Acer Review, Asus Review – Netbook 10

I’m on the fence about Gateway’s first 12″ netbook – coincidentally their first US netbook. A simple Acer-like chassis on the outside, the LT series netbooks are completely different on the inside with an AMD Athlon 64 processor and an ATI Radeon graphics chip. At $400, it would have been an easy buy, but for a thoroughly unimpressive 5 hour battery life –  especially when it’s up against strong competition in the 12″ with a low priced Intel A0751 from Acer already available, and an 11 hour battery touting Eee PC 1101 from Asus coming out soon.

[Rating:5.6/7]

It’s surprising that Gateway is entering the netbook market since it is owned by netbook bigwig Acer. It’s also surprising that both Acer and Gateway would launch 12″ netbooks at the same time. It’ll be interesting to see how both the Gateway LT series and Acer’s AO751h fare over the next month.

Features

• AMD processor – the Athlon 64 has a slower clock speed than most standard Intel netbook processors (only 1.2GHz), but has by far the fastest bus speed at 800 MHz. The chip can support 62 bit Windows, but the netbook ships with 32 bit Windows.

• ATI graphics chip - The X1270 graphics chip won’t let you play super-power intensive game, but you will be able to play in better, faster modes. The X1270 has a bus speed of 350MHz whereas Intel’s GMA500 and GMA900 range between speeds of 100-333MHz.

• Good HD video playback – The 11.6″ screen and higher resolution implied the netbook would support better HD and movie playback, and the AMD and ATI chips actually do support both 720p and 1080p playback. Big win for movie -and HD YouTube – lovers. Here’s a detailed gadling review on the HD video playback.
  

Note: The Acer AO751 HD playback wasn’t very smooth, so the Gateway LT series would be a better, more affordable choice for HD viewing.

• Multi gesture touch pad – like the iPhone, it supports pinch and swipe.

• Affordable – the LT series costs only $400 which is only a little higher than most 10″ netbooks cost, and a lot less than 12″ netbooks are rumored to cost.  (Except the Acer AO751h which costs $400 for a 3 cell and $450 for a 6 cell/8 hours battery life).

Drawbacks

• 5 hour battery life – Better than a 3 hour, not as good as a 6 hour battery life. Keep in mind it’s 5 hours on a 6 cell, so there’s no room for improvement. Yes 5 hours is decent since the netbook is bigger, but the 11.6″ Asus 1101HA battery can last 11 hours. So don’t sell yourself short.

• 0.3MP webcam – 0.3 megapixels is a lot less than standard netbooks which have 1.3MP webcams. This either means the Gateway LT netbooks’ webcam is awful or that it takes photos at 1.3MP and video at 0.3MP. Couldn’t find clarification on the net, I’ll trek out to Best Buy and play around with a model if I can. In the meanwhile, take this into consideration.

Rating – 5.6/7

• Value for Money  – 0.8
• Speed and Performance –  0.8
• Screen – 1
• Keyboard & Touchpad – 0.9
• Portability & Battery Life – 0.5
• Looks and Design – 0.8
• Extensibility & connectivity – 0.8

Specs

Processor – 
AMD Athlon 64 L11 processor (1.2GHz, 800 MHz bus speed)

Graphics – 
ATI Radeon X1270 graphics

OS – 
Vista Home Basic – no free upgrade to Windows 7. meh.

Memory – 
2 GB RAM

Storage – 
250GB HDD

Display –11.6″ HD (1366 x 768, 16:9 aspect ratio)

Connectivity – 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.1

Ports –  3 x USB ports, VGA port

Battery – 6 cell battery, 5 hours battery life

Dimensions –  3.1″ x 14.8″ x 10.1″

Weight –  3.04lbs

Colors – Red and Back

Bottom line

The Gateway LT series netbooks are good netbooks and are very well priced. But they aren’t anything special. If price is a major concern, go ahead and buy it. If not, the Asus 1101HA would be a better buy because of its 11 hour battery life. When compared to the Acer AO751h, the Gateway LT series wins with better HD playback and affordability. You can buy the Gateway LT line at Best Buy.

(Gateway LT series Product Page)

Related posts:

1. Top 12″ Netbook Candidates
2. Let’s talk about Intel Atom Processors (new PineView on its way)
3. Review: Sony Vaio P the lightest and best looking Netbook
4. Review: 11.6″ Aspire One AO751h
5. Asus N10J-A1 Gaming Netbook Review

Filed under: Gateway Netbooks