Asus Vs. Gateway

[Vitor711]

I'm currently in between two laptops: The Gateway FX edition P-7915u FX or the G72GX-RBBX05. Below are the main differences in specs between them (Namely, battery, DDR2 vs DDR3 Ram and screen res):

Asus:
Processor - Intel® Core™2 Duo
Processor Speed 2.53GHz
Battery Type - 8-cell lithium-ion (Around 1 hr 20 mins of gaming)
Display Type - LED-backlit high-definition plus widescreen (1600 x 900)
Screen Size (Measured Diagonally) - 17.3"
System Memory (RAM) - 6GB
Type of Memory (RAM) - DDR2
Hard Drive Type - SATA (5400 rpm)
Computer Hard Drive Size - 500GB
Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
Video Memory - 1GB GDDR3 VRAM


Gateway:
Processor - Intel® Core™2 Duo
Processor Speed - 2.53GHz
Battery Type - 9-cell lithium-ion (Around 3 hours of gaming)
Display Type - High-definition widescreen LCD display with Ultrabright technology (1440 x 900)
Screen Size (Measured Diagonally) - 17"
System Memory (RAM) - 4GB
Type of Memory (RAM) - DDR3
Hard Drive Type - SATA (5400 rpm)
Computer Hard Drive Size - 320GB
Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
Video Memory - 1GB GDDR3 dedicated; up to 2815MB total available TurboCache

I'm trying to work out which one will win in pure gaming performance and what you guys would recommend. I know Asus laptops tend to overheat but hear bad things about Gateway customer support (although I would be buying both straight through BestBuy if that changes anything). Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

[fgocards]

I'm currently in between two laptops: The Gateway FX edition P-7915u FX or the G72GX-RBBX05. Below are the main differences in specs between them (Namely, battery, DDR2 vs DDR3 Ram and screen res):

Asus:
Processor - Intel® Core™2 Duo
Processor Speed 2.53GHz
Battery Type - 8-cell lithium-ion (Around 1 hr 20 mins of gaming)
Display Type - LED-backlit high-definition plus widescreen (1600 x 900)
Screen Size (Measured Diagonally) - 17.3"
System Memory (RAM) - 6GB
Type of Memory (RAM) - DDR2
Hard Drive Type - SATA (5400 rpm)
Computer Hard Drive Size - 500GB
Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
Video Memory - 1GB GDDR3 VRAM


Gateway:
Processor - Intel® Core™2 Duo
Processor Speed - 2.53GHz
Battery Type - 9-cell lithium-ion (Around 3 hours of gaming)
Display Type - High-definition widescreen LCD display with Ultrabright technology (1440 x 900)
Screen Size (Measured Diagonally) - 17"
System Memory (RAM) - 4GB
Type of Memory (RAM) - DDR3
Hard Drive Type - SATA (5400 rpm)
Computer Hard Drive Size - 320GB
Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
Video Memory - 1GB GDDR3 dedicated; up to 2815MB total available TurboCache

I'm trying to work out which one will win in pure gaming performance and what you guys would recommend. I know Asus laptops tend to overheat but hear bad things about Gateway customer support (although I would be buying both straight through BestBuy if that changes anything). Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Well, first off, I've had both companies. Asus laptops get warm, but they don't overheat and shutdown, and do not cause damage to your systems hardware. They are well build, and like their modao, rock solid.

With my experience, Gateways are well built, yes. I have a desktop from them that I've had since 06 with no problems what so ever. But, after your 1 year warrenty is up, they forget you. They WILL NOT answer any questions you have, and don't really care about anything that goes wrong. If you just ask something they will ask you to sign up for "Answers by Gateway" which costs 89.99 for six months... It's almost like, "Hey idiots, I want you to answer A QUESTION, not do my freaking job."

Asus is the better choice by far just because of the customer support. But, IMO, I would go with the Asus G72 on Best Buys website. It has a core 2 quad which will be better for games in the future, as well as handle the ones that are out now with ease.

 

[Vitor711]

Well, first off, I've had both companies. Asus laptops get warm, but they don't overheat and shutdown, and do not cause damage to your systems hardware. They are well build, and like their modao, rock solid.

With my experience, Gateways are well built, yes. I have a desktop from them that I've had since 06 with no problems what so ever. But, after your 1 year warrenty is up, they forget you. They WILL NOT answer any questions you have, and don't really care about anything that goes wrong. If you just ask something they will ask you to sign up for "Answers by Gateway" which costs 89.99 for six months... It's almost like, "Hey idiots, I want you to answer A QUESTION, not do my freaking job."

