Key Specs Processor: 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo P8400
Memory: 4GB DDR2
Storage: 200GB hard drive
Optical Drives: DVD±RW
Display: 17-inch TFT
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS (512MB)
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit)
Gateway has updated its FX gaming notebook lineup with Intel's newest high-performance Centrino 2 mobile chipset, and the result is the $1,399 P-7811FX, which delivers superb performance for the money. (It's currently available only at Best Buy.) Despite its general excellence, it's still a midrange model that can't compete with higher-priced notebooks, but it's the fastest notebook we've tested at this price range. Its biggest fault is its noisy cooling fans, which frequently spin up for no reason whatsoever. The P-7811FX uses the same black-and-copper chassis with faux carbon fiber as all previous FX machines, so the only changes here are internal. Inside, the Centrino 2 chipset promises better performance, improved wireless range, better battery life, and compatibility with new DDR3 memory. This unit features a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo P8400 processor with 4GB of DDR3 memory. It uses the 64-bit version of Vista to take advantage of all that memory (32-bit versions can only use 3GB.) Even more tantalizing than the P-7811FX's new chipset is the presence of Nvidia's newest mobile video card, the GeForce 9800M GTS with 512MB of memory. The GTS card is the lowest model in the GeForce 9800M series, with 64 stream processors and Nvidia's PureVideo HD engine for offloading Blu-ray decoding demands from the CPU. The HD decoding isn't a concern on this notebook, however, as it features a DVD burner instead of a Blu-ray drive, which isn't surprising given its price tag. Gateway has endowed the P-7811FX with a gorgeous 17-inch wide-screen display that has a glossy coating and a native resolution of 1,920x1,200. It's paired up with a full-size keyboard complete with number pad, and Gateway has added a row of media control buttons below the LCD that are easy to use. The keyboard is very comfortable, though the touch pad feels like it would be easier to use if it were moved an inch or two to the right. Storage is handled by a speedy 200GB 7,200rpm hard drive, and you can also add a second drive to the system. Given its size, it's no surprise that this notebook is loaded with expansion ports and connectors. It features three USB ports, a FireWire jack, a multiformat memory-card reader, an ExpressCard slot, and VGA and HDMI outputs. There are also microphone and headphone jacks, a 1.3-megapixel Webcam built into the LCD bezel, and an external SATA (eSATA) port. The P-7811FX's benchmark performance was very good for a laptop at this price range—in fact, the best we've seen yet, though not up to par with more expensive machines. On the CPU front, it breezed through our iTunes encoding test in 3 minutes and 26 seconds, which is just 13 seconds slower than the $4,800 Alienware Area-51 m15x and about a minute faster than the $1,249 Toshiba Satellite A305-S6845. The Gateway scored well on our Cinebench 10 test, too, racking up an impressive 4,577. Its PCMark Vantage score of 4,305 was also very good, though PCMark05 would not run. It took 6 minutes and 39 minutes to complete our Windows Media Encoder test, which compares favorably to the Toshiba's time, 7 minutes and 17 seconds.
