Review Of Gateway NV5207u Laptop

Laptops — on November 17, 2009 at 3:30 am | Comment Now

A great computer that is marred by the slower processor.

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Great looks, nothing else.

Thumbs Down:

Slower processor, Keyboard could have been better, Awkward placement of the Track pad.

Inside the Trunk:

A power cable and some trail soft wares like MS-Office and Norton Internet Security.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Processor – AMD Athlon 64 X2 QL-65 / 2.1 GHz (Dual Core) 64 bit processor.
Chipset – AMD M780G
L2 cache, 1 MB
4 GB DDR2 RAM – 667 MHz, 320 GB SATA Hard drive, 5400 RPM, DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM, Supported flash memory cards – Memory Stick, MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, xD-Picture Card, Memory Stick Pro, Display – 15.6 in TFT active matrix, Widescreen, 1366 x 768 (WXGA), Graphics – ATI Radeon HD 3200 HyperMemory up to 1919MB, 6-cell Lithium ion, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition.

Other softwares – Adobe Reader , Microsoft Works, Adobe Flash Player, CyberLink Power2Go, Cyberlink PowerDVD, Cyberlink DVD Solution, Gateway MyBackup Solution, Gateway Recovery Management, Norton Internet Security 2009 (60 days subscription), Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition (60 days trial)

Razzle Dazzle:

Gateway NV5207u is a good looking notebook with a nice wide screen LCD but awful keyboard. The hinges are smooth and when you open the lid, you get a smooth black interior. The notebook is a retail product and hence it cannot be configured according to you needs, there are only two options, processor and color.

Inside Dope:

Gateway NV5207u is powered by a slow processor. We were disappointed to see this because our first impression was that this is was a sexy and power full beast. A slower processor will be intimidated by the newer soft wares which require fast speeds and will be shy for high end games. The processor will be brought down to heels when you are working on graphics or alike. The computer runs slower even by the standards of AMD Athlon 64 X2 (2.1 GHz) and the slower processor doesn’t contribute to extending the battery life.

Gateway laptop review

The screen of this notebook is 15.6 inch big which gives you aspect ratio of 16:9. It gives you resolution of 1,366×768 pixels which is quite good and watching movies/videos on this screen is pleasure. Inclusion of ATI Radeon HD 3200 adds to the quality of the videos. Above the screen is microphone and webcam which doesn’t disappoint and will deliver according to your expectations.

The keyboard experience won’t be a memorable one. The keys are placed flat on the surface and there is no adequate elevation. Be wary of the keyboard if you are buying this notebook. We were pleased with the touch sensitive buttons on the top of the keyboard which can be used for toggling the wireless on/off, locking the touch pad, volume control and some programmable keys that let you open notepad, browser, etc. There is also a key wherein you can start software for backing up files.

The track pad is situated not in the centre but it is aligned towards the left. Now we don’t know why this is done but it is sure to give you a pain in the neck when you are typing. There will be occasional mouse hits when you are type. The placement of the track pad also takes up the space that should be reserved for palm rest. There is more space on one side and less space on the other. The bars of the track pad for clicking are smaller.

On the sides of the laptop there are four USB ports (two on each sides) VGA, HDMI connectivity options. The battery has enough juice to power the notebook for a little over 2 hours which is not impressive. There is card reader and the supported memory cards are Memory Stick, MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, xD-Picture Card, Memory Stick Pro

Other features include a 320 GB SATA (5400 RPM) interface drive for storing all your data, which is good enough for work related activities. It can take some movies and music too. Though, we would have been happier with a 500 GB hard disk.

ATI Radeon HD 3200 is put in, but you can’t play high end games because of the slower processor. There is four GB RAM which is quite good and there are plenty of soft wares included. The OS is Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium. It has 60 day trial for Norton Internet Security 2009 and Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition.

Other softwares include Adobe Reader, Microsoft Works, Adobe Flash Player, CyberLink Power2Go, Cyberlink PowerDVD, Cyberlink DVD Solution, Gateway MyBackup Solution and Gateway Recovery Management.

Nitty Gritty:

The computer is definitely a slower machine due to the processor. We don’t know what Gateway was thinking when it put in a slower processor. The four GB RAM makes up for the slower processor but the end result is bad. This is not a notebook for high end games (slower games will work fine) even photo editing is challenging for this rig.