Gateway P-6831FX User Review

You can do clean install, just like any other Vista 32bit install DVD.

There may be option to do full system restore with all the other crap on it. I don't know because I didn't need to do it yet.

 

Ok cool, thanks. I dont know if its worth formatting and taking the time to reinstall ALL the drivers at this point, when those drivers will probably be revised a number of times over the next few months. Maybe I'll just sit tight and do it at a later stage. Uninstall what I can from the drive, and keep Vista.

Does anyone have any comments about the screen clarity, quality and lighting? I personally think this is a big negative. Im used to a 24" 4ms screen, its excellent. Seems like the edges arent sharp in games on this screen, and the screen is very bright.

Will it look better if one darkens the room? Any tweaks to improve performance? Maybe its because the pixels are too large?

NOTE: I have a 19" 2ms lying around. Think it will be better if I plug this in?

 

PS. If I install the 19" screen, does it keep the laptops screen on the whole time, or is there a way to disable/screen saver (blank) it. Best would be to close the lid and have the screen shut down, but still having the notebook running, using my 19" as its main. I can plug in a mouse and keyboard for convenience.

 

Use the Nvidia control panel to change gamma and other settings. The factory settings are pretty bland, you'll see a big improvement. It's located in your main control panel.

 

I'll check it out. Thanks for the tip.

 

Does anyone think a raincheck would be possible on this because all my local best buys (6) are out of them Or would it be possible to go to a service counter and request they ship one in with the next shipment to hold it for me?

 

They can order it from another location for you, or just go online and order it.

 

Yea I know i can get it online but 20 dollar shipping isnt pretty, i would assume you get out of that cost if you order in store and pick it up

Also can i see a picture of the laptop screen only with vista desktop and notebookreview/cnn/wikipedia/google/some well known site homepage open with normal font size so I can see how low the resolution might look?

 

Help!

Well, finally got every correct driver reinstalled except the...Audio.
Anyone what kind of audio is installed on this notebook and where I can get the drivers/programs for it??
I tried gateway support and they gave me the wrong ones...
Just need these drivers to complete it...

Also, someone here told me ou could use 800mzh ram..after talking to Gateway support..they say 667 is the max...is someone has tried 800..can you post the results here..

Thanks.

 

What settings do you suggest? I have a bad eye whenever I do it myself.

 

Ok, after looking thru the device manager..microsoft installed drivers for the audio..(old ones)..but I still have a unknown device with no drivers...when I look at the details..it say HDAUDIO..???...

Is there also supposed to be a modem installed under device manager too..?
If so, where can I get the drivers.??

 

FYI, it was mentioned in this thread or one of the others relating to this model that the optical drive was not user replaceable. That is incorrect. Just the same as my previous Dell E1705, there is just 1 screw under a rubber foot holding the drive in place. The screw is right next to the HDD bay in line with the optical drive.

 

I also wanted to add that the LCD in my unit is a SEC3847 / Samsung. Bright, no "grain" as often cited in Dell screens. There is however a fair amount of light leakage at the bottom and upper corners of the screen. It's not too bad, especially given the cost to hardware ratio of the machine.

 

Can anyone recommend Nvidia settings to get the best performance for movies? I installed some games last night, and let me tell you, when its running at full screen, its fricken awesome. I have a E6600 on my desktop OC'ed to 3.33Ghz, ATI x1900xt etc, and it doesnt run as well as it does on this little baby. No lag, no ghosting, its VERY smooth in first person shooters. Im so impressed.

One thing that does suck is the movie mode. Put in Toy Story, and its so bright that its noticeable. Bothers me a lot. Also, when watching the introductory movies to WoW, same story. Very bright and looks crappy. Can anyone recommend proper settings for this?

I must assume that if games can look sweet on this machine, maybe some driver tweaks will improve the contrast in movies etc. Cause movies really suck on this machine.

Anyway, for the one movie a month one watches while on a plane or train, this machine is so worth it for the every night gaming experience, and for this price, its a steal.

Lemme know.....

 

The chipset suppports it. Gateway sells the same notebook with an optional 800 MHz FSB CPU. I can't see any reason why it would not work unless it is not supported in the BIOS. I need a T8x00 or T9x00 before I will even think about a RAM upgrade (if I ever do).

Someone has to go first... I guess it will be you.

Thanks for the clarification. Did you upgrade your E1705 optical drive? Is it a std form factor?

SEC3847 - Sanyo/Seiko Epson, no? Did Samsung buy them? Viewing angles are my biggest beef with the screen. But it is fine for the intended use (gaming and Lan Parties).

 

Any more clarity on custom screen settings using the software? I'd like to fix up my movie mode.

 

It appears to be the same universal connector, yes. I did in fact change optical drives on the Dell with one I purchased and all you have to do is carryover the screw plate, and if needed (in this case IS needed) the faceplate.

