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Gateway 11.6-inch EC1457u dualcore CULV subnotebook $450

Winterpool

Winterpool

Senior member
Buy.com has marked down the Gateway EC1458u with dualcore Pentium SU4100 (1.3 GHz CULV 'Penryn') to $440. 4 GB of DDR2 memory, 320 GB hard drive (5400 rpm), and 6-cell battery. Free postage, no tax in most states.

This is the Gateway version of the 11.6-inch Acer 1410 and 1810 subnotebooks. I prefer the Gateway design, which looks a bit more sober, a bit less like a plastic toy. Weighs a little over 3 pounds, essentially the same encumbrance as a netbook.

Acer and Gateway dualcore CULV 11.6-inch notebooks briefly dropped under $400 last winter (usually the 1.2 GHz SU2300), but then almost completely dried up. Since then we've had to choose either singlecore machines or much more costly Core i3 models.

See Laptop magazine for a review of the almost identical Gateway EC1430u.

Edited: dropped $10 to $440. And Buy.com finally figured out this is the black EC1458u, not the cherry-red EC1457u. Photo is still wrong though, ha.
 
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Note that, if you look round the Web, you'll see the EC1457u is a cherry-red version, yet Buy.com claims it is in black. Punters who've ordered previously seem to be receiving the black EC1458u instead.

If I don't get black, I shall not be best pleased.
 
Helas, like many thin / small notebooks, the Gateway 14s and 18s seem to exhibit somewhat more flex than many typists find optimal. On the other hand, Computer Shopper (remember them?) found the keyboard 'springy, responsive, broad, and quiet'.

I tried one of the Gateway EC14s (1430? 1435?) at Micro Centre a year ago, and the keyboard seemed acceptable, though I didn't type a doctoral thesis on it. I was mostly thrilled that it was full-size and not truly 'chiclet' (though the keys are flat-topped and square, which can also be uncomfortable for some).
 
The price is a bit high as I paid less than this for mine at the beginning of the year. That said, I think it was one of the best purchases I ever made (I have the Acer version). Outstanding portable laptop. Keyboard feels lousy to start with but once you get used to it, it is great. I get around 8 hrs of battery life and it is worlds faster than my previous Atom netbook (benchmarks are about 4 times faster). It even feels equivalent to my non ULV C2D laptop. It is a similar computer to the new Macbook Air 11" but at half the price. Spend some of the savings on a cheap, easily obtained and installed SSD and you'll like it even more.
 
If you get the red one, let me know; my little sister-in-law wants a small, red CULV, but the red Lenovo U150 is almost sold out on ebay.
 
Winterpool said:
Note that, if you look round the Web, you'll see the EC1457u is a cherry-red version, yet Buy.com claims it is in black. Punters who've ordered previously seem to be receiving the black EC1458u instead.

If I don't get black, I shall not be best pleased.
Click to expand...

Did you get your laptop? Is it black or a red one? Also, how does the space bar feel? Does it feel lousy with almost no tactile feedback or is it good? I've tried gateway model and space bar action on it was quite bad.

At $450 I think this costs a tad too much for what it offers, but if it ever goes down to $400 or $350 fingers crossed for BF I'm so on it... 🙂
 
Received the notebook. It's black, the EC1458u (which is almost impossible to Google, by the way), essentially a black EC1457u: SU 4100, 4 GB, 320 GB hard disk. I've only charged it up and powered it on. Haven't done anything serious on it yet, not even watching a Flash video. On the Slick thread, I don't believe anyone confirmed receipt of a red notebook, sorry Poloman.

Haven't typed enough to really know if I dislike the keyboard, but I had some initial difficulty, possibly owing to the flat keys (they're like closely packed 'chiclets'). I type on more conventional keys on my desktop and my (pre-unibody) MacBook Pro.
 
I followed dualcore CULV subnotebook prices very closely last year, after they were introduced, and I only recall the Acer 1410 with SU2300 (dualcore 1.2 GHz Celeron) ever falling below $400 (though there were a few special deals involving Bing that worked out to < $400). I prefer the more serious dark grey/black design of the Gateway, which is why I didn't buy the Acer last winter.

I too was waiting for a $350-ish price, and it never really happened. Soon after this low point ~$400 was reached the dualcore CULVs, at least the affordable ones, seemed to disappear. When the Core i3s appeared they were, to my mind, in a completely different price bracket. So I decided to pull the trigger now on this Gateway, as who knows how many 'Penryn' CULVs will remain available this coming winter...

Longer term I'll eventually spend the $ for an 'Arrandale' 11.6 MacBook Air.
 
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Yes, I'm aware of awesome deals on SU2300 at the end of last year/beginning of this one. They all went OOS very quickly. SU4100's have not been falling down in price, and possibly never will. Still, there was a deal on 13" SU4100 viewsonic for $350 a week or so bad, 11.6" would command a premium, but a $100 premium?

Anyway, I'm tempted by EC1458u but I'll try to hold out.

Still, I would like to ask a question again: when I tried EC1440u (single core with the same ACER chassis), the space bar had noticeably less tactile feedback than other keys. Whenever I pressed space bar it simply "collapsed" with little to no resistance. Does the space bar on your EC1458u behave the same way?
 
