Gaming Laptop Roundup

by Jarred Walton on August 29, 2008 5:00 AM EST

Test Setup

Below are the tested configurations for the four laptops included in this roundup. Again, keep in mind that the Gateway P-171XL and the tested configuration for the Sager and NP9262 are no longer available. The P-171XL has been replaced by the P-173XL, which has a slower processor as well as a lower price. The NP9262 is now available with Penryn-based processors, including quad-core models, and it ships with 9800M GT instead of 8800M GTX. The 9800M GT is virtually identical to the 8800M GTX, except it has a 20% higher clock GPU speed (with the same amount of memory bandwidth).

Alienware m15x Test System
Processor Core 2 Extreme X9000 (2.80GHz 6MB 800FSB)
Memory 2x2048MB Qimonda DDR2-667 5-5-5-15
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX 512MB
NVIDIA drivers: 175.80 (Beta from Alienware)
Intel GMA X3100 for BinaryGFX
Display 15.4" WUXGA (1920x1200) Matte
(LG Philips LP154WU1)
Hard Drive 1x200GB Seagate Momentus 7200.2
(ST9200420ASG)
Optical Drive Matshita BD-MLT UJ-220S Blu-ray/DVD Recorder
Battery 9-Cell 56WHr
6-Cell 41WHr (Optional Smart Bay)
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

Gateway P-171XL FX Test System
Processor Core 2 Extreme X7900 (2.80GHz 4MB 667FSB)
Memory 2x2048MB Samsung DDR2-667 5-5-5-15
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS 512MB
NVIDIA drivers: 175.95 (Hacked from LaptopVideo2Go.com)
Display 17" WUXGA (1920x1200) Matte
(Samsung LTN170WU-L02)
Hard Drive 2x200GB Seagate Momentus 7200.2 in RAID 0
(ST9200420AS)
Optical Drive Toshiba TS-L802A HD-DVD Reader/DVD Recorder
Battery 9-Cell 86WHr
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

Gateway P-6831 FX Test System
Processor Core 2 Duo T5450 (1.67GHz 2MB 667FSB)
Memory 1x1024MB + 1x2048MB Samsung DDR2-667 5-5-5-15
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS 512MB
NVIDIA drivers: 167.46 (from Gateway)
Display 17" WXGA+ (1440x900) UltraBright
(Samsung LTN170X2-L02)
Hard Drive 250GB 5400RPM Western Digital
(Scorpio WD2500BEVS-22UST0)
Optical Drive Optiarc AD-7563A DVD Recorder
Battery 9-Cell 86WHr
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

Gateway P-7811 FX Test System
Processor Core 2 Duo P8400 (2.26GHz 3MB 1066FSB)
Memory 2x2048MB Samsung DDR3-1066 7-7-7-20
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS 512MB
NVIDIA drivers: 176.02 (Beta from Gateway)
Display 17" WUXGA (1920x1200) Glossy
(AU Optronics AUO 1088)
Hard Drive 200GB Seagate Momentus 7200.2
(ST9200420AS)
Optical Drive 8X SuperMulti DVD Recorder
Battery 9-Cell 86WHr
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

Sager NP9262 Test System
Processor Core 2 Duo E6850 (3.00GHz 4MB 1333FSB)
Memory 2x1024MB Apacer Technology DDR2-800 5-5-5-18
Graphics Dual NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX 512MB
NVIDIA drivers: 175.95 (from Sager)
Display 17" WUXGA (1920x1200) Matte
(LG Philips LP171WU1? - "LPL 0801" in ASTRA32)
Hard Drive 160GB Seagate Momentus 7200.2
(ST9160823AS)
Optical Drive TSST Corp TS-L632H DVD Recorder
Battery 12-Cell 97WHr
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

We certainly expect the Sager NP9262 to place at the top of the charts in pretty much everything, followed by the Alienware m15x and then the two Gateway notebooks. The P-171XL has a faster hard drive subsystem and processor while the P-7811 has a faster graphics chip. We will also be taking a detailed look at battery life, noise levels, and LCD quality. The Alienware m15x supports both discrete and integrated graphics, which we will benchmark where appropriate. (That means we won't be running our gaming tests - most of them fail completely, and even those that work don't provide acceptable performance.)

Sager NP9262 – Thoughts and Summary Standard Gaming Performance
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  • JarredWalton - Monday, September 1, 2008 - link

    We reviewed that http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=324...">six months ago. Dell hasn't updated it to support the 9800M (yet?), but otherwise it would be very comparable in performance to the Sager unit. The Sager is still a bit faster because of the desktop CPU, and it consumes a bit more power and is a bit heavier. The Dell is also more expensive because of the cost of mobile CPUs, so if you want i.e. an X9000, it's over 3X the cost of an E9500. Since both weigh a lot and cost a lot, you might as well get the fractionally larger Sager/Clevo.
  • cheetah2k - Monday, September 1, 2008 - link

    I understand you reviewed the 1730 6+months ago (and I bought one based on that review with the extreme CPU and SLi 8800GTX's) however some of us would like to see how it still stacks up to the competition, and being a "round-up" and all, I think it makes sense to include it, even if its just for old time sake.

  • JarredWalton - Tuesday, September 2, 2008 - link

    I did mention the laptop, and there are a few games where we tested on both laptops. However, we don't generally get to hang onto $5000 laptops for a long time, so I can't just go back and retest the M1730. In terms of performance, the Sager is going to be slightly faster on the CPU, but overall gaming performance is a tie. If I were to pick between the two now, I would probably go with the Sager for the high-end, because price is a bit cheaper for the same level of performance. Plus you can run quad-core if you want (though that's not really useful for games). I'd be much more likely to go with the Gateway units for the price, but obviously the Dell and Sager are over twice as fast in most games.
  • SniperWulf - Friday, August 29, 2008 - link

    While I agree with you on the astetics of the P series, its price/performance ratio and upgradability are unmatched at the moment. A few months back, I picked up a 6860FX and have been nothing but pleased with it. I've replaced the CPU with a used X7800 ES, and swapped the hard drives for 2x Hitachi 200GBs in a Raid 0 array.

    I didn't do it all at the same time of course, but thats the beauty of it. Whenever you need a lil bit more horsepower, all you have to do is just shop around for parts
  • Kardax - Friday, August 29, 2008 - link

    I took a chance and got a P-7811 a couple weeks ago. Its stability has been rock-solid, even after hours of intense load.

    My only complaint would be that the keyboard has a Bluetooth enable/disable option, but there's apparently no Bluetooth hardware inside...
  • JarredWalton - Friday, August 29, 2008 - link

    Hi guys,

    I'm *sure* there are typos in the article (or errors in speech recognition). I've spent most of the past two days trying to finish all the writing and graphs, so go easy on me while I get some sleep. In the meantime, if you want to point out errors, reply to this post and we'll (eventually) correct them. Hopefully, none of the issues "ruin" the article for you or make it "unreadable". ;-)

    Good night,
    Jarred Walton
    Senior Editor

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