Asus G50VT-X5 vs Gateway FX P-7805u UPDATED

Which one is better? They seem similar enough but there's a $200 price difference. Is that just the Gateway name you're paying for? I've had good luck with Gateways, but I am unfamiliar w/ ASUS, how are they? Which one would you buy for the money? Also, do either of them have backlit keyboards (just something I've always wanted!)?

Any info you could give me would be much appreciated.

Prices:

Asus: $899.99

Gateway: $1149.99

Comparo:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat13504&type=page&pageIdentity=searchDriven&useProductString=true&productString=1218044029168*1218043606827&unProductString=1218012519873&catId=pcmcat150700050002

Update: So lets consider this, do I need this much of a laptop? The only PC games I'm really interested in re strategy, RTS, and maybe some simulators. Do they need the graphical prowess that games like Crysis and FC need? Would I be ok saving my $200 on the ASUS to play these games?

Speaking of Gamer need and power wise There is no doubt at 100% that the Gateway FX P-7805u IS BETTER we speak of 9800GTS Gateway
VS 9800GTS Asus And aThe Gateway CPU as is Better also SO i hope you enjoy ur laptop :)

so you know what to take id like to know the price if it in usa you'r buying it possible there some other deal that may worth but it seem that the best

I'm actually in the exact same position as you since I'm also thinking about purchasing one of these laptops. The things to note about the two laptops are that: 1. Asus laptop has 15.6in screen while the other is 17in. 2. Asus has 512MB Nvidia 9800 GS and Gateway has 1GB Nvidia 9800 GTS. 3. And last would be the processor, the Asus has 2.13ghz and the other one is slightly better with 2.26ghz.

I have no experience with it, but I've been hearing that the Intel P7450(the processor in the Asus laptop) isn't very good, and I"ve been told to look for something else besides that. And for that reason, I've also been looking at this laptop from bestbuy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9050279&type=product&id=1218012519873

It's pretty much exactly like the Asus you're looking at, except that it has the slightly better precessor.

I'm probably going to go with the Gateway since its has the better features of the two, but I'm still looking around at other websites.

Without a doubt the P7805u is the better of the two. The 9800M GTS is a better GPU than the 9800M GS (quite a bit better actually), the CPU is slightly better, the gateway has DDR3 RAM whereas the Asus has DDR2 (not a big deal, but it's worth mentioning), and the screen on the Gateway is a 17" 1440x900 screen whereas the Asus is a 15.4" 1366x768. They're both good deals though and if you need to save money it probably wouldn't kill you to save $200 and get the Asus.

I own the P7811FX which is the same laptop as the P7805u except it has a 1920x1200 screen instead of a 1440x900 one. So far my P7811 can more or less max out every game I've played on it at 1920x1200 resolution at about 45 FPS average across the board. Obviously the exception to this is Crysis and Crysis Warhead which I have to tone down to a much more modest 1280x800 though I can still get them maxed out with tweaks (I get about 25-35 FPS on average on those settings). But as far as Fallout 3, Oblivion, Mirror's Edge, CoDWaW, UT3, and Source games are concerned I have no trouble maxing those out at full resolution. With a 1440x900 screen you should have no trouble maxing out games at full native resolution for quite some time. So speaking from experience I'd say go with the Gateway.

Oh yeah, and since you were wondering about it, no, the Gateway does not have a backlit keyboard although it does have a few extra "keys" (more like touch sensors) that are backlit. That's actually the only complaint I have about this laptop. The music, DVD, and playback controls keys don't work for me though that's probably an issue due to me not setting them up. Also, the volume control is cool but impractical. Basically it's a touchpad and you have to start your finger out at one end and run it across the sensor and then hold it there to make them volume go up or down (and the touchpad lights up while you do this). It's cool, but at the same time a simple volume wheel probably would have been more practical (if only because you have no control over the volume until the computer boots up...so if you're in a library and you didn't mute your sound before you last turned your laptop off you're going to have an awkward boot up). And speaking of volume the speakers on the laptop aren't that great (the bass sucks). I don't know how the Asus's speakers are (laptop speakers tend to not be all that great) but if you get the gateway I do suggest you pick yourself up a good pair of headphones or have a speaker system that you can plug in for better sound. If you don't though it won't kill you, the sound quality isn't terrible and i usually game on my gateway without good headphones or any headphones at all (I've been meaning to pick up a nice pair of surround sound headphones for a few months now, but trying to do research to find a good pair is a *****).

