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Browsing the Best Buy website the other day, the 17" Gateway P-6831FX, or FX for short, caught my eye, w/its Nvidia 8800M GTS video, and for $1349.99.
I had been just checking out everyone's 17" laptops for under $2000, just to see what's out there. Most had the Nvidia Go 8600M, and just one, w/the Go 8700M.
Anyway, when I saw the Gateway, I immediately did some research on it, and it looked very good, so I went and ordered it on their website, for a pickup at a local store on Friday. Saturday evening, pending rumors of a sale of the FX, when Best Buy posted their new sale prices, it was posted on sale for $1249.99, w/a free game, your choice, $49.99 or less. Sunday morning I called Best Buy and got the $100 credited back to my account. I picked the game Crysis.
Looking at the laptop, the cpu is real easy to upgrade. The Intel 1.67 GHz T5450 Core 2 Duo that comes w/it, is really not that bad, and will do for now.
It has two hard drive bays built in, but w/only one is installed. With two hard drives, the laptop will support RAID 0. UPDATE: I have since upgraded to two (2) 60 gb Hitachi 7200 RPM HD's, setup as RAID 0.
The display is a 17.0" WXGA+ Ultrabright TFT Active Matrix (1440 x 900 max. resolution). It's the only thing that I'm a little disapointed with. It's too glossy, where an external light will effect the view, and as you move away from the screen, you start loosing the screen detail. Other than that, it's OK, and still shows very good detail, and considering the price, one can't really complain. The video out is a standard VGA connector, there's also a HDMI connector, but there is no DVI connector. On a good external monitor, the picture looks excellent.
The Intel chipset is the latest PM965, which supports Intel's latest laptop cpu's, including Intel's Extreme series.
The FX also supports Intel's new Turbo Memory card, but none is installed. I've read that there is no measureable benefit for having it.
Then of course there is the graphics card, the Nvidia Go 8800M GTS. In Vista, it is shown as an 8800 GT, but Gateway fixed that w/a newer driver, available as a download on their web site. It comes w/512 mb of built in DDR3 memory. The card appears not to be MXM, but appears to be soldered to the mother board, next to the cpu.
Anyway here are some benchnark numbers for the laptop:
Windows Vista Benchmarks w/the original Nvidia Driver 167.46
Vista Windows Experience Index Base Score - 4.5
Processor - 4.7
Memory - 4.5
Graphics - 5.9
Gaming Graphics - 5.8
Primary HD - 5.2
3DMark2001 - 20,049
3DMark03 - 23,269
3DMark05 - 10,060
3DMark06 - 7027
AquaMark3 - 86,673
Sandra Lite Benchmark (2008.1.13.12)
Processor: Dhry 14,187 Mips; Whet 10,488 Whet
Memory: Int 3670 mb/sec; Flt 3658 mb/sec
HD TUNE: 2x 60 gb Hitachi 7200 RPM, w/8 mb Cache HD's, setup as RAID 0.
Minimum - 37.8 mb/s
Maximum - 66.7 mb/s
Average - 51.4 mb/s
Access time - 15.0 ms
Burst Rate - 48.3 mb/s
CPU Usage - 4.9 %
Windows XP Pro Benchmarks w/the Nvidia Driver 169.32
3DMark2001 - 27,468
3DMark03 - 24,125
3DMark05 - 10,365
3DMark06 - 7155
AquaMark03 - 95,850
Sandra Lite Benchmark (2008.1.13.12)
Processor: Dhry 14,020 Mips; Whet 10,664 Whet
Memory: Int 3695 mb/sec; Flt 3696 mb/sec
HD TUNE: 2x 60 gb Hitachi 7200 RPM, w/8 mb Cache HD's, setup as RAID 0.
Transfer Rate
Minimum 9.7 MB/s
Maximum 63.0 MB/s
Average 49.8 MB/s
Access Time: 14.9 ms
Burst Transfer: 47.6 MB/s
CPU Usage 3.3 %
HD Tune in Safe Mode. It's a little bit better, but not much.
Transfer Rate
Minimum 9.4 MB/s
Maximum 69.7 MB/s
Average 54.4 MB/s
Access Time: 14.8 ms
Burst Transfer: 56.3 MB/s
CPU Usage 1.9 %
.
