Gateway P-6831FX Gaming Laptop @ Best Buy

look now i hav a problem just went to bestbuy and that freaking dude say they can only give me 100 dollars for the refund but not the game... but i can buy a thing that they optimize ur comp for gaming and u get the game for 1299?? wtf?? what should i do.

 

They told me that too. Technically, that is what their print ad says. BUT you can go to bestbuy.com where it gives you the game free with JUST the laptop. Once I showed the manager that, he gave me the game free. (I took World In Conflict).

N

 

I went to Bestbuy today and they said that they are out of stock

 

order it online and have them send it to a store. They should not charge you for shipping and you still get the discount.

 

3dMark06 score was a 8294.

 

Was this with an upgraded cpu? If not how did you get a score that high?

 

I tried doing something like that and this is what they say

The first 3 stores in your area do not have Gateway - Laptop with Intel® Centrino® in stock. Please locate another store or choose a shipping option.

Find more stores Store Pickup - 2 Easy Steps

After you have completed checkout, wait to receive 2 e-mails. The second e-mail confirms that your order is in stock and available for pickup.
Bring your order #, photo ID and purchasing credit card to the store. (For security purposes, only the person who placed the order can pick it up.)
Learn more.


Change to Shipping: Shipping: Usually leaves our warehouse in 1 business day

 

Yes, I had the T7500 in it.

 

Just got shipping confirmation form BB. It should be here tomorrow! Now I can play UT3 at work -- I can't wait!

 

I ordered my one from Best Buy too, I could not use the pick up option as for some reason the whole of Minnesota ran out of them, so I ordered shipping. Ordered UT3 too :>

 

lol Sunday when it 1st went on sale 5 stores in the area here had 2+ each monday morn before work I got online to place my order thinking I would just do a store pick up and bang all sold out lol. So did it having it shipped to my work and just got here a few hours ago been chargeing it for tonight weee.

 

Selling like Hot chocolates!!!!!

 

I was debating between this and a recently ordered Inspiron 1520. Well the Inspiron 1520 came with a completely crappy screen and I received a long outstanding $100 BB Rebate Gift Card in the mail, so that made my decision for me. The Inspiron is going back and I went to BB to get one of these. They didn't have any in stock, but the guy ordered one for me and it should arrive at the store in three days.

 

Finally ended 2-3 months of debating and researching I got one as well Lucked out and was able to order online, and pick up in store from the only one in the area with them still in stock.

 

I am strongly leaning gtowads this as I can't come to find the ASUS offering I like to come close in features. I like the ASUS looks and feel but they are just a tad behind on the gaming stuff, I feel.

So, if I go with this and deside to want the 8800m-GTX, is it doable to just swap out the GPU chip or is it soldered in? If it does remove, is the heatsink plate also glued on or can it be changed out?

@ the new owners, Do you guys have leads on the part numbers to look for as they become available on eBay, such as the BD or HD DVDand WUXGA monitor to add later on?

Already this looks like a great build-on as you go model for those who may not have 2k+ to spen upfront and willing to do a little work on their own to upgrade what they want.

 

If you are shopping by main feature such as GPU, make sure you are 100% on it. Chances are GPUs are solder to the board. Ones that are upgradable costs an arm and a leg from the manufacturer. Probably cheaper to just buy a new laptop. I don't think anyone has took apart thier FX so we do not know if GPU is solder or if it is MXM or upgradable.

Regardless FX is best bang for the buck for price/performance stand point.

Also, FX do not need upgrading. It works fine as it is. Modders just like to sup up things to have bragging rights I suppose.

 

I was speaking of later in the year as new nVidia's would come out like when building on older GO 7300m and upping to 7950m. It was much less then the buying new notebook to get it used on eBay. Only $300.00 and most would be around $400.00 for even a newer one for those upping from older GO 8400m. So still cheaper.

 

Sure sounds good, go for it.

Btw, its a neverending cycle of buying low end for $200 now and later spend $500 for superduper something. But in total you spent $700, where as you can get the fastest now for $400 and save $300. Atleast this way your *something* will last 2 years and will be played hard on highest settings, instead of playing like lowbie at lowlow setting for 1 year and then be happy for 2nd year after spending more money.

 

I understand and this makes sence for most. But there are a lot and myself (back in school) who may not have the luxery of finacing it all in one lump or have all the cash in one day to spend. So for this, buying lowjust to get your foot in the dso the even if you had to wait a year, still better then not ever getting anything at all or settleing for only low and sticking with it cause for the average, they cant just drop another K for a replacement.

