the fact that it's a year-old model... This thing is almost as powerful as my monster Quad-Core desktop machine! It gets about 6300 on 3dMark06, VERY RESPECTABLE.
I am a computer consultant, and though some of my business is driving around to my clients, the rest I do remotely. So, essentially, I've been strapped to my desk, so that when clients would call, I could take care of the issue. WELL, NO MORE!
I picked up a Verizon mobile internet adapter, and can now do much of my business anywhere I have cell service. I need to get a power inverter for my car so I get more than 2 hours of battery life on a trip before I have to find a wall socket.
I'll warn you this though: You can game with it... Just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD.... at least while running on batteries :) You'll get about 15 minutes out of a full battery when playing Need for Speed Pro Street or Crysis.... Just a word of warning. I was in a place where I couldn't find an outlet when I decided to game on the battery... D'oh. Live and learn ;) But if you're not doing anything graphics intensive, you'll have a couple hours, even powering a cellular broadband adapter.
This is one truly amazing, truly powerful, piece of hardware. My friend was really upset with me when I brought it over, and handed it to him to play Need for Speed on.......and it played better and looked much nicer than his home computer. :) I haven't found one person yet who doesn't want one.
If you can get this laptop, DO IT. You'll be glad you did.
OH YEAH!!! It has a SECOND, UNUSED SATA HARD DRIVE BAY!!!!!! YOU CAN ADD A SECOND INTERNAL HARD DRIVE TO THIS THING! CPU is also very accessible; about 12 screws. Many laptops require taking the whole chassis apart to get to the CPU; not this one. I'm going to see if it will take a 2ghz chip here in a few weeks. BUY THIS LAPTOP!!!! :)
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 19 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Nice deal
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Deca
on 04/06/2008
What's great about it: Easy to upgrade and great value
What's not so great: somewhat cheap build quality, but doesn't affect the whole package.
I walked in to my local BB the other day and they actually had two P-6831FX in stock.. I purchased one, got online and ordered a T9300 and second SATA HDD.. When upgrading the CPU, I noticed that I actually had a T5550 vs T5450. No biggie but noteable. A clean install of Vista removed all the bloat, and after updating the drivers, I have a great notebook that will last for years to come. Make sure if you decide to perform a clean install that you burn a copy of the drivers and apps in case you need them! The manual explains the best way to do this. I was running Win XP pro and Office XP pro on my old pc.. I actually think Vista is a fine change. A little optimization is all that is necessary. Best of luck!
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Review 20 for Gateway Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology
Slap a new processor in her and shes a beast
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: ComputerExpert
from Chicago IL
on 04/04/2008
What's great about it: Excellent laptop at an excellent price.
What's not so great: CPU is weak sauce so you need to swap it out for a new one ASAP.
I just put a T8300 processor in this bad boy and now I've got one of the best laptops that money can buy at incredible price. Kudos to Gateway.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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