The Gateway LT series

[Bateluer]

Link to Best Buy selling it

Gateway's site

Its A64 L110 based, basically a single core A64 downlocked to 1.2Ghz. Considerably more powerful than any Atom based product. 2GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive, Radeon X1270 IGP, 11.6in 720 display, <4lb weight. 400 dollar price tag, far better than other netbooks in the 400 dollar range.

I've been in the market for a replacement notebook for a while, but my needs have somewhat shifted to a lighter, thinner, easier to transport device, while still allowing a decent display and a keyboard that I can actually type on and a low price tag. Reading some of the Best Buy reviews, taken a box of salt, it seems the biggest complaint is Vista, though some report installing the Windows 7 RC and reporting positive experiences. I have no idea how well it'd function with Easy Peasy, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Netbook Remix, etc. I'd like to take one for a spin at Best Buy, think they'd let me take a Linux live USB drive in for testing?

Comments? Anyone already pick up one of these notebooks?

 

[sindows]

I've seen one and used one at BestBuy and I think the resolution is a bit too high for the smaller screen size. The keyboard was great but the touchpad seemed really small. Overall, not a bad mini laptop if you can stand the higher dpi.

Personally, I would rather wait until the Timeline series drops in price.

 

[IlllI]

i was unable to find any reviews on it, otherwise i'd have posted in the sticky. gateway/emachines/packard bell is now owned by acer, so i'm surprised there arent any acer branded netbooks with the same cpu. i've got a feeling that the 11in timeline will be around $400 like the gateway. there was an old article at tomshardware http://www.tomshardware.com/re...on-Efficient,1997.html which basically had a down-clocked amd 64 proc vs atom. and surprisingly the amd used less power.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: sindows


Personally, I would rather wait until the Timeline series drops in price.

The 13.3in Acer Timeline 3810TZ looks interesting, but carries a 600 dollar price tag. Any word on when this going to drop in price?

Edit - I see they've also announced the 1810T, the 11in model, but have no pricing or availability yet.

How does the Intel 4500 IGP compare to the Radeon x1270?

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

How does the Intel 4500 IGP compare to the Radeon x1270?

http://www.notebookcheck.net/A...ress-X1200.3775.0.html
neither one is that great. the x1200 series is old tech based off an ati x700(only worse), which came out in 2005-ish

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: IlllI

Originally posted by: Bateluer

How does the Intel 4500 IGP compare to the Radeon x1270?

http://www.notebookcheck.net/A...ress-X1200.3775.0.html
neither one is that great. the x1200 series is old tech based off an ati x700(only worse), which came out in 2005-ish

Looked that up this morning, along with a short benchmark review of it. The review only looked at CoD4, FEAR2, and a couple other modern FPSs, which I don't play at all. Mainly, I want the laptop to be able to play 720p video on its screen, possibly to output to a 1080p screen. The 4500MHD has hardware accelerated HD playback, but I haven't been able dig up any information yet on how well it does it.

Honestly, the Timeline 1810T looks like a decent machine, but it hasn't launched yet. Its not listed on Acer's site, although they do have driver downloads for it on their support site. I'm fairly certain the ULV SU3500 1.4Ghz Core 2 Solo powering it will best the A64 L110 in the Gateway model though, probably give the Dothan 2.13Ghz in my current laptop a run for its money too.

Couldn't find a release date or pricing for the 1810 either. Best I could find were several press releases dated 8 July, with mentioned rumors of late July at the earliest.

 

[IlllI]

i dont think the x1200 series does any hardware acceleration for hd stuff. came out before there was much thought of hd back then. there is however this http://www.thinkpads.com/2009/...oadcom-hd-accelerator/

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: IlllI
i dont think the x1200 series does any hardware acceleration for hd stuff. came out before there was much thought of hd back then. there is however this http://www.thinkpads.com/2009/...oadcom-hd-accelerator/

Interesting idea for the netbook, but I'd rather have an integrated device. I'll keep an eye out for the Timeline 1810 and watch the pricing on the 3810.

 

[hans007]

the x1200 series is part of the 690G chipset. or 690E probably in this case. Because of the way they name stuff different for laptops it could be basically a 740G also (which is a 55nm 690G). normally they call that the radeon 2100 though in desktop land.

