I am now part of you all.

I went to Best Buy and finally took the plunge and got the 7811. The first unit I got had the white bubble marks on the left side of the monitor. Considering I do auto-cad I could not have that on my screen. The next day I took the unit back and returned it. I told myself, if this one is bad it was not meant to be and get my money back. To my suprise the second has a great display with small amount of bleeding on the bottom witch that is not an issue with me. So far it has been going strong with all the test I am doing. To play it safe, I went ahead and bought the 3 year warranty from best buy for 299.

I was thinking about using a better heat sink compound, what do ya guys think? Thanks again and I am glad of being part of this crew now. I was a Dell user, 1705 with a 7900 GS on it.

 

You should definitely put some more AS5 on it, you should also undervolt it which can reduce the temps A LOT.
Theres a guide here somewhere, if not - google "undervolting guide" im sure youll find it

 

And welcome by the way

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=60914
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=77860
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3339276
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824

 

Welcome and enjoy your stay here

 

wELCOME! I was a crummy dell user for years only because of work though...I hate dell!

 

I second that! Dell sucks big time. Of all the machines I've gotten from them (4), they all have had problems: blown inverter, USB port died, 3 video cards fried, unable to startup when cold, cooling fan died (twice), wireless card DOA. I'm sure there were others but I can't remember them now...

 

I would only do the A5 if you are having heat problems, although I love A5 and will probably do it some day. Mine is cool enough now so don't want to take the time. If you do it, do not remove the heat pad from the NB, just leave that pad alone. I have not done it yet but going by what I hear.

 

Find out what voids your warranty before you open up your case.

 

This is a good point. Some companies don't view the thermal paste change as an issue and some companies will grasp at anything they can to avoid honoring warranty (Everex for example). Not sure how Gateway views the addition of A5.

On the other hand, if and when you ever need warranty it would be wise not to mention any alterations no matter how slight or improving. Once the machine gets into the "back room" it is unlikely they will care or even notice the A5 upgrade. The critical period is when you are obtaining the RMA.

I have seen those who pull the original HD and keep it unused and unaltered during the warranty period for just such occasions. This may be overkill but I can appreciate the wisdom of it.

 

...but i dont want you to be a part of me... it will get crowded to quickly.

And you cant be a part of the crew until you go through the hazing...i'm talking paddles and walking on broken glass...the whole nine yards

Welcome and enjoy your new laptop. For the price (even plus the warrenty) you will deffinatly enjoy the crap out of your new rig.

Have fun

 

Welcome! Once you weed through all the whining and other BS, you'll find a very knowledgeable and helpful crew here. Glad to have ya!

 

welcome to the club. were a small group, few members with under appreciated high performance computers that will give 2000$ lappys a run for there money you made a wise choice buying a gateway. im actualy glad i bought the 6860 instead of the hdx16t or dv7t

 

Welcome, fam! Glad you made the decision to join the "dark side". Careful, don't abuse the powers you've been bestowed.