And let's say the average stufdent tryed to save (I did this too) something can always come up and there goes your Notebook budget.Or if you manage to save, then againyou are getting last years model for the less or start all over to find something new instead.

But the reality is, if I didnt have to worry about getting in over my head in bills, I'd just go for the one I like and pay it off in big interest. Just to know, most of us (myself included) will pay more in interest then the CPU new in retail box w/ fan (reffering to T9300).

Believe me, I'd rather buy cash today and use the save moeny from interest for a better CPU in a few months.

 

Well you just answered your own question on which laptop to buy.

Get a Eee Pc or clearance laptop for $299 then buy 8800m GTX or 9800something year from now.

 

So out of the box i can go ahead and upgrade the Ram from 3gigs to 4? Just wondering because the site says its unexpandable...

 

I upgraded mine from 3 to 4 gigs just to test if faster mem (DDR2 6400) would make a difference. The bios recognized the extra memory - so yes you can upgrade it to 4 gigs. Vista 32 obviously couldn't use it though and shows 3 gigs. Benchmarks have all been roughly the same as stock memory at this point. Unless you are running x64 of some sort and have a need for more memory I'd put my money elsewhere.

 

thx for reply. also any word on when the new intel T9000 series cpus will be out on the market and if so where to buy?

 

Gateway P-171X FX for $1699.99 !!!!!!!! THATS A DEAL !!!!!! Just got one !!!!
Sales rep Courtney (Gateway) @ 800.846.2042 x 23600 , tell her Art sent you !

 

oh yeah, free shipping and handling !!!

 

has anyone tried a T9500 or T7800??

 

Congrats on your purchase! Enjoy it, and please tell us your impressions when you receive it.

 

thanks man !!! I cant wait for this baby to come any faster. They've specified that my shipping date is around March 4-7th, however it can be shipped prior to that date.

 

I picked up the P-171S FX talked them down to 1420 shipped to my door not too bad! I wanted the one at best buy but wasn't very thrilled with the 1.66 Processor, called gateway and talked them down to 1420, can't wait for it to get here! I don't understand the whole March 7th shipment date though...

later on this year I'll probably upgrade the screen to a Toshiba WUXGA, and A new 45nm processor. So excited!

 

Oh sorry to double post but I'd like to share something about vista for people.

I wasn't a big fan of vista for a LONG time "Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure?" Seriously that drove me nuts.

to make vista 100% more bearable try this:

Start/Control Panel/User Accounts and family safety

Then Click on "User Accounts" Then TURN ACCOUNT USER CONTROL OFF

that saves you the whole asking you questions 6 times plus other various things (it does improve performance)

Next.

Forced Driver signing is ridiculous in vista it won't let you install certain apps, etc etc. heres how to get rid of that ridiculous thing

Restart your Computer, press F8, turn OFF Forced Driver Signing.


After doing all of that VIOLA! vista is bearable! not only that it runs much faster! the second I get my Lappy from Gateway I'm tossing Ultimate X64 on there, I haven't had any problems what-so-ever with it since doing that I can run any game no matter how old, or any program without issues what so ever.

Also another big increase is not allowing Auto Updates, there are 2 updates that I'm aware of that FORCE driver signing to be on at all times (not allowing you to disable it you'll have to uninstall the updates to disable Forced Driver Signing) one of the updates is KB932596 I can't remember the other. But I don't allow any sort of Auto Updates at all.

All in all Vista runs 100% better with all of the above done, things just get done considerably faster and games run so so much better.

 

Just got this laptop and love pretty much everything about it! Downloading
3dmark 06 right now to see what kind of numbers I get. The only things I don't like are the fingerprint loving finish and the trackpad is a little stiff.

All in all, about 1000000000x better than the Dell i'm about to return for only $100 more!!! I'm seriously considering taking the Blu Ray drive and T7500 out of the Inspiron 1520 and swapping them with the stuff inside the Gateway and then selling the Dell on ebay. How much do you think I can get for this config:

Inspiron 1520
T5450
3GB Ram
120GB 5400RPM HD
DVDRW
8600GT
Webcam
Vista Home Premium
Bluetooth

If I can get $750 (after fees/shipping/etc) then I may just go ahead and do it.

 

I would check ebay to see what the market calls for. Dell has good prices in their Outlet and runs great coupons from time to time, so it's hard to say.

 

For anyone that's added a second HDD, is there a separate caddy/connector of some sort that needs to be purchased, or does it plug right in?

 

Everything is included inside

 

Price is now $1700 at BestBuy.

 

The value proposition of this notebook just fell through. And I must say, so has the final analysis by Perry.

