Gateway MC7803u November 11th, 2008 | by Nick Mokey
Full Review
Features and Design Beneath all the surface accouterments, the MC7803u gets a capable set of silicon gears below. That starts with Intel's T5800 Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz processor and 4GB of DDR2 RAM at its heart, and continues on the graphics side with ATI 's Mobility Radeon HD 3650 GPU. There's also a 320GB hard drive, 8X DVD-RW drive, 5-in-1 card reader, and 1.3-megapixel webcam. Weight and Size
Though Gateway calls the MC7803u's glossed up styling “automotive-inspired,” we weren't sure whether Gateway went to Ferrari or Hyundai for inspiration. The thin line of faux leather running down its lid and leather palm rest doesn't exactly scream quality, and Gateway's glowing orange keyboard with quirky characters looks like a direct transplant out of a sci-fi-inspired gaming notebook. Like a lot of new notebooks these days, we also took issue with the copious use of gloss plastic absolutely everywhere, from the bezel to the lid and even around the keyboard. It's gorgeous after you take the plastic protective strips off out of the box, but after some serious use, it's more like a work of abstract smudge and fingerprint art, and feels downright cheap, too.
True to its entertainment premise, the MC7803u gets two headphone jacks on the front for sharing movies with friends without cranking up the speakers, plus an HDMI v1.3 output for pumping video to high-def sets on the side. Gateway hasn't ignored legacy connectors, though, and the machine also gets a VGA output and a set of four USB 2.0 ports - two on each side - for connecting every accessory under the sun. Other connectors include both phone and Ethernet jacks, and a common Expresscard slot for expansion cards.
The relatively new 16-inch size class feels like a somewhat awkward size compromise to us. At 7.1 pounds, the MC7803u isn’t anywhere near as light and portable as most quality 15.4-inch notebooks, but the extra 0.6 inches in diagonal span doesn't do all that much to improve screen real estate, either. The end result feels a bit shy of a desktop replacement and miles away from a workable portable machine.
Measuring 15.28 inches wide, 10.43 inches deep, and 1.7 inches thick at its widest portion, the machine really just doesn't like to travel. It just barely fits into a standard Jansport backpack for transport, and we weren't able to use the bag's relatively generous notebook sleeve portion of the bag for it, either. The weight got to be a major inconvenience after carrying it along on a motorcycle for a few days, and we definitely can't imagine walking far with it as cargo plus books and a few other items thrown in.
Image Courtesy of Gateway
by RobertK on November 8, 2009:
“While I agree with the screen tilt issue, why would you say it has a cheap look and feel? That makes every thing going forward suspect. The one major plus, and noted in most REAL reviews, would be its fit and finish as well the over all above average build...” More...