Some 7811 Questions

I have been reading these forums for the last month (when my laptop died). I'm kind of hestitant about getting a 7811. I think I may get one today, although my recent history with laptops indicates I should run far, far away.

I had an eMachine M6805 (bought before the merger) and I had an extended warranty (oh thank goodness). In three years, I had the screw on the heatsink break twice causing random shutdowns from overheating, monitor flickering twice due to a loose monitor cable, two failed dvdwriters, three broken power cables, and a cracked hinge. All replaced under warranty and all repaired failry quickly.

After the three year warranty expired, I purchased an Everex XT5000T. Sadly these have a design flaw and it is not uncommon for SOMETHING (motherboard, gpu, not sure yet) to fail. Sent it in to Office Max's extended warranty company. They couldn't find a replacement motherboard so they're just sending me a $700 gift card to replace it (which will be ebayed because OM's laptop selection sucks).

I baby my electronics and computer equipment. How all of this stuff happens to me, I am not sure. With all of this being said, I am still considering a 7811FX.

I have a few questions that I haven't been able to find an answer to over the past month or so. I'm sure they've been asked and answered but I can only search for these terms with so many variations before I finally ask.

1. Restore Software

Does the restore software give you the option of installing 32Bit Vista? I'm not concerned with a "clean install". I want to keep using GameTap and it doesn't support 64Bit Vista yet. I've used 64Bit Vista for a few days with iTunes, 7zip, Eraser, and several other 64Bit apps, and a couple of 64Bit games, and there doesn't seem to be enough of an improvement to warrant any of the compatibility issues I've experienced. Given, these issues are few and far between, but none the less, they exist.

2. Audio Quality

I know the speakers suck. I'm used to an Everex XT5000T, which had a built in subwoofer. Are the speakers at least loud\good enough that if I'm playing Half Life 2 or Fear I'll be able to tell if a sound is coming from the left or right? I plan on setting it up so I can hook my laptop into my stereo, but requires running cables along the floor so that's not something that I can keep hooked up at all times. Of course headphones are always an option.

3. Screen Resolution

I'm slightly wary of the resolution. It might be too high for me. I used the laptop at Best Buy a bit and changed the fonts to 120DPI and it was much improved. Has anyone noticed any software programs that seem somewhat unusuable due to the font size?

4. Fan Noise\Cooling

How loud are the fans? Anyone familiar with an Everex XT5000T that can compare the two? I don't want to use a cooling pad. I ordered a Lapinator Plus ( www.lapinator.com) which should allow me to keep the back propped up at all times. Have people found it stays cool enough just keeping the back propped up?

Obviously most of this would be solved if I could just suck it up and spent $2109.00 on a (mostly) equally equipped Sager NP5796. Sadly for that price I could buy a 7811 AND a new laptop for the wife, so I can't quite convince myself to go that route.

I know I had other questions, but they escape me at the moment. Thanks in advance for any tips or info!

 

I am not able to help you with the restore software question, but I'll be happy to assist you with your others.

Sound:

When it comes to the sound on the Gateway, its okay. It's not very loud, not very clear and crisp, but it gets the job done. If you are planning to play music or movies or want your games sounding real good, don't use the internal speakers. On the contrary, the Toshiba Qosmio X305 has excellent speakers. 4 of them actually and 1 subwoofer. The sound quality is near excellent, probably the best for a laptop since they have Harmon Kardons in there. I would consider the Toshiba. I have it and I would be happy to help if you would like to know more about it.

Screen Resolution:

1920x1200 is high definiton, not 1080p, but 1200. Same thing, really. This would allow you to play Blu-ray movies in their full content, but you can't since there is no blue-ray drive or even HD DVD drive. But, this is the native resolution so it will be the sharpest and look the best. Sure, you can kick it down a notch, unlike Emiril, the chef, but it won't be as sharp and clear.

Fans:

I've heard the fans on load, and they're not bad, but I'd like to say the Toshiba is quieter. They aren't too loud, but don't expect them to be silent. And a cooling pad would be very good to have, especially if you keep it stationery. It would allow for overclocking and better temps, but then that defeats the purpose of asking if the fans are loud.

Well, I think this is a great laptop, but...............hold on there. You may want to consider the Toshiba x305. Here are the reviews for both of them:


By the way, the Toshiba is on sale from $1550 to $1350! It should end soon, maybe today.

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/toshiba-qosmio-x305-q701/4505-3121_7-33088931.html?tag=mncol;lst


http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/gateway-p-7811fx/4505-3121_7-33201021.html?tag=mncol;also


Good luck!

Feel free to PM me.

 

As an Everex XT5000T owner I feel your pain. Mne still works but bought a P-7811FX anyway.

1. Restore Software

Don't know. I would dual boot XP32 for conflicted favorites.

2. Audio Quality

You are right. Sound is not nearly XT5000T and I honestly have only used earphones while gaming. The speakers are not horrible, just lack base. Sorry can't answer specific question.

3. Screen Resolution
I am trying 120 DPI now and some things get larger some do not, for instance writing in left bar on this page stays small. I find the regular scaling good for most things and will probably return to it. 120 DPI feels like typical 1440. I found normal DPI was not nearly the negative issue I suspected it would be.

