Gateway P-7811FX user reviews

Pros Very large hard drive, 1920*1200 resolution

Cons Flimsy feeling keyboard, keys have a tendency to break (3 on the one I own)

Summary A very good gaming notebook for the money, it's successors pale in regards to screen resolution (one of the things that Gateway should have kept in the successors), very good at gaming even in extremely graphics intensive games like Crysis (60fps at high settings in 1280*1024... reasonable, if not good for a laptop with only one graphics card), quick hard drive access.

The only knocks I have on this are the slow DVD burner in it (come on DVD drive makers... time to get at LEAST 16X burning on a laptop!) and the 'fingerprint magnet' glossy coating on the screen.

Updated on Mar 31, 2009

In regards to the keyboard breaking thing..... Gateway isn't very good with fixing their notebooks. It took two WEEKS to get the computer back from them..... two weeks without my 'good computer' is unacceptable in my opinion.
Their computers are good... but they have to work on their warranty and repair turnaround time.

Pros * Best 3D performance for the price
* Beautiful high-definition display
* HDMI and eSATA ports
* Good productivity performance

Cons * Speakers not very powerful
* No Blu-ray drive
* Good luck finding one

Summary The full-size keyboard is generously spaced and comfortable and features a full numerical keypad, surrounded by copper trim. Between two average sounding speakers are a flush-mounted, orange-backlit media player control panel and a sliding volume control. The touchpad was responsive and is conveniently positioned to provide easy access to the keyboard without requiring too much wrist movement.

The 1080p screen on the P-7811FX gives crisp imagery and remarkably wide viewing angles, but you may want to keep ambient light to a minimum as the glossy coating tends to be a bit too reflective, that however is a minor issue. Watched a movie on it and it looked great and showed no noticeable motion blur. The speakers are the problem, which are merely adequate, a subwoofer would have helped. You better invest in some headphones.

Some of my concerns are it's weight, at 9.3lbs this beast is on the heavy side. heat management is important if you plan on running this at it's maximum potential. They also stopped producing them in bulk, so you'll either have to go directly to Gateway, or find one elsewhere online. The reason for the reduced production has nothing to do with the machine's performance, its' just that the price they had it at was TOO LOW. Overall this machine may spend most of its' life tethered near a power outlet, which is fine because it's a desktop replacement. Even though its' heavy for a laptop, it is way more portable than the traditional PC. Laptops will only get more powerful from here, and it looks like the age of the desktop PC is seeing it's end with machines like this.

Updated on Jan 30, 2009

Get rid of the junk software, and dump Vista the moment Windows 7 launches. Customer support is a joke, better if you know someone who actually knows how computers work if you have problems. Had the computer for a good month now, and played Fallout 3 full tilt with no issues. Holds my music, games and downloads fairly well, although I've already filled half the Disk space. Invest in a cooling pad and a portable hard drive (currently using a Free Agent Go). Still loving it, although it really does attract dust and finger prints like crazy, wipe it down if it matters that much to you.

Pros 9800m gts is an excellent card, runs cooler than expected.
2 hard drive bays, and I THINK raid is possible (not sure).
Screen is 1920x1200, which is amazing for a laptop.
Full keyboard w/ num pad.
DDR3 Memory and a 64 bit OS.
Easy to access CPU.

Cons Crappy digital volume bar. Would have preferred volume buttons.
Fn and Ctrl are switched, but you get used to it.
Arrow keys are a little small and close together.
Poor driver support by Gateway.

Summary Pros outweigh cons by far on this one. I don't know why Gateway forces you to download graphics card drivers from their site, because it is a lot less convenient than getting them from Nvidia. Screen brightness is a little low for me, but most people wouldn't agree with that statement. Contrast is great, and it has a 1920x1200 resolution, which I still can't believe. Honestly, I think that's even a little too much for the 9800m gts to even handle with newer games. It doesn't have a Blu-ray drive, but I'm not complaining because that probably lowered the price, and those are easily installable anyway. The 2 hard drive bays are another selling point, and I'm pretty sure you can configure them in a raid if you want. The CPU is a little weak compared to the other specs, but it'll still get the job done. The best part is that you can swap out the default 2.26 Ghz Core 2 Duo for another one pretty easily, and without voiding warranty. Right now, you can get up to a 2.8 Ghz Core 2 Duo for it, but their still pretty expensive. In any case, it's nice to be able to upgrade. I'm pretty sure the CPU is liquid cooled, or something like that. It has a copper pipe running over it, and I've only once seen one of the cores go above 60C, even when gaming. The fan is a little irritating. When it senses the GPU go over 45C, it kicks in. But instead of just blowing normally, starts and stops rhythmically. This only lasts for a few seconds, but it kind of annoys me, and I don't think you can change it. The GPU is by far the hottest part of the P7811-FX. I've seen it get up to 75 when playing Fallout 3, but that's rare. Usually, it hangs out in the mid 60s, which is alright. Even 75C is within safety limits, but I like to keep my computers very cool. Oh, and a cooling pad is essential when gaming, and preferred when internet surfing. I don't know what the temps would look like without one, and I don't want to know. I recommend an aluminum one with at least 3 fans, but I have a 2 fan plastic one, and it still works alright I guess. Another con that I didn't have room to add is that it only has 3 USB ports. All of mine are usually full, and a fourth would have really helped. The fact that it has an eSata port and an HDMI out does sort of make up for it though. A problem mine has, but I'm not sure all of them have, is that the headphone jack doesn't work properly from the start. It's set up so that the laptop speakers are the default audio device, so plugging in headphones won't change that. You have to change it manually under audio options, which took me a while to find. That's about it I guess. Decent CPU, incredible GPU (may be the best in a laptop right now), 7200 rpm hard drive, and 4 GB DDR3 memory (a little slow for DDR3, but again, easy to upgrade). Vista 64 bit is alright. It's no worse than XP 64 bit, and it'll only get better once people start adopting 64 bit OSs. With it's power and upgradability, this thing really is almost a true desktop replacement. If you could find a way to gain access to the GPU, then you basically have a desktop in a portable package. But you won't need to do that for a while. This baby can run Crysis with all settings on high at 1024x768, and pretty much any other game with whatever settings you want, as long as you don't max out resolution.

Pros Fantastic Performance
Great Features
Great Price
Looks good too

Cons It's Huge
Vista operating system (No drivers support for Windows XP)
Speaker volume

Summary This is an amazing laptop for around $1200 (bought mine on sale at Best Buy, $1149). I shopped all over and couldn't come close to this kind of performance for under $2000.

I play FPS games like COD4 Modern Warfare, COD World at War, Left 4 Dead, etc The P-7811FX plays them all on high settings, smooth as butter.

Pros:
*Fantastic Performance*
Intel P8400 Core 2 Duo (Centrino 2) CPU
4GB DDR3 memory
512MB nVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTS graphics
17" screen with 1920 x 1200 resolution
Wireless N
HDMI, eSATA, 1394, USB 2.0 (x3), card reader, webcam & mic
Includes both 32bit & 64bit versions of Vista Home Premium SP1

Cons:
1. It's huge. It sucks to carry this big thing around, but once you get to your destination it's great. I wish gateway made this laptop in a 14" or 15" model for better portability.

2. In the event that you choose to ditch Vista, which is what comes preinstalled on the 7811FX, Gateway does not provide drivers for Windows XP .

3. Glossy black case looks great until you get your palm prints all over it.

4. Tiny speakers = poor sound quality, typical of all laptops I suspect. Speaker volume can be inadequate at times. You will need to wear headphones if you're in a noisy environment.