Hi,I have 2 laptops in my house and could pick one for FS use. I wonder if some of you hardware gurus could advise me.Laptop 1 is a Toshiba SLi1 with an Intel T7250, 2gb PC667 DDR2 ram, 2 x 120gb HDDs (5400rpm) in raid0 and 2x M8600GT in SLI (512mb total DDR3 video ram) on a 1440x800 LCD.Laptop 2 is a Gateway with an Intel P8400 at 2.26 ghz, 4gb PC1066 DDR3 ram, 1 x 320gb HDD 7200RPM, 1x M9800GTS with 1gb DDR3 video ram on an 1920x1200 display. I would never run FSX at that res.So it boils down to is the raid0 and SLI going to be better than the faster HDD and single (faster) GPU?I want to run both FS9 and FSX with complex addons. I do not want "all sliders left" but I want a reasonable level of detail.Any thoughts or ideas welcome!Thanks,Paul

2nd laptop is vastly superior. No contest.

The second one is much faster. The GPU should be enough for single display FSX

Thanks for the help.I was thinking the newer Gateway was better, but was just making sure. I'm still trying to get to grips with how much of a difference the Raid0 and SLi would have made on the equation.I will stick using the Gateway.Cheers,Paul

If your talking about the Gateway FX series, I kind of got shafted, I bought the 6831 and they came out with the one with the specs you listed a month after I bought mine for the same price so I was mad! but that being said, go with the gateway, I have upgraded mine to raid 0 with 2 10000 rpm raptor drives and it runs a treat.

Hi Aussiecop,Yes I am talking about the FX 7805u.I live in South America and just went up to Miami for a few days.. saw this deal in Best Buy and got it.... the wife has the Toshiba Sli PC but doesn't use it much, so therefore I have both at home.Had quite a lucky trip really.. first I got the FX with the high res screen.. I thought I was buying a 1440x900 but it came with the 1920x1200, and the car rental people upgraded me to a brand new Infiniti M35.. so I had a week of motoring fun too!I have read that poeple have upgraded the Gateway with another 320gb 7200rpm drive raid0 and also that you can now put a quad core extreme in it ( with a bios update ), but for now I will stick with the base unit.I tried it with PMDG 744 and MD11 at Aerosoft's EGLL, ASA, U Traffic 70%, FSX sliders mostly centre right and frames locked at 25 and it stays mostly at 25, which is good enough for me. I was looking at the Alienwares and Toshiba Qosimo but they were super expensive.. now I am sure you get "better" frames with these, but in general this FX was great value.Paul

A word of warning about the Gateway - don't expect any warranty support whatsoever. The company that services the machines under warranty is bankrupt and won't honor them.http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=50956http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=50660http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=50231

A word of warning about the Gateway - don't expect any warranty support whatsoever. The company that services the machines under warranty is bankrupt and won't honor them.http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=50956http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=50660http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=50231

Thanks for the warning, but I would take those with a pinch of salt. Certainly in my case where I I don't use extended warranties ( I guess sold as an "insurance" type policy ). I buy in USA but don't live there, so I have little expectation of any warranty. I check my product immediatly in case of fault, but then, later on, take any issues up with the part manufacturer. It's not ideal, but it's my only viable choice.So far so good with the Gateway.Paul