There is a new laptop coming out on XoticPC this month, the Sager/Clevo NP8662. It starts at 13,350, with no OS, but it's a bit better that the other twopower wise, and is highly upgradeable, including the GPU! You may want to take a look at that too.

update bump, thanks to everyone who's answered!

Does anyone know where to find these computers for a better price than BB? Will there be a huge difference w/ the 512 graphics vs the 1gb? Neither have a backlit keyboard. Is that something you could put in after the warranty expired? I'm just so stumped on this. I wish I knew more of what to look for. So most people seem to think the Gateway is worth the extra $250, right?JJS29

The Asus laptop is fine, it will run pretty much any game on the market maxed out except for Crysis/Warhead. Yes, the gateway has a better bang for your buck, but if you rather not spend the extra cash, I'm sure you'll still be very pleased with the G50VT-X5. But just to make sure you know, like some one mentioned before, you cannot upgrade laptop parts. As far as the graphics cards, I'm not as tech savy as some of the people around here, but I think the more video ram on the graphics card the better for playing on higher resolutions.

I have an Asus laptop, and works great.Mastergamer27

Can you play most RTS and strategy games on a decent graphics performance setting and still have a smooth frame rate?

I've had one of the Asus models for about a week and so far, been really, really happy with it. Personally I haven't pushed it really hard yet, but a friend of mine was telling me he was running Crysis at max settings and it performed great. Battery life does seem to be pretty lame, but I sorta expected that.

I'll post any updates depending on how it performs going fwd. thx.

a few posts back someone said that asus won't be able to play crysis and then a few posts after somebody said they played crysis on asus...i'm also planning on buying a new laptop, and i'm stuck with these two, i play CodWaW cani play it on asus?

a few posts back someone said that asus won't be able to play crysis and then a few posts after somebody said they played crysis on asus...i'm also planning on buying a new laptop, and i'm stuck with these two, i play CodWaW cani play it on asus?

ice-reaper

I've got the asus g50vt-x5. I've had it for about a week, and have been playing Crysis on high with no problems. I think its the best bang for the buck. I've had nothing but bad experiences with Gateway, so I went with the Asus. So far the laptop is great and I'm really enjoying it.

proably not but since u cant upgrade laptops might as well get something with more power so it last u longer altough building ur own desktop would be the cheapest and best option u could build a pc for less money then those that would destroy it.johnny27

I plan on getting the Gateway, but I was wondering about the screen resolution.

Would it be better for me to get the 1920x1200 and play it on 1440x900? Or just get the 1440x900?

Is there any loss of quality if I tone down the native resolution?

Also, Is there really that much difference in picture quality between the two to begin with, aside from how much you'll be able to view?

Hmm... 8lbs vs. 10lbs

I sell you a couple of bricks for $800 (you save $300).

I honestly don't understand the appeal of gaming laptops, but maybe that's because my friends bought one and it is a pain to carry around. The power brick is larger than an entire Xbox 360. You have to carry around a power brick aswell, otherwise it only lasts about an hour playing a game and runs much, much slower than if it had an outlit.

Either way. The Gateway is going to be the better one. 17" screen, a better graphics card, better RAM, better CPU. The only downside of those two is the WXGA screen, which has very low resolution.

Hmm... 8lbs vs. 10lbs

I sell you a couple of bricks for $800 (you save $300).

I honestly don't understand the appeal of gaming laptops, but maybe that's because my friends bought one and it is a pain to carry around. The power brick is larger than an entire Xbox 360. You have to carry around a power brick aswell, otherwise it only lasts about an hour playing a game and runs much, much slower than if it had an outlit.

Either way. The Gateway is going to be the better one. 17" screen, a better graphics card, better RAM, better CPU. The only downside of those two is the WXGA screen, which has very low resolution.

Swiftstrike5

I plan on getting the Gateway, but I was wondering about the screen resolution.

Would it be better for me to get the 1920x1200 and play it on 1440x900? Or just get the 1440x900?

Is there any loss of quality if I tone down the native resolution?

Also, Is there really that much difference in picture quality between the two to begin with, aside from how much you'll be able to view?

Daggerboy_13

Help please

[QUOTE="Swiftstrike5"]

Hmm... 8lbs vs. 10lbs

I sell you a couple of bricks for $800 (you save $300).

I honestly don't understand the appeal of gaming laptops, but maybe that's because my friends bought one and it is a pain to carry around. The power brick is larger than an entire Xbox 360. You have to carry around a power brick aswell, otherwise it only lasts about an hour playing a game and runs much, much slower than if it had an outlit.

