Gateway M210XL Review
By Ian Bell
March 23rd, 2005
Summary
The M210 series of laptops from Gateway is the company's new line of lightweight laptop computers and competes directly with Sony's S series, Dell's new 700M, and a few of Panasonic's more stylish Toughbook laptops among other brands. Weighing in at 5.29lbs the M210 is Gateway's lightest laptop currently available and features a wide-screen display and some pretty powerful hardware under the hood. When it comes to styling, Gateway has pretty much been hit or miss but we think the new M210 has the stuff to compete with the likes of Sony, but ultimately you will have to decide on that. There are three models available in the M210 product line. The M210S which starts at $749.99, the M210X which starts at $999.99 and the ultra-loaded M210XL which is what we are reviewing today.
Full Review
Features and Design
We absolutely fell in love with Gateway's 200XL laptop which we reviewed a little more then a year ago. The 200XL is thin, light weight and very stylish when compared to other systems available at that time. So of course we have very high hopes for the new M210XL and fortunately it does not disappoint. Upon first glance, you might mistaken the M210XL for one of Sony's S series of laptops; there are a lot of aesthetic similarities ranging from the physical shape of the system to the color schemes and even the display technology that is used. The M210 series has a silver and black housing that has a tint of Gateway gold in the silver paint. The silver and black colors are intertwined with each other throughout the curves of the system in a fashion very similar to Sony systems. The edges of the system round at just the right points, and there are no protruding parts with everything being recessed just enough to be flush with the systems case.
Gateway uses a 14.1” widescreen XGA TFT Active Matrix display (upgradeable to an Ultrabright version) that appears to use technology identical or very close to the Xbrite displays that Sony uses. We have heard rumors that Sony was licensing their Xbrite display technology to companies like Panasonic and Toshiba, so perhaps that is the case here. You can get the M210XL with either the stock 1.7GHz Intel Pentium M CPU or you upgrade to a faster 1.8GHZ processor. The M210XL comes with 512MB of memory (expandable to 1GB), a 60GB hard drive (upgradeable to 100GB), Intel integrated graphics with 32MB of memory, an integrated 4-in-1 media card reader, a DVD Writer (DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) and integrated 802.11b/g network card.
The VGA-out, modem port and PC Card slot are located on the left side of the system while the DVD/CD writer, three USB 2.0 ports and a single mini-IEEE1394 (FireWire) port are on the right side. The Ethernet port and battery are at the rear of the system and the audio controls including headphone and microphone jacks and the 4-in-1 media card reader are on the front of the M210.
USB and FireWire ports
When the screen is opened you are greeted by blue LED lights for the power, hard drive activity, WiFi and A/C adapter indicators. The keyboard and surrounding area is black and the touchpad and the palm rest are silver; the color scheme is really highlighted by the blue LED lights and gives the system a very high quality look and feel. Both the touchpad and the mouse buttons are recessed just enough to be flush with the M210XL's chassis.
According to Gateway's website, the M210XL comes preinstalled with a 90 day trial of Norton Antivirus, and Microsoft Works 8.0. Our test system also came with McAfee Security Center as well as AOL and Gateway's Big Fix tech support software.
Setup and Testing
The M210XL is very easy to get up and running. Simply plug it in and turn it on. Since it is your first time entering Windows on this system, you will need to go through a small setup process which includes registering the operating system. Once inside the operating system we were greeted by a ton of pop-ups asking us to register and update the preinstalled software. Right off the bat we noticed that McAfee and Norton Antivirus were both installed. Both of these programs require that you pay for the full version if you want complete antivirus protection. Gateway should have only chosen one to come with the system. Most people will be confused and probably pay for both of these programs when they really only need one installed. Shame on Gateway for not thinking this through. So we recommend that you go with whichever antivirus program you feel the most comfortable with. The McAfee security software is annoying and will bother you to register and pay for the complete version by springing pop-up messages on your screen every 5 minutes.
One interesting program that comes installed with the M210XL is Gateway's own software upgrade package. Called Big Fix, this software will automatically check Gateway's website for driver and software updates related to your system. This ensures that you have the latest drivers installed. We were a tad bit annoyed with the Big Fix reminders but thankfully you can turn them off.
The 14.1” widescreen display looks gorgeous in low lighting conditions. If you plan on using the M210XL in an area that has a lot of lighting, than we recommend spending the extra money and getting the brighter display. The stock display looks good, but can look very dark when there is bright light shining on it. We have to warn you that the display on the M210XL is not for everyone. Because of its protective shield it will really show off a lot of glare depending where it's used. We noticed the same thing with Sony's Xbrite displays that is used on some of Sony's laptops. The native resolution of the M210XL is 1280x768 which is not a standard size, so if you use software that relies on a specific resolution you might want to think about it before buying this system. Most likely the screen will just stretch the image to make it fit.
Gateway M210XL
The M210XL feels a lot faster than its 1.7GHz processor would leave you to believe. This is not doubt due to the 512MB of memory running at 333MHz, that comes with the system. If you are worried about not having enough memory, don't fret, you can upgrade the system to 1GB of total memory. If you plan on keeping the M210XL for a very long time or use a lot of memory intensive programs, than it is worth your money to upgrade the systems memory. Upgrading to the full 1GB of memory only costs $158 dollars which is a decent price.