While I've heard "SEC" referred to Seiko/Epson Corp. the SEC screens are said to be made by Samsung for those used in Dells. A quick look in the Dell forums will show as much, however I cannot be positive in this case.

 

- Right click on desktop background.
- Select Nvidia Control Panel.
- Select Advance if haven't done so already.
- Under Video and TV, select Adjust Video Color Settings.
- Tick the little box and adjust your colors to your liking.

 

Thx Lewdvig,

Can someone hook me up with the audio and modem drivers...
I did a clean install w/o backing up the original restore drive...
When MS updated the software, it used MS drivers for the audio, but now I have an unknown device in the system manager that needs drivers. It says HD audio in the tab, but not sure if thats it..

So, if I can get a link to the original audio and modem drivers, maybe I can fix this.

By the way, online tech support at Gateway are idiots...everytime I try and talk to them and give them the SN from the laptop, they say it doesn't exist. Apperently there systems are not updated for this new laptop..so beaware.

Scott

 

The SN is not the 20 digit number after "SN:" it's actually below the barcode under that number, I had similar confusion with my SN when I called them.

 

Thx, finally got it to work...

scott

 

Anyone looked into this bios yet...absolutly nothing to adjust.
Is there a way to open up the bios options for overclocking..or updating to a new bios?

Scott

 

Couple questions...
1. Is a 7200rpm drive really ALOT faster and better then a 5400rpm drive?
2. If I stuck 4gig of 800mhz in a vista 32 system..what would happen.
would it not work since vista32 only sees 3gig, or would it still work with a 4gig installed?

Thanks, Scott

 

1. A lot is subjective, search for HDtune results
2. 4gb will be recognized in the BIOS. 3 - 3.25gb will be available for Vista 32 bit. I believe the memory will clock down to 667 and run fine, this due to the chipset.

 

Is it worth paying $200 for an extra year of warranty through Best-Buy?

 

Having taken an engineering statistics class that dealt primarily with failure of components, the general answer to that question is no.

Electronic devices will last 10+ years if they last 10 hours. However, that's if you can keep it from excessive heat or cold, physical/electrical shocks, liquids or other forms of abuse that would probably void the warranty anyways. The only fear you really have is infant mortality, but that's more than covered by the 90 warranty.

Mechanical components however, will eventually wear out. So if you do a lot of typing (retyping the Bible on a daily basis), or use the hard drives a lot (i.e. a very active file server), open and close the lid a lot (pretending that it's a venus fly trap), or burn a lot of discs (every youtube video to DVD), then it might be worth the extra $200.

Don't give Best Buy another $200 profit, but save it for your next laptop in 3 years or so.

 

I'm not sure I follow. I paid an additional $250.00 to Best Buy for a full 3 year warranty. I was comfortable with the cost due to all the failures with my Dells. I normally do not purchase in store warranties, but I'm a little paranoid when it comes to Notebooks.

 

As stated before. Notebooks do sometimes get bandied about more do then other devices. Thus some higher falure rates on their components. (ie hinges on the screen.. Hard Drive crashes because of movement of the laptop and possibly causing the armiture to crash the plates. the flimsy nature of the DVD door... But these are all relitivly minor costs to repair or replace.

Thus why the extended warrentee is not really necessary. Remember. If extended warantee were not profitable, they would not offer it. In the razor thin margin enviornment of electronics. The manufacturers and retailers are all looking for ways to increese their margins. The extended warantee was created for that purpose alone. To increese their bottom lines. It is beneficial only if you win the "insurance lottery" by being the one misfortunate enought to get a lemon. But for the majority of the people who buy the extended warantee, all you did was add money to a companys bottom line and removed money from your bank account for "peace of mind"

 

Anyone know if DDR2 800mhz ram will work in this laptop since the cpu's fsb is 800mhz?

 

No one knows for sure. Someone is going to have to ante up and test it.

I don't know if the risk is worth the reward.

I would just try to use clock gen to overclock and do FSB:RAM at 1:1. Good ram should handle 800 MHz long enough to run some benchies.

But I don't think the PLL on this board is known, so no clockgen for now.

Correct me if I am wrong.

 

What is the chance that if I buy 1 of these laptops from BestBuy, that its screen will have a dead or a stuck pixel? I wouldn't like to pay $1250 for a laptop which screen has a stuck or dead pixel...even if it only has one.
Does Gateway warranty say anything about this? How much is the minimum dead/stuck pixel which is needed to change the laptop ?
Just because my friend bought an Acer laptop once and it had 2 dead pixel, it was very annoying, but Acer sad that it isnt enough to repair/change it.

 

If you are looking for a better processor (T8300) or higher res screen (WUXGA - 1920x1200),
the gateway P-171X FX Edition is priced at $1999 but Gateway will negotiated up to 20% lower (e.g., $1599 - that's $400 lower than list price).