Either way. The Gateway is going to be the better one. 17" screen, a better graphics card, better RAM, better CPU. The only downside of those two is the WXGA screen, which has very low resolution.

codezer0

[QUOTE="Daggerboy_13"]

I plan on getting the Gateway, but I was wondering about the screen resolution.

Would it be better for me to get the 1920x1200 and play it on 1440x900? Or just get the 1440x900?

Is there any loss of quality if I tone down the native resolution?

Also, Is there really that much difference in picture quality between the two to begin with, aside from how much you'll be able to view?

Daggerboy_13

Help please

Hmm... 8lbs vs. 10lbs

I sell you a couple of bricks for $800 (you save $300).

I honestly don't understand the appeal of gaming laptops, but maybe that's because my friends bought one and it is a pain to carry around. The power brick is larger than an entire Xbox 360. You have to carry around a power brick aswell, otherwise it only lasts about an hour playing a game and runs much, much slower than if it had an outlit.

Either way. The Gateway is going to be the better one. 17" screen, a better graphics card, better RAM, better CPU. The only downside of those two is the WXGA screen, which has very low resolution.

[QUOTE="Swiftstrike5"][QUOTE="codezer0"]Because a seven-hour battery life does **** for me if it still chokes at playing a DVD, much less even Duke3D. :roll: Even two hours of battery life is more than acceptable if it means having a machine that can play some recent games well.mlambert890

I know the Xbox360 has a power brick (I don't know what that has to do with it and of course I would leave such a meanless statement out of my post). I was saying that the brick is almost large as an Xbox360. And yes, it is about 30% wider than the Xbox360 power brick.

I said the Gateway was better. Then I went on to say that you shouldn't buy a gaming laptop, giving reasons I've actually experienced. FX gets 3 hours doing word processing, if it's power settings are at a minimum. You can't play games on those settings, trust me... unless it's a flash game. I have a friend who owns a FX. He has to carry around all his equipment. His backpack weighs more than 3-4 college books and that's only carrying his equipment. You say that it lasts an hour playing games. Sure, it might, but his only lasts about 30minutes because of his resolution (1680x1050 and screen isn't dimmed), which was exactly my point. You buy this expensive gaming laptop to max your favorite games and play on the go. Unfortunately, you either have to sacrafice battery life or graphics settings.

I was simply providing some of the 'cons' of having a gaming laptop. I'd want to know all the pros/cons of a purchase before I spent $1000...

Fyi: I have a laptop and I've done quite a bit of reasearch on the FX because I considered purchasing one too.

[QUOTE="mlambert890"][QUOTE="Swiftstrike5"] Not really true... The FX gets about 3 hrs normal use and about an hr on max performance while gaming. Also, the XB360 has a power brick too (you conveniently left that out of your other post) and the XB360 brick is bigger than any laptop brick I've ever seen. You obviously don't like laptops for whatever reason, so really... Why come into a thread asking for laptop advice and push your view? I never understand why there never fail to be people who just cannot resist coming in to "what laptop" threads and saying "dont buy laptops" And then push their agenda and almost kind of demand that people justify why they need/want a laptop. Its a really odd thing...Swiftstrike5

I know the Xbox360 has a power brick (I don't know what that has to do with it and of course I would leave such a meanless statement out of my post). I was saying that the brick is almost large as an Xbox360. And yes, it is about 30% wider than the Xbox360 power brick.

I said the Gateway was better. Then I went on to say that you shouldn't buy a gaming laptop, giving reasons I've actually experienced. FX gets 3 hours doing word processing, if it's power settings are at a minimum. You can't play games on those settings, trust me... unless it's a flash game. I have a friend who owns a FX. He has to carry around all his equipment. His backpack weighs more than 3-4 college books and that's only carrying his equipment. You say that it lasts an hour playing games. Sure, it might, but his only lasts about 30minutes because of his resolution (1680x1050 and screen isn't dimmed), which was exactly my point. You buy this expensive gaming laptop to max your favorite games and play on the go. Unfortunately, you either have to sacrafice battery life or graphics settings.

I was simply providing some of the 'cons' of having a gaming laptop. I'd want to know all the pros/cons of a purchase before I spent $1000...

Fyi: I have a laptop and I've done quite a bit of reasearch on the FX because I considered purchasing one too.

