P105-S9722 vs. Gateway NX860XL

I'm planning on buying one of these two within the next week, but am having trouble deciding. Any objective advice would be appreciated. I've seen plenty of benchmarks on the P105 but nothing on the NX860XL with it's new specs. On paper, the gateway looks like a better deal...but will it really run any better.

P105-S9722:
C2D @ 2.0
2GB @ 667 RAM
200GB HD @ 4200
1440 x 900, 17"
Nvidia 7900 GS 256mb
DVI out
7.1 lbs
$1999

Gateway NX860XL
C2D @ 2.16
2GB @ 667 RAM
100GB HD @ 7200
1680 x 1050, 17"
Nvidia 7900 GS 256mb
No DVI out
7.8 lbs
$2039

Thanks!

 

Lack of DVI out seems like kind of a minus to me if you plan on using an external monitor much at all. Plus the heavier weight.

But I'd say that if the Gateway looks like it meets your needs, you might as well go with it.......... i would say the more noticeable thing is the 1680x1050 res compared to 1440x900.

 

I agree go with the Gateway if you don't mind hte lack of DVI. The jump to 7200 from 4200 is quite a difference i think.

 

True, although the hard drive is something fairly easy to replace.... so if that was the sticking point and you otherwise preferred the lighter weight of the P105, it would not be difficult to switch out the hard drive. The P105 can also be purchased from amazon.com tax-free with a $150 MIR, bringing the cost down to $1850........ and that price difference between it and the gateway could easily pay for a Hitachi or Seagate 100GB 7200rpm notebook drive... plus the cost of an external enclosure, giving you a nice bonus of a portable 200gb hard drive to use for extra storage, etc.

 

Also probably worth mentioning that if you also otherwise prefer the Toshiba, you could also custom configure a P100 on toshibadirect.com with the exact specs you wanted.

 

Thanks for your replies.

Zadillo: unfortunately, there is no nvidia 7900gs or C2D option on the toshiba website for the P100, Only 7600 and Core Duo. I would prefer the toshiba, but on paper the gateway looks like a much faster machine. I like the idea of swaping out the HD on the toshiba BTW. Thanks.

 

I see.

Well, again, the only reason I think I would get the Gateway would be if I had to have the higher res screen. In any other situation I think I'd pick the P105 and use the cost savings to buy a 7200rpm HD separately.

The difference between the 2.16GHz C2D and the 2.0GHz C2D seems fairly inconsequential to me, but I guess it would depend on what you're using it for.

-Zadillo

 

I bought mine last week and while it is a beautiful high performance machine, I do have some reservations. The keyboard has a good feel but the right shift, (.) and (/) keys are not standard and take some geting used to. I plan to complete full review soon.

The fingerprint reader has not been reliable, and the speakers are nothing to be excited about.

3D 05 scores are about 6200
PC 05 scores are about 4900
3D06 scores are about 3820

The hard drive (4200 rpm) is not that slow.
Access 21ms
Average 28.2 MB/sec
Burst 76 MB/sec
CPU 3.6%

I got it from costco.com for $1800, mainly for their return policy (6m), but it is not on their site now.

Toshiba America was recently given a failing grade for costomer support by a consumer agency (Saw it at dailytech)