 

When I spoke to Gateway rep, he mention that the battery that comes with the Gateway XL notebook are the 9volts, not the 12volts (e.g., the Best Buy) version. This means that the P-171* FX notebook battery are alignment to the body and doesn't protrude out as in the BB version.

 

I too had planned to purchase an extended 3 year warranty and expected to pay $250, but the BB sales rep offered me a 3 year Accidental Damage Service Plan for $100 more.

So for $350, I now have 3 years coverage for:
1. One time battery & AC adapter replacement.
2. Coverage from cracked or broken screens.
3. Coverage from spills into the keyboard.
4. Coverage from drops.
5. Hadware malfunctions.

I purchased the laptop and extended warranty with my American Express card, which adds one extra year coverage by AE for a total of 4 years. My coverage with BB ends on 1/31/2011 and AE takes over and extends it to 1/31/2012.

Go back to BB to see if you can upgrade your standard plan to the accidental damage plan.

 

Interesting . . . have you personally done this negotiation?

 

Nice Review, I bought one because of how good you make it to be so hopefully with me buying the T7300 2.0GHz 800 MHz FSB 4MB L2 CACHE, it will help some....

 

Awesome Review. Bought one yesterday and spent the evening doing a clean install of vista. Many thanks to the posters who metioned the driver back up. Saved me some major pain!

Used Black Viper's tweaks as well as advice from others. Installed the 169.09 driver which is awesome. The only gripe I have (and it may have been my fault) was that reinstalling the drivers took forever using the GRC. Instead of working out of the hardware manager I had to pick one at a time and it was frustrating.

Out of 7 BB in my area only 2 had them in stock...50 miles to get mine. Got the accidental damage plan. The computer itself might not fail but I have small children and they damaged my last laptop 2 time and BB repaired it without blinking an eye (think PCMCIA slot and crackers and keys pulled off the keyboard all in 30 seconds)

 

AWESOME

My kids (8 and 4) have their own computers that they are very careful with (knocks wood).

 

any1 any idea?

 

I got a 15% discount from one gateway representative... although a different gateway rep gave me a 7% discount only if I bought the accidental replacement plan... wish people could post the names of reps who gave them a huge discount so we know who to call...

This is the one that I'm going with - I don't know why the list price is 2,048.99, but at least the subtotal and total quote price is right.

List Price: $2,048.99 Subtotal: $1,699.99
Your Price: $1,748.99 Shipping & Handling: $49.00
You Saved: $300.00 Tax: $140.79
---------------------------- -------------
TOTAL QUOTE PRICE: $1,889.78

Qty System Unit Price Ext. Price
1 Gateway® P-171X FX Edition $1,699.99 $1,699.99

 

I got almost the same deal today on this laptop - $1,699.99 but i was able to negotiate free shipping! Ummm....is it against the forum rules to post the name of the rep who we used?? If so, I have some post editing to do...

 

I would really like to know if it is possible to get from gateway for a similar price because even though i lose out on game I get slotload, faster cpu, fingerprint reader etc. Problem is you need 20% off the lowest model

 

Hm, the forum rules say

, I'm assuming that posting the name of the rep might be taken as a referral, although maybe an admin or mod might be able to clear it up?

The rep that I had I think he/she was willing to price match the P171S FX edition, of course, there wouldn't be a game that was included with it.
However, if you call get a price quote and see if the rep is willing to either price match it or get pretty close to the price. Of course, it depends on the rep so it's a little like the lottery...

 

Any1 know when will this bargain end at BB? ($1249 price+free game)
I'm planning to buy this on monday, will the notebook still have the $1249 price and the free game?

And does this notebook have Intel Turbo memory?

 

I believe Bestbuy USA sales starts Sunday and ends the following Saturday. If so, today is the last day for this deal.

And no for Turbo memory. Don't really need it, but it might fill the gap of the empty slot if you do consider buying one for $25.

 

Did anyone have trouble making the Gateway recovery disc? I've tried twice now and each time the burning process hangs at 99%.

 

Try an alternative method. Instead of create CD or DVD, pick create ISO image. Pick a directory then using the DVD burner software, select create DVD using ISO image.

Actually, this was only way I could burn my driver DVD on rewritable DVD as Gateway Recovery Center was so damn picky about media in DVD drive.

 

I just got my own Gateway P-6831FX laptop. I would like to say that I am happy about it, but there is one thing that bothers me.

I can't set the monitor refresh rate to anything higher than 60hz!

This leaves me with a lot of flicker in my games as well as eye soreness after just a short time of use. I normally run my other desktop and laptop comptuers at 72hz. I even updated the display drivers, but that didn't fix anything. I believe it is a limitation of the monitor.

Can anyone confirm if this laptop's monitor only supports a 60hz refresh rate? If so, is there anything I can do to improve my viewing experience in games and reduce the strain on my eyes?

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

I tried MSI,Acer and HP laptop for now and all of them only run at 60Hz.

 

oh damm
I hope it wont cost $1349 again