Laptop Gateway MD7801u

It more endurance, storage space, and style than most budget notebooks, the Gateway MD Series excels for its price. by Joanna Stern on January 8, 2009 Editors’ Note: Portions of this review were taken from our earlier review of the Gateway MC7801u. If an economic recession means cutting back on more luxurious features for the sake of saving money, then the Gateway MD Series is right for the times. Drawing from the fashion-forward style of Gateway’s $999 16-inch MC Series, the MD Series (we reviewed the MD7801u) delivers the same stylish chassis with a few cost-saving tweaks, including a smaller 15.6-inch screen and nonbacklit keyboard. But unlike most budget systems, the MD Series has very few trade-offs for $799. Its everyday performance is solid, and you get a whopping 500GB of storage and more than 5 hours of battery life. Elegant, Yet Bulky, Design The MD Series sports the same classic, automotive-inspired design of Gateway’s MC Series, but forgoes a few subtle details. The black cover (also available in burgundy) has just the right level of gloss and is offset with a black, silver-bordered strip (which was leather-coated on the MC Series) that runs vertically down the center of the lid. A brushed silver trim on the lid and around the edges of the chassis still provide a black-tie look to the entire system. Like we found with the MC Series, at 6.8 pounds and 15.3 x 10.4 x 1.7 inches, the MD7801u is a bit large for anything but occasional travel, and by size alone it can be considered more of a desktop replacement than a mainstream notebook. While it weighs just a tad more than 15.4-inch systems like the 6.4-pound HP Pavilion dv5 or the 6.6-pound Lenovo IdeaPad Y530, it is, respectively, 1.9 inches and 1.1 inches longer than each. Nevertheless, the MD Series is portable enough to tote around from the living room to the bedroom, and we were able to squeeze it into a backpack. Around the chassis are four USB ports, HDMI and VGA outputs, Ethernet and modem jacks, a Kensington lock slot, and a microphone and dual headphone ports. Also, an ExpressCard/54 slot and a 5-in-1 memory card reader sit on the right side along with a DVD drive. While no models of the MD Series are available yet with a Blu-ray drive, it may become an option at a later date. Keyboard and Touchpad Under the lid, the black, brushed-metal palm rest is comfortable and sleek. Surrounding the touchpad itself is a glossy frame that angles in toward the pad, which adds to the MD7801u’s distinctive look without sacrificing much in the way of ergonomic comfort. Below are two large touch buttons that were quiet and easy to press. The touchpad on our unit provided just the right amount of friction, and the scroll bar on it was responsive and useful for scrolling through long Web sites. The keyboard on the MD7801u was comfortable, but provided a bit too much tactile feedback, which resulted in an annoying clicking sound when we struck the keys. Gateway sacrificed the size of some keys to make the layout a perfect rectangle. The right Shift key, for example, is noticeably smaller than on a typical mainstream notebook.While we missed the illuminated keys of the MC Series, we didn’t have any problems typing while working in a darker room. To the right of the keyboard is a strip of orange touch-sensitive buttons, including Play/Pause, Stop, Fast-Forward, and Rewind from top to bottom. Below those is a volume-control strip with a one-touch mute button beneath it. These buttons pulsate when pressed to show they’ve been activated; similar to those on the MC Series, they were a bit finicky, but after getting the right feel down we had no problems controlling the volume and maneuvering through our Windows Media Player playlist with just the touch panel.

Quick Specs Full Specs : OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit) RAM/Expandable to: 4GB/4GB Hard Drive Size/Speed: 500GB/5,400 rpm Optical Drive: 8X DVD±RW DL Display/Resolution: 15.6 inches/1366 x 768 Price as Reviewed: $799

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