Should I buy?

I like the looks of the system but I'm scared of some of the bad reviews I've heard about it...and buying from Best Buy, for that matter.

What are the chances of getting completely screwed? 50/50?

 

By the by, it would help to know what system your talking about when your asking us if you should buy it. Best Buy actually does sell quite a few different Gateway laptops

 

Oops. I meant the P-7811FX ;( I thought I had that in the title...I'm looking to make the purchase tonight (been thinking about it for weeks) and am running out of time.

Judging by reviews, I do have my own version of Windows ready to install if I do indeed buy. What else though?

 

Go for it. If you get a bad just swap it out. No matter what you buy it is going to have its own issues. For what you get for the money you can't really do better, even at full price.

 

It is the best bang for the buck. I think the value of that laptop outweighs the cons that have been reported in the forums so far. As boomhower said, you can always swap it out if there is anything wrong with it.

 

yeah i say its definitely a worthy purchase for 1250. don't expect perfection though. The screen is not the best but for that price there really is no room to complain. Also like some of the other users have said don't get attach to the system till you thoroughly tested it because you might have to exchange it for a different one. My first one had lock up issues and there was a big faded area right in the center of the screen when looked at an angle so i've exchanged it and this one runs really cool and no lock ups. My only complaints is the backlight bleeding and cheap plastic feel to the laptop but hey i just save myself like 1k on getting a system similair to this.

 

Well, I just went out and bought it. Booted it up. In the process of backing up and reinstalling.

So far, so good. Not that it means much...but the screen looks great, nothing out of the ordinary is visible to the naked eye. Screen is a little dim, but that just makes it easier on the eyes. I have my cooling pad...so I hope to test out some games before the end of the night.

 

i would try digital vibrance first, before cussing out the screen.. it can do wonders.....


edit: lcd seems to be.... AU Optronics B170uw01 V0. made in 2007 some time

 

This seems, to me, to be a grainy lcd.. saw two at two different bestbuys. Other notebooks on display did not have this issue except one dell i saw which did have the same problem.

 

you mean the display model with every ones hands on it changing stuff. that display model?

i mean you could be right.. not saying your not but if your looking at a bmp map background and theme...it will definitely be grainy. (speculation of course)

let me know which background and theme they we're using, because now im curious. thanks.

 

grainy doesn't fit for the words used to describe this screen.. actually, at the native res, I have to squint sometimes. Cause it's too dam sharp and pokes my retinas.. *wince*

 

Is it safe to assume that Gateway has fixed the game freezing problems with the newest batch of 7811's?