13 inches is, I think, the transitional size. On a conventional notebook, 13 inches can feel plenty big. On something like the MacBook Air or ThinkPad X300, you definitely feel you're getting an ultraportable, owing to the sleekness and low weight. It's still far bigger than a 9 or 10-inch netbook though, which is of course good and bad.

Whether or not paying $100 more is 'worth it', would of course be a decision for the consumer/user. I'd prefer not paying $100 more, of course, but there don't seem to be any more affordable choices. 11.6 inches is about the size of, well, a paper notebook, which is an important threshold of portability for my analogue 1.0 brain. The weight is about the same, and the size not too much greater, than a proper 'netbook'. It's about the perfect compromise in terms of portability and usability, which is why I eagerly look forward to a superior 11.6 MacBook Air next year...

I finally brought the Gateway to the office and tried it a bit more. Most of the time I was downloading and installing Windows updates (87 updates, hurrah!), but I did use the keyboard a bit more. It didn't feel too weak/limp, but it definitely felt a little shallow. One felt the key stopping just a tad too soon. I've found this to be true of many very thin netbook keyboards. One definitely will not get the tactile sensation of typing on a conventional keyboard. The keys are flat-top squares, which I think makes them a bit thinner than conventional keys, a bit more like some 'chiclet' keys.

Also, despite the fullsize keyboard, I felt a tad cramped. Note that I'm used to typing with my hands spread over a Microsoft Natural keyboard, with a split, curving design. On a notebook, I'm generally typing on an older (early 2008) MacBook Pro with a conventional keyboard (not chiclet).

I didn't find the space key problematic, but the mouse/trackpad buttons are very thin and a tad stiff, though I've found them to be much stiffer on other 11.6-inch Gateways that I've tried. Perhaps they'll get more stiff with use (that would be unfortunate).
 
Yeah, I know 13" is a lot bigger than 11". I'm on the lookout for a replacement for my Asus netbook and so far I got two types in my mind for potential replacement. Something 13 or 14" big and 1600x900 resolution, or Acer1410/1810/1830/gateway or Asus UL20A/FT. Sadly the former is either too expensive or too hard to come by. Sony Vaio Z is too freaking expensive for what it is and Envy 14 is no longer offered with 1600x900 resolution and I'm not really aware of any other 13-14" laptops with that kind of resolution which leaves 11-12" acer/gateway/asus with 1366x768 resolution.

The thing is that Sandy bridge should be out in about two months, so paying 450 for 2 generation old CPU (SU4100) is not my idea of a bargain, but it's all subjective of course. Personally I think I'm either going to wait for a good deal on i3/i5 acer/gateway/asus or wait until sandy bridge gen and buy that.

Winterpool said:
I didn't find the space key problematic, but the mouse/trackpad buttons are very thin and a tad stiff, though I've found them to be much stiffer on other 11.6-inch Gateways that I've tried. Perhaps they'll get more stiff with use (that would be unfortunate).
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All acer/gateway models are very similar, but all of them are slightly different in terms of features and finish. So far I've handled 3 different models and all 3 had slightly different trackpad buttons. The AMD gateway model had kind of stiff trackpad buttons, Gateway EC1440 that I tried had soft trackpad buttons. I don't remember Acer 1410. So I don't think your buttons are going to stiffen up, it's just that different models have different button switches.
 
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Winterpool said:
Weighs a little over 3 pounds
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I wonder if it really does. My wife has an Acer 1551 which is an 11.6" AMD Nile platform with the same claimed 3.08 pounds. I weighed it on my postage scale and it came up lighter, IIRC around 2.8 pounds or so. I weighed all my netbooks and thin/light notebooks, and two were under the claimed weight and two were pretty much spot on.

I'm reasonably certain my postage scale is accurate to the half ounce because I've had my packages re-weighed at the post office.
 
these 11.1" culv sub-notebooks are where its at. especially this spring when the new models come out. dual core desktop speed, gaming graphics and excellent battery life. cant wait to find some deals on those this summer/fall.
 
blamus said:
if only it has switchable ion graphics.............................
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Ion is just a Flash / HD video accelerator for anemic Atom. CULV C2Ds can do both easily even without any GPU acceleration. If you want gaming class performance look elsewhere.
 
SquareTrade is probably the biggest name in third-party warranties, at least in electronics. I've never bought one from them, but I've considered it, especially for TVs.

I personally wouldn't buy additional warranty because a netbook-ish computer, to me, is semi-disposable, in the sense that it's cheap enough that I wouldn't mind too much losing functionality / having to pay for a complete replacement. It would be my 'tertiary' computer (after my desktop and MacBook Pro -- I've far more than 3 computers, actually, but you get my meaning), so again, no great loss.

On the other hand, if this is going to be your primary computer for the long term, then I'd definitely get a longer warranty. Also, if one is going to spend a significant sum on a sub-notebook (say, the $1000+ on a MacBook Air), I'd also plump for a warranty.
 
Very nice model. I already got a regular cheap netbook that does everything I need it for but if I could find something like this for $50-100 cheaper I wouldn't have the will to say no.
 
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