4. Fan Noise\Cooling

Fans (it has 2) are not loud. You can hear the left graphics fan when it ramps up but then is quiets down. You will be very pleased with the cooling compared to that Everex fireburner. It naturally benefits from propping up. Mine undervolts well.

I love this thing but then have had no problems. Who knows about longevity, that's always a risk. We Everex refugees are probably more sensitive to longevity than most. When working right the 7811 is a great laptop.

I am very pleased with the purchase.

 

Well, the included OS disc does have both Vista x64 and 32 bit. Just make a dvd with all the drivers or get them from the website and install them.

 

Thanks, I appreciate your input. I actually did buy and use the X305 for a few days before returning it to Best Buy. It was a very nice laptop, but there were a couple of things about it that really bothered me for the price, so I wound up returning it. I won't go into the whole list because they did not detract from the use of the laptop, and I don't want to point them out and suddenly make other X305 owners go "Hey, that is kind of irritating..." or anything, because I am sure most people who buy the X305 will LOVE it (particularly the awesome sound)!

I don't use the audio on my laptop that much. A few times to double check a song before I put it on my iPhone, or to hear games very quietly while the wife and I watch television, or to show my friends some amusing video, etc. If I am going to watch movies or do heavy gaming, I'd get headphones or a stereo, so I think I can live with the speakers.

I think I can skip the cooling pad because I am not going to overclock, unless I find the fans are on all the time. Hopefully the Lapinator Plus will lift it up enough to give it sufficient air to stay cool.

Edit: Also, for those reading, the Best Buy $1350 X305 sale ended yesterday, sorry!

 

Glad to hear from a fellow NEverex user. Thanks for the info. I think I'll learn to deal with the speakers (sounds like they'll be about as good as my M6805 - not great, but usable).

The more I play with the 7811 at Best Buy, the more I think I'll probably just learn to live with the default font DPI. I suppose once I have it in my house and in my lap I'll have a better idea.

It's nice to know the 7811 doesn't have a FAA certified jet fan in it like the Everex did.

I picked up my laptop at lunch. I'll go home and play with it after work. Tomorrow's my birthday, so the birthday wish I'm asking for is a fully working 7811 with no dead pixels!

Also, as you said, after the Everex and the M6805 longevity is a concern. I'll be purchasing a warranty through Gateway\Squaretrade\my insurance company, so I'll have that to back me up. I just hope it works out of the box!

 

i hope it works for you. i got pretty unlucky with my 7811 and i had to exchange my first unit. i'm currently still testing games on this unit. if you get problems don't get too pissed or waste too much time trying to fix it. use the latest nvidia drivers from laptopvideo2go.com and you should be able to run vista compatible games fine. if games keep freezing 20minutes to 1 hour mid-game, then don't waste time trying to fix it, just return or exchange it. for the money this laptop is an amazing amazing deal when it works.

 

@evancg - I'm sure you've read but here is what I would do to test.

Be aware of the 14 day return and use it liberally in case of problem.

Dead Pixel Buddy and pay attention to black for strange gray streaks or patches on the black screen. I have a slight one but ignored it. Some talk of ghosting but not sure what that is or how they see it. I have no ghosting.

Run your games to beat heck and video stress with Furmark, Rthdribl, etc. This should detect the mysterious "lock up" issues some have.

Run HWMonitor to determine max temps during these tests. Mine runs cool no matter what. Keep it above the flat surface.

I would give OCCT a shot, too.

I like to give memtest a few passes also.

And maybe RMClock if you want to undervolt for cooler temp but no emergency on this.

Of course the best test is it does what you want it to do in the real world without problems.

Let us know how it works out. Good luck.

PS: I like the fact that 64 uses all the memory, this setup is very perky. Every once in awhile 64 won't let me run some odd software but nothing I can't live with. I was expecting more issues with 64 than I actually experienced.

 

I have read about how to stress test, but that is a fantastic breakdown of how to stress test the laptop. I'm taking tomorrow off for my birthday, so assuming I'm dead pixel free (or at the very least, just something super minor in the top corner), I'll spend most the tonight\tomorrow stressing the heck out of it.

Fortunately I'm not afraid of exchanging. My friends have a running joke that I never buy something without returning it at least once.

I agree with the statement regarding 64Bit. I found very, very few applications that were not compatible. Unfortunetly one of the apps that wasn't compatible was GameTap (due to the terrible DRM provider they use), meaning dozens of Windows games I want to play aren't available (without having to actually buy each game).

I do have a spare XP Pro installation I haven't used, so the idea of dual booting a small partition for the purpose of GameTap or any other old games that aren't 64Bit friendly sounds like a great idea!

 

Okay, after knocking on wood I'm ready to post my initial results.

Just running memtest to 100%, OCCT for about 20 minutes, furmark for 15 minutes, so far so good....the temps are high, but I don't have my lapinator yet so i just have the back of the laptop propped on a cd case (should probably use a book or something).

Max CPU temps were around 50, max GPU temp so far has been 91, although it's usually closer to 88 max. HDD temp maxes around 55.

Unfortunately I don't have Crysis or any other real recent super intense games, but I do have Half Life 2 Lost Coast, so I was going to play through that and see how it goes.

I know those temps are on the higher side, but if it's stable and doesn't crash, I should be alright so far, correct? Also, no noticable dead pixels (although at this high of a resolution, they're darn near impossible to see!!).

 

Looking good. The stress tests always push temps higher than a regular program.