It is just fast enough to run say WoW or hl2 from old benchmarks of the 690G. I believe its a 4pipe version of the R4xx series cores from ATI with onboard video (i think the x700 had 8 pipes). It is probably at this point the fastest netbook out there, but it does only have hardware decode for mpeg2 , and not for h264/vc1 . i think it has some wmv stuff as it has AVIVO but not the newer AVIVO HD (which is what the 780G and such have). From what i've seen this cpu + chipset probably is fast enough for blu-ray though. At least there were reviews of this when 690G based ITX boards came out a year oo 2 back at silentpcreview.

 

[Spikesoldier]

how is battery life on this thing?

 

[IlllI]

nobody knows the real world battery life is, b/c as far as i know there has not been a review of it by any website

 

[Parasitic]

Does look pretty good, but I think I'm done with netbooks for a while. I like my new S10 replacement: Dell Vostro 1320

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Parasitic
Does look pretty good, but I think I'm done with netbooks for a while. I like my new S10 replacement: Dell Vostro 1320

Well, at least with the upcoming release of Windows 7, the restrictions on the 'netbook' genre have been relaxed.

 

[IlllI]

i would say that its more like one step forward, one step back http://www.engadget.com/2009/0...dows-7-netbooks-specs/

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: IlllI
i would say that its more like one step forward, one step back http://www.engadget.com/2009/0...dows-7-netbooks-specs/

While this is only for the Windows 7 Starter Edition license, it illustrates a serious problem in the cost of the PC today. The OS should not cost 1/3 of the total system. The cost of a full Windows 7 Professional license is more than 300 dollars, higher than many netbook models. That is unacceptable.

And yet, people will pay it and continue to pay it. Linux circumvents nearly all of those restrictions, but introduces its own problems. Mostly user related. The demographic most net books are sold in get confused if the taskbar looks different.

I would be curious to know how many who buy netbooks wipe XP from them and install some form of Linux though.

I'm still going to keep an aye out for the Timeline 1810T. Rumor has it that it will launch with Vista Home Premium with an upgrade coupon for Windows 7. I cannot image such a coupon being for the Starter Edition.

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Parasitic
Does look pretty good, but I think I'm done with netbooks for a while. I like my new S10 replacement: Dell Vostro 1320

Well, at least with the upcoming release of Windows 7, the restrictions on the 'netbook' genre have been relaxed.

It's a non-issue what OS is on the netbooks, really. Some on the market today come preloaded with Vista, which runs fairly well on their meager configurations. The hardware is still the performance bottleneck, and I don't think it'll change in the near future until computers get even faster or when OEM's decide that netbooks won't cannibalize their more expensive models' shares.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Parasitic
or when OEM's decide that netbooks won't cannibalize their more expensive models' shares.

What about when some upstart company begins producing models that people buy?

Lets keep in mind that companies are in business to provide the people what they want, not the other way around. We tell Acer, Asus, HP, Compaq, Dell, etc, what type of product we want by voting with our wallets.

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: Bateluer


While this is only for the Windows 7 Starter Edition license, it illustrates a serious problem in the cost of the PC today. The OS should not cost 1/3 of the total system. The cost of a full Windows 7 Professional license is more than 300 dollars, higher than many netbook models. That is unacceptable.

And yet, people will pay it and continue to pay it. Linux circumvents nearly all of those restrictions, but introduces its own problems. Mostly user related. The demographic most net books are sold in get confused if the taskbar looks different.

I would be curious to know how many who buy netbooks wipe XP from them and install some form of Linux though.

I'm still going to keep an aye out for the Timeline 1810T. Rumor has it that it will launch with Vista Home Premium with an upgrade coupon for Windows 7. I cannot image such a coupon being for the Starter Edition.

i agree, but i guess i was looking more at the screen size limitation imposed by m$. i also don't like the idea of paying more for features in 7 ultimate i'd never use with a netbook.
since they are not as fully featured, netbooks should really be cheaper than the cheapest laptops.

