Gateway® P-7807u FX VS. Gateway® P-7809u FX

[dpogie97]

Hi everybody,

I have been shopping for a gaming laptop and have concluded that the Gateway's P-series offer the best prices to get a good bang for my buck on a gaming laptop.

I am not sure which one will be the best gaming computer though. The only major differences are:

P-7807u: $1,099.99

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.4GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 Cache)
320GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive

P-7809u: $1,249.99

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 Cache)
500GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive

~~~~~~~~~

Both have 4g DDR3 RAM
both have NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800M GTS Graphics with 1GB of GDDR3 Discrete Video Memory and Intel® PM45 Chipset

So when it comes to a gaming laptop the P-7807 has a slightly slower processor but a faster hard drive RPM

the P-7809 has a slightly faster processor but a slower hard drive RPM

Which is more important in gaming, processor speed or hard drive RPM?

 

[Whyfly??]

Which is more important in gaming, processor speed or hard drive RPM?

I would say processor to render the stuff and show on screen, but no matter how good your processor is, it depends on the graphics card..
I would go for the one with the better processor AND graphics card, usually a 7200 RPM hard drive will heat the laptop up really fast.

 

[dpogie97]

I would say processor to render the stuff and show on screen, but no matter how good your processor is, it depends on the graphics card..
I would go for the one with the better processor AND graphics card, usually a 7200 RPM hard drive will heat the laptop up really fast.

oops! I forgot to say that both have the same graphic card *edits*, but since they have the same card your suggestion is to go with the 7809 because of the faster processor

 

[wol-va-rine]

oops! I forgot to say that both have the same graphic card *edits*, but since they have the same card your suggestion is to go with the 7809 because of the faster processor

depends how much more it is, the FSB and L2 cache are identical, so it depends on how much they're charging extra for that 130MHz difference in speed, I bet it's a lot, or at least way more than they should, an increase that small in clock speed wouldn't even be noticeable imo...

what are the prices for the two laptops...?

oops, the one with the faster cpu has more disk space as well, if you don't download/convert many big files though (movie files, etc.) the 320GB should be enough, I'd just take the cheaper one...

 

[dpogie97]

depends how much more it is, the FSB and L2 cache are identical, so it depends on how much they're charging extra for that 130MHz difference in speed, I bet it's a lot, or at least way more than they should, an increase that small in clock speed wouldn't even be noticeable imo...

what are the prices for the two laptops...?

oops, the one with the faster cpu has more disk space as well, if you don't download/convert many big files though (movie files, etc.) the 320GB should be enough, I'd just take the cheaper one...

I would have to pay 150$ more for:
slightly faster processor
more hard drive space
SLOWER hard drive RPM

Which will have a more noticeable effect for gaming? .13 ghz increase, or 1800 increase in hard drive RPM.

I'm not incredibly experienced but i'm guessing it would be better to go for the higher RPM hard drive.

 

[Whyfly??]

It's not worth the $150 more..
It's only .13 of a difference, trust me, it won't change much (Actually barely anything)
I would go for the cheaper one with the faster hard drive.

 

[dpogie97]

Interestingly enough, I did some research on HP laptops and I am not sure if it would be better to go with their HDX16t than either of those Gateway's.

For approx. the same price as the 7807u I can get:

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53 GHz, 3 MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Memory 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) Memory (2 Dimm)
Hard drive 320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
Graphics card 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M


the differences being:
.13 processor speed increase
4GB DDR2 ram (the Gateway has DDR3)
1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M (instead of NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800M GTS)
resolution (1920x1080p) (7807u has (1440 x 900))

I'm not exactly sure what those different resolutions mean, doesn't a higher resolution make everything more focused but smaller? I have no idea how big of a factor that is for gaming :?

Im pretty sure the graphics card is worse, and I'm not sure how much worse DDR2 ram is, so I still think the 7807u is still the way to go. I think its interesting the deals I have been finding though

 

[Whyfly??]

I
For approx. the same price as the 7807u I can get:

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53 GHz, 3 MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Memory 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) Memory (2 Dimm)
Hard drive 320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
Graphics card 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M


the differences being:
.13 processor speed increase
4GB DDR2 ram (the Gateway has DDR3)
1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M (instead of NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800M GTS)
resolution (1920x1080p) (7807u has (1440 x 900))

I'm not exactly sure what those different resolutions mean, doesn't a higher resolution make everything more focused but smaller? I have no idea how big of a factor that is for gaming :?

Im pretty sure the graphics card is worse, and I'm not sure how much worse DDR2 ram is, so I still think the 7807u is still the way to go. I think its interesting the deals I have been finding though

Like I said, the .13 won't make a difference.
4 gigs of DDR2 RAM is good for gaming. Actually, I just ordered a computer (Not top of the line, but up there) with 4 gigs of DDR2 RAM! That is, as Atomic Rooster says, the sweet spot for gaming.
Yes the card is worse, not too much worse, but worse. The 9800 is a good card. Higher resolution, yes everything is smaller, but it looks nicer, not as boxy, smoother etc. Basically the resolution is how may pixels there are, the more there is, the more detail, HOWEVER, the more, the more work the card has to do which causes lag if set to high.
Here read This it'll explain it...
BTW, stick with the Gateway