I own P7811FX and I've personally never had any issues with the size, if only because I use it as a desktop replacement (which is what it's intended to be) rather than a notebook that I take with me everywhere I go. The reason I got a laptop in the first place is because I live in a really crappy dorm. I have to share a small room with one other person and as a result there's barely enough space for my 17" laptop and 8" TV. Furthermore, because I have a tendancy to do most of my work at night while my roommate likes to go to sleep at midnight it's nice if I'm able to take my computer out of the room to go somewhere else to study/type up a paper/whatever I need to do. It's also nice to be able to bring my computer on campus with me if I have to work on a paper or some other assignment in-between classes. And if I know I'm going to have the very rare opportunity for downtime inbetween classes or activities I also have the option of taking my laptop with me to play games while I wait (power consumption is a non-issue since it's not terribly difficult to find a wall outlet on campus).

The weight also isn't much of an issue since I use a backpack, not a satchel, to carry my laptop. And no, the FX is not as heavier than 3-4 college books, that's insane. Just my organic chemistry textbook weighs about the same as my FX. Believe me, I would much rather lug around my laptop than my textbooks.

Anyway, the whole point of buying a gaming laptop isn't so you can game while you're in a car or just whip it out in random areas to get in a spontaneous session of Crysis. It's so you have the ability to game when you travel (at hotels, friend's house, etc), to make setting up your rig for a LAN party easy, and because maybe you need to have a laptop and would just prefer to kill two birds with one stone by having your gaming PC and laptop in the same machine.

edit: And for the record the 7811FX's powerbrick is most certainly not "30% wider than the x360 powerbrick" nor is it almost the same size. It is MUCH smaller than the 360's powerbrick, both in width and especially in length and height. I can say this very confidently seeing as how I'm looking at both my 7811 and 360's powerbricks side by side right now. I have no idea where you came up with the notion that the FX's powerbrick was as large, if not larger than, the 360's.

I plan on getting the Gateway, but I was wondering about the screen resolution.

Would it be better for me to get the 1920x1200 and play it on 1440x900? Or just get the 1440x900?

Is there any loss of quality if I tone down the native resolution?

Also, Is there really that much difference in picture quality between the two to begin with, aside from how much you'll be able to view?

Daggerboy_13

There is a loss of quality, yes. With a 17" screen though the loss of quality isn't terribly noticeable. There is a difference between picture quality as well between 1920x1200 and 1440x900. Games look a lot better at 1920x1200 than they do at 1440x900. Indeed, turning up the resolution is the single best thing you can do to improve graphics quality in your games.

I don't know why you're talking about playing at 1440x900 on the 1920x1200 gateway though. I own the 7811FX (the one you're talking about) and the only games that I can't play at 1920x1200 is Crysis and Crysis Warhead. Everything else gets maxed out at 1920x1200. That said, the only way you're going to get a hold of a 7811FX is if you buy off eBay seeing as how Gateway no longer makes it.

[QUOTE="Daggerboy_13"]

I plan on getting the Gateway, but I was wondering about the screen resolution.

Would it be better for me to get the 1920x1200 and play it on 1440x900? Or just get the 1440x900?

Is there any loss of quality if I tone down the native resolution?

Also, Is there really that much difference in picture quality between the two to begin with, aside from how much you'll be able to view?

gameguy6700

There is a loss of quality, yes. With a 17" screen though the loss of quality isn't terribly noticeable. There is a difference between picture quality as well between 1920x1200 and 1440x900. Games look a lot better at 1920x1200 than they do at 1440x900. Indeed, turning up the resolution is the single best thing you can do to improve graphics quality in your games.

I don't know why you're talking about playing at 1440x900 on the 1920x1200 gateway though. I own the 7811FX (the one you're talking about) and the only games that I can't play at 1920x1200 is Crysis and Crysis Warhead. Everything else gets maxed out at 1920x1200. That said, the only way you're going to get a hold of a 7811FX is if you buy off eBay seeing as how Gateway no longer makes it.

Thanks for the info. And I was talking about the 7805FX from Best Buy, sorry about that. It is advertised as 1440x900, but some were shipped with a 1920x1200. You can find out which one it is by the barcode. I want the game to look good, but in the long run it would have a better chance of running more games on the 1440 than the 1920. I knew there was a chance I could find a 1920, and I wanted to know if I did, and wasn't able to run a game, such as Crysis, on 1920, then by dropping the resolution would there be a noticeable drop in picture quality. Which you answered, so thank you.

If you plan on playing only at 1440x900 then get the 1440x900 res screen. 1920x1200 looks amazing though. There's no loss of quality if you tone down native resolution (unless you go outside the 16:10 ratio). Swiftstrike5

Thank you.

Gateway FX is trash. I bought Sims 3 and Empire for it and neither work, they crash after a few minutes. Buy a desktop if you want to play games.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9366651&type=product&id=1218092150636

asus has a new labtop out, and probably a better comparison