Specifications:
Intel Atom N455
10.1″ LED LCD (1024 x 600)
160 GB HDD
1 GB DDR3 Memory
802.11b/g/n/
3 USB ports
3 Cell Li-ion Battery
Webcam
2-in-1 Card Reader
This past weekend I headed over to Best Buy to check out which netbook offerings they currently have. I’m a first year grad student going into my final year next fall, so I only needed a basic machine (papers, music, web) to see me through until graduation. (Aside: What’s ironic is that I did better without a computer [first year of grad school] than I did with one [all through undergrad], so it might be more accurate to say I need a machine to enhance my procrastination activities).
Anyway, about a week or two ago the Gateway LT27 netbook was going for $199.99 and is now at approximately $229.99. The price was too good to pass up, so I bought it right on the spot.
I found the chiclet style keyboard and trackpad to be comfortable to use, but I don’t have huge man hands to begin with, so you may or may not find that to be true for you. The trackpad has a scroll pad to that recognizes scroll-down gestures, but it’ll only recognize them on the right side where the scrollbar labels are on the trackpad.
The included operating system is Windows 7 Starter, which after years of using Linux in college and Mac back home was kind of a culture shock (What’s this “needing to install an anti-virus thing” you speak of?). I actually like Windows 7 when placed in comparison with previous versions of Windows, but find Windows 7 Starter’s limitations almost insulting. While it’s understandable that no advanced features can be included because it’s supposed to be a slimmed down version for netbooks, the fact that you can’t even change your desktop background seems like a desperately tacky way to get users to upgrade to another version of Windows 7 (Also, I feel it’s insulting since it seems like they assume that that’s the only feature their “pedestrian users” will notice is missing and will pay $79.95 for).
I will partially vouch for the included Microsoft Office Starter (which includes very basic versions of Word and Excel, though not PowerPoint et al.) because it’s good enough for basic documents and since it’s not trial software, it won’t expire, as it is ad-supported. However, it would be probably better to upgrade to the full featured version of Microsoft Office, use Google’s web based GDocs, or install the free and open source OpenOffice.org office suite.
The battery life, to be honest, is not so great. The guy at the store said I should be able to get about 4 hours from the included 3-cell Li-ion battery, but a more realistic figure (albeit non-scientific, since it’s based on my own anecdotal experience) would be in the 2.5-3 hour range; this is with moderate usage that includes web browsing on Wi-Fi, brightness at mid-level, and media playing.
Speed-wise, I find it good enough for what I do once you uninstall the included bloatware and trial software from Gateway; however a RAM and OS upgrade wouldn’t hurt and will probably be things I’ll do soon, in addition to replacing Internet Explorer with Chrome and Windows Media Player with Apple’s iTunes. The webcam works well with Windows Live Messenger and has its own included software to tweak its settings.
Overall, I found the machine to be a good value for what I paid for it and worth it if you know in advance the limitations (power, lack of disc media, gaming) and advantages (ultra-portability, price, basic needs without frills) of a netbook machine.