I had been just checking out everyone's 17" laptops for under $2000, just to see what's out there. Most had the Nvidia Go 8600M, and just one, w/the Go 8700M.
Anyway, when I saw the Gateway, I immediately did some research on it, and it looked very good, so I went and ordered it on their website, for a pickup at a local store on Friday. Saturday evening, pending rumors of a sale of the FX, when Best Buy posted their new sale prices, it was posted on sale for $1249.99, w/a free game, your choice, $49.99 or less. Sunday morning I called Best Buy and got the $100 credited back to my account. I picked the game Crysis.
Looking at the laptop, the cpu is real easy to upgrade. The Intel 1.67 GHz T5450 Core 2 Duo that comes w/it, is really not that bad, and will do for now.
It has two hard drive bays built in, but w/only one is installed. With two hard drives, the laptop will support RAID 0. UPDATE: I have since upgraded to two (2) 60 gb Hitachi 7200 RPM HD's, setup as RAID 0.
The display is a 17.0" WXGA+ Ultrabright TFT Active Matrix (1440 x 900 max. resolution). It's the only thing that I'm a little disapointed with. It's too glossy, where an external light will effect the view, and as you move away from the screen, you start loosing the screen detail. Other than that, it's OK, and still shows very good detail, and considering the price, one can't really complain. The video out is a standard VGA connector, there's also a HDMI connector, but there is no DVI connector. On a good external monitor, the picture looks excellent.
The Intel chipset is the latest PM965, which supports Intel's latest laptop cpu's, including Intel's Extreme series.
The FX also supports Intel's new Turbo Memory card, but none is installed. I've read that there is no measureable benefit for having it.
Then of course there is the graphics card, the Nvidia Go 8800M GTS. In Vista, it is shown as an 8800 GT, but Gateway fixed that w/a newer driver, available as a download on their web site. It comes w/512 mb of built in DDR3 memory. The card appears not to be MXM, but appears to be soldered to the mother board, next to the cpu.
Anyway here are some benchnark numbers for the laptop:
Windows Vista Benchmarks w/the original Nvidia Driver 167.46
Vista Windows Experience Index Base Score - 4.5
Processor - 4.7
Memory - 4.5
Graphics - 5.9
Gaming Graphics - 5.8
Primary HD - 5.2
3DMark2001 - 20,049
3DMark03 - 23,269
3DMark05 - 10,060
3DMark06 - 7027
AquaMark3 - 86,673
Sandra Lite Benchmark (2008.1.13.12)
Processor: Dhry 14,187 Mips; Whet 10,488 Whet
Memory: Int 3670 mb/sec; Flt 3658 mb/sec
HD TUNE: 2x 60 gb Hitachi 7200 RPM, w/8 mb Cache HD's, setup as RAID 0.
Minimum - 37.8 mb/s
Maximum - 66.7 mb/s
Average - 51.4 mb/s
Access time - 15.0 ms
Burst Rate - 48.3 mb/s
CPU Usage - 4.9 %
Windows XP Pro Benchmarks w/the Nvidia Driver 169.32
3DMark2001 - 27,468
3DMark03 - 24,125
3DMark05 - 10,365
3DMark06 - 7155
AquaMark03 - 95,850
Sandra Lite Benchmark (2008.1.13.12)
Processor: Dhry 14,020 Mips; Whet 10,664 Whet
Memory: Int 3695 mb/sec; Flt 3696 mb/sec
HD TUNE: 2x 60 gb Hitachi 7200 RPM, w/8 mb Cache HD's, setup as RAID 0.
Transfer Rate
Minimum 9.7 MB/s
Maximum 63.0 MB/s
Average 49.8 MB/s
Access Time: 14.9 ms
Burst Transfer: 47.6 MB/s
CPU Usage 3.3 %
HD Tune in Safe Mode. It's a little bit better, but not much.
Transfer Rate
Minimum 9.4 MB/s
Maximum 69.7 MB/s
Average 54.4 MB/s
Access Time: 14.8 ms
Burst Transfer: 56.3 MB/s
CPU Usage 1.9 %
.
