Digital Trends

Gateway's M320XL laptop is a good laptop but it falls short in a few areas. First of all, this is a poor laptop for gaming. The system's 32MB of integrated video memory and XGA LCD display are simply not very impressive. During our 3dMark 2001 benchmarking, the M320XL's display could not display all of the colors some of the tests tried to use. We also did not like the recessed mouse buttons and the touch scroll wheel which was hard to use and very sporadic.

However, if gaming is not your forte, then the M320XL has a lot to offer. We think the systems design and looks are well above average. The keyboard has a nice feel to it and reliability was above average. There is plenty of power and technological features that should keep this system up-to-date for longer than the average laptop. One of the upsides to buying a Gateway system is that you will be able to stop by your local Best Buy to try it out before you purchase it, and that is what we recommend you do with the M320XL. If this system had a better scroll wheel and mouse buttons, we would give this system an 8 or a 9. Fundamentally the M320XL is a very strong offering from Gateway.