GATEWAY P-6831FX REVIEW

This rig from Gateway is a perfectly decent gaming machine, which does not burn a hole in your pocket. We put it through our tests, and find out whats in store for you.

Design
Having a glossy black exterior, designed by carbon fibers and copper paint, this notebook looks good and has a superb build factor due to the carbon fibers. Considering its weight and the build factor, it would be a great companion to next-door LAN party, and won't disappoint you with the performance too. The screen, at 17” , is good enough for gaming and entertainment. A maximum resolution of 1440x900 is supported. Although the color reproduction is a bit bad, the overall brightness and contrast is superb. The screen faces troubling issues with the viewing angles, and the screen is best viewed at a squarish position. With only 3 USB 2.0 ports, Firewire, PC Card slot, Flash memory reader, the connectivity options should have been more. The keyboard is great, and a full-size styled keyboard is a boon for gamers any day. There are touch sensitive volume controls and media buttons above the keyboard which are quite handy.

Performance
The notebook speaks of a great configuration at the price at which it retails. Intel Core-2-duo T5450, 3GB of RAM, 250 GB hard drive and the powercore of the superb gaming results, a Geforce 8800M GTS. The notebook scored 4,598 PCMarks 05, which is average for it. A better CPU would have returned better results, and there is room for upgradation. It managed a 6,882 in 3DMark 06, which makes it future proof as per your gaming needs. The 512MB GDDR3 8800M GTS is sufficient enough for the latest games out there, and the notebook should last a couple of years with a good processor upgrade.

Conclusion
Offering ultimate performance for the price of $1400 , this one should not be missed if you need a good gaming notebook. The battery life is not so good, but still, at this price you can't get everything.

Pros
+ Superb graphics sub-system
+ Very good design, suits gamers well

Cons
- CPU could have been better
- You definitely need an extra battery pack.

VFM=4.5
Rating=4.0