 

[Bateluer]

Just got back from Best Buy, putting hands on the LT3114. The keyboard is a little too small for me to effectively type on, though I could likely adapt easily. It was fairly responsive. I started MS Word, Excel, Access, IE7 with several tabs, Adobe Reader, Solitaire, and Hearts. It didn't start showing lag until I'd loaded it up with several applications.

I wanted to check out the Timeline 3810T while I was there, but they didn't have any. The sales people did point me to a Dell Studio 14, which doesn't seem all that bad either while boasting decent battery life and a more powerful dual core CPU.

 

[ice2642]

I buy this netbook, and for a netbook it is fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the ATI x1270 is much more faster than any intel and the athlon 64 l110 is ok for all day tasks.

the LCD is very cool and bright, easy to read in 1366x768 resolution thanks the good quality definition.

the touchpad is really nice and keyboard have a good filing.

Sorry about my terrible English, I register here just to talk about this netbook, because I was looking about the wifi linux driver and I see this post in the google.

If you need a netbook, not think 2 times, buy it.

some pictures.

http://www.guiadohardware.net/...ew/993500/#post4505446

the text is portuguese, buy you can see the pictures.

best regards,

Ice

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: ice2642
I buy this netbook, and for a netbook it is fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the ATI x1270 is much more faster than any intel and the athlon 64 l110 is ok for all day tasks.
the LCD is very cool and bright, easy to read in 1366x768 resolution thanks the good quality definition.
the touchpad is really nice and keyboard have a good filing.
Sorry about my terrible English, I register here just to talk about this netbook, because I was looking about the wifi linux driver and I see this post in the google.
If you need a netbook, not think 2 times, buy it.
some pictures.
http://www.guiadohardware.net/...ew/993500/#post4505446
the text is portuguese, buy you can see the pictures.
best regards,
Ice

I ended up buying the more powerful, while still light and thin, Studio 14z. The Gateway LT isn't bad though, and for certain tasks and people, it'd be a great system. Just make sure you actually put hands on it before you decide to purchase it. Preferable with any laptop, but a must with all netbooks.

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: ice2642
I buy this netbook, and for a netbook it is fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the ATI x1270 is much more faster than any intel and the athlon 64 l110 is ok for all day tasks.

the LCD is very cool and bright, easy to read in 1366x768 resolution thanks the good quality definition.

the touchpad is really nice and keyboard have a good filing.

Sorry about my terrible English, I register here just to talk about this netbook, because I was looking about the wifi linux driver and I see this post in the google.

If you need a netbook, not think 2 times, buy it.

some pictures.

http://www.guiadohardware.net/...ew/993500/#post4505446

the text is portuguese, buy you can see the pictures.

best regards,

Ice

how long does the battery last?

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: IlllI
how long does the battery last?

Not flaming, just saying...

I don't understand this obsession with battery life.

Every wall in America has at least one AC outlet on it, and cars still have cigarette lighter receptacles (even though the ash trays are missing).

I'm running a Asus 1000, not a Gateway LT... but the question is always the same. What's the battery life?

The thing is...

I think this 1000HD has a 3 or 4 cell battery. Really, I don't know and don't care. Why not?

Because, if I did care about battery life, I would buy a 12 cell battery on eBay!

Example: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...Item&item=150357049704 (eBay - 12 cell Asus 1000 battery - $54 with free shipping)

Like I say, I just don't get the 'battery thing'.

I wouldn't shop for a car, for instance, based on how long the battery lasts. If I was worried about it, I'd stick a Diehard in it...

 

[IlllI]

well you know how a company claims a certain number, but real world isnt exactly true.
would be nice to know how it compared to atom netbooks.

 

[ice2642]

With vista, CPU balanced, and GPU max performance ate about 4:30 hours, I have a 6 cell batery. maybe if you set the GPU to more economy you pass 5h.

today I instal the ubuntu amd64 here, and it be much more fast than vista in this machie.

The unic hardware not found is the wifi, I am looking for the driver to make it work.

all linux X effects work without problem, very cool. I believe if it have the intel 945 like others netbook it not have power for compiz-fusion and advanced effects under linux.

I like this netbook and recomend.

But remember, it is a netbook, of course you will have much more power with a notebook.

BR