Gateway P78 Replacment - Opinions wanted

My trusty P7801U has finally died. I have replaced the GPU and CPU fans, replaced the thermal paste, cleaned all vents ect. I think it is just finally worn out. I have had this beast since early 2009 and it has been a great laptop, I travel extensively and the main thing I use my laptop for is gaming and watching movies. The main games I play on a regular basis are Borderlands 1 and 2, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Oblivion, Skyrim, and any other RPG that fits that type. I also play racing games. I'm ordering a new laptop sometime in the next week and I have it narrowed down to two models. I need opinions on these two models and what your thoughts are on each. The first is the new Alienware 14 with the upgraded IPS panel and 765m video, the second is the Dell Inspiron 17R Notebook 7720 with the Truelife screen. Thanks in advance,

Stuart

 

Hey darkelf. It was actually my gateway fx graphics card no longer being able to run games that led me to this forum. I ultimately decided on the sager in my signature. If you want to get opinions beyond those two models, http://forum.notebookreview.com/wha...ould-i-buy-form-must-read-before-posting.html fill that out and post in that forum.

Between the two choices you outlined, i'd go with the AW 14, personally.

 

Thanks for the reply, I'm leaning towards the AW14 but wondering if I'll miss the 17 inch display on my gateway vs the 14 inch display on the AW14.

 

Just throwing this out there

Gateway P 7915U P 7901H FX MB WEU01 001 Motherboard | eBay

 

Already did that back in December when my P78 motherboard went bad, bought me another 7 months but now it's back to shutting down after 10-20 minutes of gaming.

 

You have shut down from a P79 board?

 

yeah that a WOW if P79 board!!!!!

 

Yes it's a P79 board with a 260m GPU. The temps are hitting the high 90's low 100's when gaming. I thought this problem would have been solved with the new motherboard, but it came back 7 months later.

 

Just highly unusual, as there have been no know failures of the 79 boards on this forum that I can recall. Definitely maybe time to move onto something different, you have got your moneys worth out of that one regardless and sinking more dollars into it probably is not the best option.. It kind of amazing how long some last and others last many, many years. I still use to this day and old Toshiba P25 that dates back to 2004/2005 when the first widescreens came out, not the fastest by any means but it gets the job done.

 

If temps are that high then two things, first use a can of air to blow out or clean the heat fins. The second is the installed TIM. If you used a thin tim, such as AS5, then it may have boiled out. This can happen between 3-6 months of usage. You need to pull it apart and use a thick tim (IE ICD) or you will again be replacing the tim in another 3-6 months.

Even a new system can be subject tio TIM degradation, so beware......................