I hesitated yesterday, the last cycle day of Bestbuy's ad week, and lost my opporutnity to get the uniquely configured machine for $1249. This morning I was disgusted to find Bestbuy has exectued on the popularity of the P-6831FX and is now selling the entry gaming machine with an underequipped CPU for $1699 (insane?).

The P-Series with a T7250 is available directly from Gateway (pre-order) for $1599. Someone please keep me honest if there is any difference in the Bestbuy FX and the Gateway P-171SFX.

 

Wow, I don't know what BB is smoking right now, but they just slaughtered sales on this machine. Funny- my dad was considering it - good thing he go a rain check on the sale (no stores in the state had any on sale). Also makes me glad i jumped on it when i did (i just settled and bought it online)...

 

Hey guys if you are polite you can talk to gateway down to 1420ish for their laptop, you get the better processor, slot dvd loader, and fingerprint reader.

I ended up doing that on Friday I just hate waiting

 

Yup to everyone out there you can usually get a better deal from Gateway if you talk to their sales rep. I know the middle end model gets a 15-20% discount. So don't fret everyone even though Best Buy is being shady

 

I was lucky enough to order this yesterday at bestbuy for $1249 plus i got Crysis for free.

 

Got the P-171X model for $1,699.99..down from $1,999.99. My rep dickered and said he would take referrals. PM me if you want his information.

 

"Well you just answered your own question on which laptop to buy.

Get a Eee Pc or clearance laptop for $299 then buy 8800m GTX or 9800something year from now." Show me where you can get a PM965 (Santa Rosa Refresh) compatable mobo and "M" VGA chip ready for this price? Ya, I get it then for now to hold me off till P35.

Also, to the guy using PC2-6400, is this Refresh chipset allowing DDR800 with compatable CPU in 1:1 (ie. T7300/T7500/T7700)?

To the other guy speaking of not being any different using PC2-6400. I use OCZ PC2-6400 on my old 945GM and it returns cl4 for DDR667 so I do get an improvement over lots of as is DDR667 at cl5.

4Gb RAM for notebooks. I found even using all 4 GBs of RAM in XP x64 returns less score in Everest and Sandra then if set to cap at 3.7GB Dual Channel and more RAM for use with 512 VGA card and enter and resume of S3 and S4 is much smoother. Just to note, S4 is disaled when you use all 4gbs in even XP x64 so this proposes a big hassle for notebook use.

After shopping around, I find this to be one of few (ASUS so far) to offer both eSATA and HDMI together. That alone interest me already. And ASUS has no idea when they'll offer the nVidia 8800's yet.

 

Hey All

I did some mods to my P-6831 fx. I had an old sager 8790 that had a fried GPU. The screen on that model is absolutly stunning. I switched that screen with my P-6831 and it looks great. This was really the one thing I hated about the 6831. I will try and get some images up for you guys. I also setup a raid 0 by adding another we 250. My vista score is now 5.9 for the drive spec. Lastly I installed vista ultimate 32. I was having tons of drive issues with home premium before I switched. Now it runs smooth as eggs. Also all Vista drivers are now on gateway.com, so if you were hesitant about doing a fresh install go ahead and get those process down.

 

Nice work, whats the screen resolution? Was it an easy swap?

 

Its 1680x1050. It took about 30 minutes. Just remove all the round rubber pads around the screen (not the 2 long ones) You have to be gentle and pry off the screen housing. Inside there are some screws holding the screen brackets. Remove the tape holing the screen wires. And switch the housing with your new screen. If you want detailed instructions I can post but that should get you started.

When are those penryn chips coming out?

 

Thumbs up for that!
T9300 and likes are out already just not in Canada

 

The Penryns are out, I've had mine for 3 weeks now a T9300 2.5ghz 6mb L2 $346 from Xotic Pc. Sweet so your using the Gateway housing? does the webcam still work?

 

looks like I'm going to be upgrading the processor as well now.

Yes everything works exactly the same no one can tell anything has been done but the screen looks über good glossy with all that gateway gloss housing around it.

J

 

I've looking everywhere for the t9300, i can't find one

I also want to get a slot loading Blue-Ray Drive. Any Suggestions

BTW I have a friend that works in the movie industry she told me that HD-DVD is going to be phased out this year and Blue-Ray is going to be the industry standard. So don't waste your money on HD-DVD.

Check out this article if your interested

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/2...b-93-percent-of-market-after-warner-went-blu/

 

Im thinking about buyin the P-171X. That screen comes with higher res. Do you guys think that the P-171X screen is better overall or is it res thats the only difference?