Gateway P-173XL FX Edition

These days, you can usually identify a computer as a gaming machine based solely on appearance. Transformer heads, skeletal hands, and futuristic cityscapes often adorn the lids or cases of gaming machines. The Gateway P-173XL FX has a more understated appearance and a respectable set of features that might even allow you to take it to work without catching bewildered glances from your colleagues. The Gateway P-173XL FX is a prime candidate for a mid-to-high-end mobile gaming machine or desktop replacement.

The Gateway P-173XL FX combines solid video hardware with good processing power to ensure smooth mobile gaming or resource heavy application use. The Gateway P-173XL FX isn’t going to run next year’s games on maximum settings and resolutions, nor will it impress the neighborhood kids with its anthropomorphic lid, but it will satisfy the household gamer’s needs. With a price tag of under $2000, a fully loaded Gateway P-173XL FX is a great alternative to some of the bankrupting power gaming laptops on the market. Remember, we are dealing with a financial crisis here.

Standout Features

• 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme T8300 processor
• GeForce 8800M GTS video card
• 17.1-inch widescreen display

Features

The Gateway P-173XL FX is a handsome machine: more modest than say, Alienware’s laptops, but it still has a casual arrogance about it that says “play games on me.” The case is detailed with orange copper, sports backlit media and application keys above the keyboard. The keyboard itself uses a sort of lighthearted I, Robot, futuristic font with blue-gray, orange and white characters. A racing stripe runs across the lid and has a large, orange “FX” inscribed on it. Aesthetically, the Gateway P-173XL FX has attitude.

It’s what’s inside that counts, right? Right. The Gateway P-173XL FX features a solid roster of high-end hardware. The NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS will handle your video and photo editing software without hiccups and won’t stutter with the majority of graphic intensive games. With 4 GB or RAM, you’ll have plenty of wiggle room while running multiple applications. The Gateway P-173XL FX has strong processing power. The 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme T8300 processor places the Gateway P-173XL FX well above minimum gaming system requirements.

Online gamers adventuring in Azaroth will be very satisfied with the Gateway P-173XL FX’s performance with World of Warcraft. Anxious to try out Warhammer Online? The Gateway P-173XL FX will not disappoint. You may not get rates at 100+ frames per second, but you can expect smooth sailing. Crysis’ hilariously high system requirements will fry the insides of many desktops. With the GeForce 8800M GTS powering the Gateway P-173XL FX on the graphics end, it can handle Crysis on medium graphics settings with frame rates in the 30’s. That’s not seizure-inducing performance, but is still very impressive.

A 17- inch widescreen display looks disarmingly large on a laptop. Gaming and multimedia tasks won’t require any squinting on the Gateway P-173XL FX. And if 17-inches isn’t enough, the Gateway P-173XL FX comes standard with an HDMI output, which allows you to transmit and watch HD video on your TV. That will be a good option for sound too, because the Gateway P-173XL FX’s built-in speakers produce underwhelming tinny audio. A pair of decent headphones or speakers will be a necessity for hi-fi audiophiles.

Weighing in at just over 9 pounds, the Gateway P-173XL FX is heavier than a newborn baby. But given the goods inside and huge display, the Gateway P-173XL FX isn’t heavier than the average desktop replacement. The Gateway P-173XL FX has a long battery life when put up against other gaming laptops: you can expect over two hours of life from a full charge. Alienware’s gaming beast, the Area-51 m17x runs dry thirty minutes quicker than the Gateway P-173XL FX. The Asus G50V A1 gaming laptop runs out of gas at an hour and 45 minutes.

Value

The Gateway P-173XL FX is a powerful gaming machine that won’t put you in the poorhouse. For $1,999, the Gateway P-173XL FX ships with Windows Vista Ultimate, two huge 200 GB hard drives, and a fingerprint reader straight from the Sci-Fi Channel. Depending on your needs, you might settle for P-173XL FX’s little brother, the P-173X FX. The P-173X FX has a slightly weaker 2.2GHz T7500 processor, steps down to Windows Home Edition, scraps the fingerprint reader, and cuts the hard drive down to 200 GB. You won’t have the extra storage space or a prototype fingerprint scanner, but you’ll have most of the power of the Gateway P-173XL FX with an extra $500 in your pocket. Not a bad deal. With the money you save on the reportedly clunky fingerprint reader, you can invest in some good antivirus software to protect yourself from the real security threat to computer users—increasingly menacing malware.

Summary of Reviews from Across the Internet

The Gateway P-173XL FX is one of the best bargains available in the gaming laptop/desktop replacement category. The high-end video card and speedy processer satisfy both gamers and resource-hungry software users. The Gateway P-173XL FX doesn’t come preconfigured with all the bloatware most users hate. It’s a small gesture, but one that reviewers appreciate. It can be aggravating to uninstall loads of unwanted promotional software.

Some reviewers complain about the Gateway P-173XL FX’s nonstandard keyboard layout—the left CTRL and Function keys are switched.

Summary

Looking for a great video card, a good processor, tons of storage space and a huge display, all for about a third of the price of a fluorescent, super gaming laptop? The Gateway P-173XL FX’s reasonable price tag makes it hard to believe that it’s packing a GeForce 8800M GTS, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme T8300 processor, and 4 GB of RAM. Gateway’s P-173XL FX is sure to impress all but the most extreme power gamers.

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