Asus is the better choice by far just because of the customer support. But, IMO, I would go with the Asus G72 on Best Buys website. It has a core 2 quad which will be better for games in the future, as well as handle the ones that are out now with ease.

Thanks for the well written and thorough response! So you think the $1,300 Asus with the Quad Core is worth the extra $150? Because I was thinking, if I can get that, I may as well splash out another $100 and get the ASUS G51J-A1 for $1400.

What do you think? I'd rather not spend that much extra if you don't feel the performance boost is worth it (I would be getting a higher res screen, DDR3 instead of DDR2 ram and 2 year international warranty with 1 year accidental which best buy doesn't offer - I need this laptop for a year long stay in Japan next year so may well consider this some more)

 

[fgocards]

Thanks for the well written and thorough response! So you think the $1,300 Asus with the Quad Core is worth the extra $150? Because I was thinking, if I can get that, I may as well splash out another $100 and get the ASUS G51J-A1 for $1400.

What do you think? I'd rather not spend that much extra if you don't feel the performance boost is worth it (I would be getting a higher res screen, DDR3 instead of DDR2 ram and 2 year international warranty with 1 year accidental which best buy doesn't offer - I need this laptop for a year long stay in Japan next year so may well consider this some more)

If you're okay with the 16" screen, then yes, it's well worth the 1400. Sorry, I just assumed you liked 17" ones better! See, the thing is with the G51, the i7 makes it amazing. (I think you're talking about the i7 model, if not I apologize) During games that use only 1 core, the i7 will OC that specific core to run at 2.8 ghz. If a game uses 2 cores, it OCs 2 cores to run at 2.8 ghz. This makes it about 20% better than any Core 2 Quad, and 40% better than any core 2 duo.

Not to mention with the i7, it won't be outdated for many many years to come. It really is the best gaming laptop processor choice, because it supports the games out now, and future games. Oh, and the northbridge is attached to the rambus, so there is no bottlenecking, everything is instant access!

 

[Vitor711]

If you're okay with the 16" screen, then yes, it's well worth the 1400. Sorry, I just assumed you liked 17" ones better! See, the thing is with the G51, the i7 makes it amazing. (I think you're talking about the i7 model, if not I apologize) During games that use only 1 core, the i7 will OC that specific core to run at 2.8 ghz. If a game uses 2 cores, it OCs 2 cores to run at 2.8 ghz. This makes it about 20% better than any Core 2 Quad, and 40% better than any core 2 duo.

Not to mention with the i7, it won't be outdated for many many years to come. It really is the best gaming laptop processor choice, because it supports the games out now, and future games. Oh, and the northbridge is attached to the rambus, so there is no bottlenecking, everything is instant access!

Looks like I may well see how the $1400-ish price-point the ASUS G51J-A1 carries goes down with my parents (we're splitting the cost half way for my 21st).

Do you think it's worth me holding out until the January/Post-Christmas sales in the hope of a discount from either GenTech or XoticPC? Or should I take advantage of XoticPC's current $50 rebate (down from $1450 to $1400) in case that disappears?

 

[fgocards]

To be honest, I'd wait till January. Reason: Nvidia announced that the first quarter of 2010, they are going to release their 300 series. The i7 isn't going to change price for awhile, but I think the 200 series of Nvidia cards will drop. In result that 260m will probably come down and Asus will drop the price. It's really up to you, don't expect a huge drop, probably a max of 100-150. But there maybe no drop at all...

 

[Vitor711]

To be honest, I'd wait till January. Reason: Nvidia announced that the first quarter of 2010, they are going to release their 300 series. The i7 isn't going to change price for awhile, but I think the 200 series of Nvidia cards will drop. In result that 260m will probably come down and Asus will drop the price. It's really up to you, don't expect a huge drop, probably a max of 100-150. But there maybe no drop at all...

Just got an email from xoticpc saying that Asus have a 3-4 week backorder of this model so looks like I'll be waiting anyway. Gives me more time to save together some cash with which to buy it at least...

 

[ibnsina]

Patience is a great virtue. Lots of new models coming out around Feb, so i think you should wait too.

 

[Vitor711]

Patience is a great virtue. Lots of new models coming out around Feb, so i think you should wait too.

True - and my 21st isn't technically until March so I should be waiting a lot longer anyway... unless a decent deal crops up then I'd probably go for it (and if I ever get desperate, at least Amazon seems to have stock although I wouldn't be able to upgrade it at all - i.e. better thermal gel).

Hopefully with the introduction of the 300m series, this will go from $1400 to $1300 or less *crosses fingers*