Is the P-7811fx a solid/safe buy?

In advance, sorry if this should go somewhere else (like the help me buy a notebook thread), figured this would be the best place for it since it's a gateway laptop and this is the gateway thread.

To those of you that still have this machine have you had to do heavy customization to get rid of all of the heat/screen/bsod errors (under volting for instance), or has gateway fixed the issues with patches or something since it was first released? The 9800gts card is better than the 9600gt card in the other machine I've been looking at, and the ddr3 1066mhz is better than the ddr2 667/800mhz than the other one too, I'm not sure by how much but I do know it's better. To that end I would prefer this machine to the MSI or the Sager/Clevo I've been looking at, but I'm just not sure if the issues this laptop has are blown up due to being in a help forum or if this is a really common problem that will never go away.

So yeah, five months later is this thing still as awesome as it looks for the price (my budget caps at $1500) or do these problems I've been reading about bog it down too much to be worth the hassle?

Again sorry if this isn't an acceptable place to ask

 

The short answer is:

The chances of you getting a lemon 7811 are pretty slim, but they are existent. The good news is, if you get a lemon, you simply take it back for an exchange within 14 days, no questions asked.

Yes, there have been much less reports of problems with the 7811 after the first few weeks. This coincided with the release of a new serial number batch, but whether or not there's a relationship there is debated.

Either way, if you can get a 7811, do it. If you have problems, simply exchange it within 14 days.

 

The shorter answer is
... what he said

 

Does gateway still support this model? I think I read something about a 7801u being a more expensive version of this laptop, so did gateway drop the 7811 infavor of this new one or do they still make patches/updates/whatever else for the 7811?

edit: woops, forgot to mention that I would be getting this thing from bestbuy's website since it's an outlet item so the stores near me (all 2 of them) don't carry it anymore. Any of you know how good bestbuy is about returning online purchases to a store/the site? And the 2888 model is the one to get correct?

 

no not really, but most companies stop support of models as soon as their replaced (not counting the 1 year period their warrenty covers)

the 7801 is simply the next laptop they made. The 7811 is a much better deal due to not being over priced for useless upgrades. But i doubt gateway will release much for the 7811 in the future

yeah the 2888 is the one to get supposedly, and best buy should still accept returns of online purchases in store. Just be sure to print out your receipt from your online transaction

 

Cool, cool, one last set of questions. If I get this thing I assume the first thing to do is the burn in test (which is like, 12-24 hours right?), and after that should I worry about all of the bios updates (I think 90.08 or something like that was the important one in the bios update thread), undervolting, etc. or should I just leave it alone and see what happens? I plan on adding a second hdd eventually too but I think that will void the warrenty on the thing so I want to make sure I test it as much as I can before I do that (or pay bestbuy to do it for me, one of those).

edit: keep forgetting my other questions, how good is best buy with returning a product for one's money back instead of swaping it out? The 14 day refund period is nice and all but if this thing starts failing on me with a few months and they don't produce it anymore, I won't really have a way of trading it out.

 

Yeah a good round of stress tests and stuff should almost always be the first stop on a computers life.

as to the BIOS updates... unless you are wanting to run RAID i honestly dont think there is any reason to flash the new BIOS. You can check out some of E-Wrecked's BIOS threads to see if any of the newer flashes grab your attention... but i think most of them were just fixing screw ups from the previous ones. I have a 6860 so i didnt pay "that" much attention to the 7811 BIOS threads. Probably worth the read if your getting the system though.

Adding a second hard drive does not void your warrenty. You are completely free to do that so enjoy.

Not sure about cash refunds after the 14 days. But if your really worried about it get the 1 or 2 year accidental damage warrenty and if something does screw up they will fix it or replace it for you free of charge.

 

Thanks for the input you two, but I think bestbuy just p***ed me off with there return policy on the thing (you could return it for a refund within 30 days, but we'll charge you 15% to restock it), so I think I'll pass on this model. Thanks again for the input though.

 

Thats actually a pretty standard return policy for this sort of thing.

 

It is? I don't remember ever having to deal with that when I've returned anything else before...either way though, I'm really not found of the idea of getting the thing, doing a burn in or whatever, the thing giving me bsods, overheating, or whatever else and then having to pay them to take their faulty product back. Maybe I'm over reacting here, I don't know.

...I really hate buying new laptops.

 

In almost every case you will find all of your problems in a system with in 14 days if you do a through inspection and stress test.

At that point its free to swap the system. The only time a 15% fee comes into play is after the 14days. Especially if theres something wrong with the unit instead of you jsut not liking it.

But i feel your pain, buying new tech usually sucks. Theres always something newer and better or the same and cheaper right around the corner. And you never really know if your getting the most for your money.

But the 68xx/7811 series have always been some of the best price point laptops on the market. You get killer preformance for a really cheap price.

I wish you luck with your hunt though. Let us know what you get

 

none of the guys that got a lemon and went to BB before the two weeks period were asked to pay the 15% . some guys dismember their machine for the sheer adventure, damaging it and still getting a replacement after the 14 days period. go figure.

 

Hey now, the original bat computer died of misadventure so that other people would be able to complete the disassembly by learning what not to do from me.

and i still LOVE my stores geek squad they rock the casbah

 

Does your Best Buy even have this in stock still?

 

Hey Friends, new here, but just wanted to add what happened to me with my p-7811fx.

My HP laptop died and I needed a new one right away.

I had debated over getting the p-9811 and finally it was only available at outlet, but did see one on display at the BB near me in Rochester NY. I am not one for buying open box, but I wanted this machine so bad, and nothing compared to that price point was to be had online or otherwise. I took a shot, and also did what I dont normally do, I bought their $349.00 extended warrenty. I loved the machine, felt great, ran my games amazingly, ran hot but that was expected. About 8 days into having it I started having the problem with the white horizontal fuzzy lines that other people had posted about on theirs. I noticed it would get bad during a game, made the game unplayable, and when I would close the game out, it would be on the desktop. The icons would be fuzzy where they were white and it would also happen on the desktop wallpaper. As the machine cooled, the lines would lessen until they were totally gone. I decided to take it back and did 12 days in.
At BB the Geek Squad guy wanted me to let him send it in to repair, but couldnt get the answer I wanted on if they would extend the 14 days return policy, or if it would push it past it and I wouldnt be able to return it. So I sent it back. If something goes wrong in the first 14 days, its prolly a lemon and I wasnt willing to take that chance. I eventually was refunded the 1800 for the computer ($1299.00) and extended warrenty ($349) plus tax.

I went to Newegg and ordered the p-7801u. It was $1599, and comes with very similar specs but a 320gb hd 7200 rpm (200 gb on the 7811) and 1gb on the 9800 gts video card (the 7811 had 512mb) I love the p7801u and strongly suggest it if you could afford it.

I have to wonder. With Dell buying Alienware and HP buying Voodoo, if Gateway wanted to be a player in the high end market and maybe rushed the p-7811fx out a bit too quick for quality control.