Gateway NX100X August 20th, 2006 | by Alan Dang
Full Review - Performance
Performance
The Intel Core Solo and Core Duo platform have become the wonder-products from Intel. Since all of the Core Solo/Duo notebooks use the same Intel i945GM chipset, there isn't significant variation in system performance from manufacturer to manufacturer. It's mostly a question of how fast your CPU is, how much memory you have, and how fast the HDD is.
The Core Solo only runs at 1.2 GHz, however it's an Ultra Low Voltage model meaning that the loss in performance is compensated by exceptional battery life. Moreover, the Core Solo 1.2 GHz is approximately as fast an older Pentium 4 2.4GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2000+. That means it's still fast enough to handle complex Excel queries, and animation or video-heavy PowerPoint presentations.
Despite the ultra low voltage specification and the slower CPU speed, the 3-cell battery only offered 1 hour 37 minutes of battery life. This is disappointing, although it's probably enough for a brief PowerPoint presentation or a 1 hour commute via train. That said, a 6-cell battery should give a more reasonable 3 hour battery life, while the extended 9-cell battery (which takes the weight up to 3.87 lbs) should give something closer to 4.5 hours. Although the processor is energy efficient, the batteries are just too small to carry enough power.
One area of trouble that we ran into was wireless performance. Although Gateway uses the same Intel 3945abg wireless card found in most Core Duo and Core Solo notebooks, we occasionally had trouble getting the E-100M to link up with some of our Atheros 802.11g access points (Netgear); other notebooks using the Intel 3945abg such as the HP dv2000 worked fine with this access point.
Thermal Management
We've all heard stories of laptops that can overheat and burn their users. With the ultra low voltage CPU, this isn't a problem at all. The hard drive does warm up the machine, but it never reached concerning levels.
Screen Quality
Gateway offers both high-gloss and matte LCD panels. Our notebook was configured with a matte LCD panel from Samsung. It works well, and although I prefer the high-gloss anti-reflective screen, Samsung did a superb job. The backlight was reasonably uniform for a laptop. There are 8 brightness settings.
Software/Technical Support
Depending on whether you buy a NX100X or an E-100M, your software bundle is different.
For technical support, pricing is also different between the NX100X and E-100M. If you want accidental damage coverage, you'll have to go with the consumer grade NX100X. I guess they figure people are more careful when they are the ones actually paying for the notebook (Gateway makes more money when they sell warranties to careful people).
We do like the fact that the NX100X comes "standard" with Windows XP Professional and Office Basic Edition. This makes the notebook a great choice for a first-time system owner who doesn't already have a license for Office. Granted, Gateway is calculating the software cost into the price of the machine, but it's still a better value than the software bundle that competitors are giving when charging the same amount of money.
Do you have an opinion on this product? Write your own review and let others know what you think!
by ChrisH on November 8, 2009:
“This is a nice laptop for the price. I'll just list a few items that don't generally make the reviews: 1. The 9-cell battery lasts between 6 and 8.5 hours, depending on usage. However, the computer shuts itself off as soon as the battery level reaches...” More...
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by Martin on November 8, 2009:
“Don't buy the Gateway NX100x. Mine is less that a year old and it will not boot up. I am a software developer I an I have had several laptops through my short 9 year career making software, I never had I laptop doing the bad things this one does. It is...” More...