Gateway P-172X FX Review

Gateway has a gaming laptops in various budget levels, which makes them attractive buy for gamers. Gateway P-172X FX is a medium budget gaming laptop. It features the Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS which offers rich gaming performance. It offers all the features required by gamers along with a huge 17″ screen.

Gateway P-172X FX Review specifications :

• Dimensions : 15.7″ x 11.7″ x 1.7″
• Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 2.4 GHz
• Chipset : Mobile Intel PM965 Express
• RAM : 2×2 GB  DDR II SDRAM 667 MHz
• Display : 17″ TFT active matrix
• Display Resolution : 1920 x 200
• Hard Drive : 160×2 GB SATA-150 7200 rpm
• Graphics : Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTS 512MB
• Optical Drive : DVD Writer
• Webcam : 1.3 Megapixel
• Battery : 9-cell Lithium ion
• Weight : 4.2 Kg
• OS : Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
• Warranty : 1 year warranty
• Approx. price : $1999

The Gateway P-172X FX offers excellent value for money and it offers high-end components at a highly affordable price. Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS is bound to attract a lot of gamera at this price along with a strong processor, 4 gigs of RAM and a 17″ screen.

The look is almost same as other Gateway laptops, making it hard to distinguish it from the lot. It has a glossy black finish with a huge FX logo on the lid. The keyboard has a numeric keypad and the keys are spread out nicely. The control and function keys have swapped places creating a mess. It will take time to get used to the new layout, which is frustrating. Media control keys can be found above the keyboard but do not offer enough tactile feedback. The volume slider is touch sensitive though.

The display offers a native resolution of 1920 x 1200, allowing you to view HD movies in full resolution. Text size does seem small at higher resolution, but movies are a pleasure to watch. The display quality as expected is top class and the finishing was between glossy and matte, making it perfect.

Laptop offers a full range of ports including HDMI and eSATA ports. It has the standard DVD Writer as the optical drive, not a Blu-ray one which is slowly making its way into laptops.

The gaming performance is good with 60fps frame rate in Unreal Tournament III at 1440 x 900 resolution. The processor and graphics card along with 4GB RAM ensure smooth gaming performance. The battery life of the laptop is a little above two hours on full throttle. This is disappointing as it features a 9-cell battery which holds a lot more juice.

Pros :

• Good specifications
• Attractive price
• Great display
• Good performance
• HDMI, eSATA ports

Cons :

• Low battery life
• Not configurable
• Swapped keys

Final Thoughts

The Gateway P-172X FX offers excellent price to performance ratio. It is a dream laptop for gamers on a medium budget looking for everything that high-end laptops have on offer. Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS ensures smooth gaming performance. The processor and RAM are enough to supplement it. Overall a great package to put your money in.

My Rating : 4.25/5