Watching movies on the M210XL is a true joy. The widescreen display looks great and with the unique screen technology colors are rich and vibrant without the picture being too washed out. We did not experience ghosting or trailing when playing movies. Games on the other hand are a different story. Since the M210XL uses an integrated Intel Extreme 2 graphics adapter with only 32MB of memory, frame rates are incredibly bad for most games. And because a lot of games will not support the 1280x768 screen resolution the image appears stretched out.
In our 3dMark 2001 tests, the M210XL ran neck-to-neck with Gateway's 200XL laptop despite having a newer graphics adapter than the Gateway 200XL system. If the M210XL has an Achilles' heel than the integrated graphics is certainly it. The positive side to the weak graphics chip is the low heat that the system puts out. You can barely tell when the M210XL is running because it is so quiet and even after using it for prolonged periods, the system temperature rarely rises above warm. So if you do not plan on using the M210XL for gaming than you should be very content with the graphics and low heat output.
The Intel 1.7GHZ processor using the Intel 855GM system chipset smoked both the Gateway 200XL and Sony VGN-A260 laptops in our SiSoftware Sandra CPU Arithmetic and Multimedia benchmarks, highlighting what may be one of the systems strongest features. Please click on the performance tab and links found above and below this review for complete benchmarking results.
The Integrated Intel 802.11b/g WiFi adapter detected our Netgear wireless router and connected to our network without a hitch. Signal strength was still strong at more than 100-feet away and we did not experience any connection drops. It took on average about 45 seconds for the WiFi adapter to find and connect to our network after booting into Windows.
Gateway does not mention the battery life on their website or on the battery label itself, so we are not sure what Gateway believes the battery life should be. We do know that it is Lithium-ion based and we were able to get just under 4 hours of battery life before it drained completely. For the battery tests, we used the Mobile Mark 2002 benchmark which disables hibernate and standby modes on the system, although it also lowers the screen brightness to the halfway point to conserve battery life.
The keyboard on the M210XL is large and very easy to type on. The touchpad works well, but the touch-scroll pad can be difficult to master if you are not used to using one; we would prefer a scroll wheel instead. The mouse buttons look great the way they are recessed into the case a little, but it also affects how they are used. It might take your fingers some getting used too. A couple of the editors here found the mouse cursor jumping around the screen because they would accidentally brush up against the touch-scroll pad, but we are seeing this technology being used in more laptops so there is little we can do except complain about it.
TouchPad, Mouse Buttons, Media Card Reader
Conclusion
With a base price of $1,299.99 the new Gateway M210XL has a lot to offer. It is a very stylish system that is both lightweight yet still upgradeable. There are only a few shortcomings which are really just minor gripes more than anything else. We hate the fact that Gateway preloads their systems with both Norton Antivirus and McAfee antivirus. You really only need one of these programs installed and most people will probably end up paying for both not knowing that only one is needed. The new touchpad designed to replace the mouse scroll wheel is difficult to get the hang of, and the stop display could be a little brighter to make us happy. If you are willing to spend a little extra money we would recommend upgrading to the brighter display and maybe a larger hard drive. If you work in a bright environment, you might be turned off by the glare that the display gives off so it would be a good idea to head to Best Buy (called the 3018GZ there) and try out this system before buying it from Gateway.
If you are in the market for a laptop of this type and have been eyeing the Sony models, we challenge you to take a look at the Gateway M210XL. The M210XL is a more affordable alternative to Sony's S series notebook PCs. It may not have the little touches which are known to come with a Sony product, but the M210XL certainly holds its own.
Pros:
- Very stylish design
- Powerful and upgradeable
- Comes packed with features
- Affordable
- Reliable and quiet
- Sharp and color rich display
Cons:
- The touch scroll pad is difficult to master
- The screen has considerable glare in bright lighting conditions
- Comes with McAfee and Norton Antivirus both installed
- Weak video card
Performance
In our 3dMark 2001 tests, the M210XL ran neck-to-neck with Gateway's 200XL laptop despite having a newer graphics adapter than the Gateway 200XL system. If the M210XL has an Achilles' heel than the integrated graphics is certainly it. The positive side to the weak graphics chip is the low heat that the system puts out.
The Intel 1.7GHZ processor using the Intel 855GM system chipset smoked both the Gateway 200XL and Sony VGN-A260 laptops in our SiSoftware Sandra CPU Arithmetic and Multimedia benchmarks, highlighting what may be one of the systems strongest features.
System Configurations:
Gateway M210XL
Windows XP Home; 1.7GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; Intel Extreme Graphics 2 7500 32MB; 60GB 4200rpm Ultra ATA hard drive
Sony VAIO VGN-A260
Windows XP Home; 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 64MB; 80GB Hard Drive
Gateway 200XL
Windows XP Professional; 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; Intel Extreme Graphics; Toshiba MK6022GAX 60GB Hard Drive
Specs
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