Advice Needed: Buying Gaming Laptop

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Tiaan

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I am a student and am looking for a High-End Laptop in the R 9000- R 11000 price range, I cam across the Gateway P-7811FX, here is a link: http://tinyurl.com/5nxo46

The specs look really good, and it seams to be a quality product. The downside is that I am purchasing it in the USA, because i can't seem to find a retailer here, The current price is 1250$ or roughly R 9600,00 this price seems incredible value for money, I would just like advice on if this would be a wise choice, I am using all my savings to buy it... And I don't know if buying a USA product to use in SA is a wise choice. Please give any comments or advice.:confused:

Here are the specs:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 / 2.26 GHz, 3MB 1066MHZ FSB
RAM: 4 GB DDR3 1066MHZ
Hard Drive:200 GB Serial ATA 7200 rpm
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS (512MB DDR3)
Monitor: 1920 x 1200 ( WUXGA )
Optical Drive: DVD-RW / DVD-RAM
And other extras such as webcam, card reader etc.
 
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Thanks Gost02, but the specs aren't as good as the Gateway, and the price is 3K higher. Do you think I will have compatibility trouble because it is a import?
 
How are you planning to get it here, you would still have to pay shipping and customs, unless you or someone you know are going to the US, in which case you would have to "neglect" declaring it when you return to avoid paying import duties.
 
Remember imports attract other taxes so it is going to cost you more than you budgeted for anyway.

Oops gifs beat me to it :)
 
I do have a trustworthy friend in the US at he moment, that wil return to SA somewhere in October, and I heard that you do not have to pay import duties if you declare it as a personal gift?
 
Tiaan said:
I do have a trustworthy friend in the US at he moment, that wil return to SA somewhere in October, and I heard that you do not have to pay import duties if you declare it as a personal gift?
Click to expand...

ye, but you better make sure your laptop's value is lower then the price bracket, because i think there's a limit to the price of the item you can bring into the country with out tax, so hope and pray that the price is about 10 000 or else you will need to pay tax...
 
Okay, but assuming that I can avoid the tax, wil there be compatibility issues because it is a US product and I am using it in SA with our local distibuted software?
 
The only thing you'll have to worry about is the power cord. But those are *** cheap anyway.
 
It should be fully compatible here, like qwikslver said only the power cord, you could buy a new one here or just buy an adapter.
 
I wouldnt go for a laptop for gaming. They're not really upgradable. When that new game comes out that requires a new GPU then your going to be stuffed.
 
Yeah, I know gregmcc, but the problem is that portability is a must because I am studding and take the laptop with me about once a week. Where a much more affordable Desktop would not offer that advantage, buy this system has the new Nvidia Geforce 9800M GTS with 512 DDR3 Memory, so I suppose it wil last me some time....
 
gregmcc said:
I wouldnt go for a laptop for gaming. They're not really upgradable. When that new game comes out that requires a new GPU then your going to be stuffed.
Click to expand...

not to mention they overheat, some games don't like the mobile versions, the graphics cards are gimped versions of the desktop ones(lower stream processor count, lower clocks, etc)

I mean, the specs of that gpu are as follow:
64 shaders
600MHz core clock
1,500MHz shader clock
256-bit Memory interface
800MHz memory clock

which is comparable to the desktop 9600gt:
64 shaders
650mhz core clock
1,625 shader clock
256-bit Memory interface
900mhz memory clock
 
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