Gateway NX870 Review /w Accessories

by Anonymous

Introduction

Gateway is a North American based computer hardware company known for its desktops, laptops, and monitors. The NX870 model is a mainstream 15.4” laptop aimed not quite at a budget crowd but not for enthusiasts either.

Specs for the NX870 as reviewed:
• Processor: Intel Centrino Core Duo Mobile Processor T2300 (1.66GHz, 667MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache)
• Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition
• Display: 15.4" Widescreen Ultrabright™ XGA TFT (1280x800)
• Chipset: Intel 945PM
• Memory: 1024MB Dual-Channel DDR2 at 667MHz (2 x 512MB), expandable to 2GB (total of 2 DDR2 slots)
• Video: ATI x1400 128MB dedicated + 128MB Hypermemory™
• Audio: RealTek High-definition 2-channel audio
• Hard Drive: 80GB SATA hard drive (5400 RPM)
• Optical Drives: 8x dual-layer DVD±RW drive
• 4-in-1 Digital Media Manager™
• Modem: Motorola SM56 fax/modem
• Network: 10/100Mbps Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 port)
• Integrated 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN
• Interfaces
o 4 USB 2.0 ports
o VGA connector
o RJ-45 Ethernet port
o RJ-11 modem port
o Headphone/audio out
o Microphone
o Kensington lock slot
o IEEE 1394 (Firewire)
o AC adapter connector
o Synaptics Touchpad with Vertical Scroll
o PCI-slot Type II
o Bluetooth
• Battery: 6-cell lithium-ion
• Dimensions: 14.09"(W) x 10.39"(D) x 1.31 - 1.40"(H)
• Weight: 6.27LBS
• Warranty: 1 year parts and labour (Gateway), 2 years warranty (Future Shop)

Reasons for Buying:
I decided to buy this laptop back in 2006 because I felt I needed a laptop to make my college life much easier then it currently was in terms of organizing my work; running back and forth to the computer lab and carrying around too many books started to get annoying. So I ventured over to Best Buy, Future Shop, Canada Computers, and a few other local places within walking distance to check out the deals. Needless to say I had missed out on all the back to school specials but I still needed a laptop. Long story short I sought out the best price / performance ratio and ended up purchasing from Future Shop for a price of $1200 with a 2 year warranty from the store.

Build and Design:
The build quality on the notebook is what I’d call mainstream, not bad but not businesslike either (my previous laptop was a ThinkPad). The palm rest, touchpad and keyboard are all sturdy and do not flex at all during normal use and only slightly when significant pressure is applied. The notebook does not collect fingerprints and collects minimal dust, it does collect a palm ‘imprint’ after some time though. It has a tungsten and lava finish which is aesthetically pleasing, albeit not as ‘bling’ as the platinum upgrade offered on the Gateway website. Access to the chipset can be done by taking off the seven screws which are attached to the bay so they can’t be lost. There is a logo on the top of the lid and on the upper left hand side just above the keyboard. The screen is a little flimsy though which I will address. The best way to show its design is through the following saying; ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’.




Screen:
The screen is a 15.4” widescreen with an ultrabright setting; meaning two lamps are used to light the LCD instead of one. It stays in place just fine while closed with no movement. The resolution is only WXGA (1280x800), which I feel could have been improved on by the company, although they have an upgrade of 1400x1050 on their site. The glossy screen adds to the contrast which makes movies and games appear clearer, but I can’t see my laptop screen when working outside on a bright day. When I said the build quality is mainstream this is where the bad part comes in to balance it out from the rest of the laptop. Typing half of this review in the car the screen was wobbling all over the place on a semi-bumpy road, due to the fact that the hinges just don’t feel tight enough. It is not hard to flex the screen or create ripples just by touching it softly. Also light also tended to escape this laptop more so in comparison to my ThinkPad. Don’t get me wrong, movies and games play great! For those who don’t like higher resolutions and like their FPS this resolution is quite standard for a mid-range GPU. Just don’t go taking the laptop on many bumpy expeditions.

Speakers:
The RealTek speakers are located on the left and right sides of the palm rest on the front of the notebook. They can be slightly muffled if you are wearing baggy pants while resting the laptop on your lap, but with jeans it is hard to muffle them without trying. I found the sound quality to be pretty good overall and these speakers were surprisingly LOUD! To give you an idea in the car I could still hear movies playing comfortably while driving on the highway in a not so aerodynamic car. The microphone and speaker jacks work just fine so there is nothing major to complain about in terms of speakers.

For those who are interested, I purchased a sound blaster Audigy 2 ZS notebook card along with Zalman ‘theatre 6’ 5.1 surround sound headphones. If any of you want a good gaming combination for your notebook these are the ones to have. I tell where shots are when playing FPS games. I ran a few tests with my friend and not only can I guess what room he is in but I can go stand on the exact spot he shot from; my apologies but we were too lazy to make a video of this and the sound just wouldn’t be the same. I would go more into depth but I feel there are enough reviews of both these accessories that can be found by keying in the search on Google or another search engine.



Processor and Performance:
Although core 2 duo processors were out at the time, there were no sales on them so I decided to pass on the opportunity. I’m sure most are already aware that Core2Duo is ~10% faster than Core Duo. Since all the information you can find on it is out there I don’t need to go into more detail then say it’s a LOT faster than my Pentium M .

Benchmarks:

Super Pi
1m 28s

3DMark05 results:


2313

3DMark06 results:


1288

HD Tune results:
*Note: These are the results of the brand new HD tune which was released less than 2 weeks ago

27.3MB/s

Heat and Noise:
While the power adapter is plugged in the CPU & GPU run at full speed and I believe the CPU voltage is @ ~1.2V, I am unaware of the GPU voltage at this time. When running desktop applications the fan tends to come on periodically around once every 7-10 minutes during my tests. This occurs whenever the CPU reaches a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius and the fan remains on for ~30 seconds until the CPU is cooled back down to 50 degrees Celsius at which point it turns off. When gaming the fan is usually on, especially when over-clocked, but it normally remains at the same ‘low’ setting that is just a low whir. It sometimes goes up to a medium ‘setting’ but only for ~5 seconds. The loudest it has ever been was when I was doing a BIOS flash it was really going fast.

While the power adapter is unplugged the CPU runs @ 1ghz and is under-volted @ ~0.9V and its multiplier is reduced from 10x to 6x (FSB remains constant at ~166mhz). The GPU is also under-volted and runs at a respectable 128/130 which is quite low. At this point the fan only turns on once every 30 minutes and is barely audible. All the heat is dispersed out the left side of the chassis.

The hard drive is located under the right side of the palm rest, but I never rest my hand there since I use my left hand for the keyboard and my right is on the mouse. I am truly thankful for this and I just shake my head when people tell me about hard drives on the left hand side which tend to get hot on the hand. The hard drive itself runs pretty hot though @ ~54 degrees Celsius constantly. You might want to look at additional cooling if you are concerned about hard drives going over 50.

Also it might be important for enthusiasts to note that the GPU can be overclocked by a max of +90 on the core without problems for those who like to get a little more out of their notebooks.

Keyboard and Touchpad:
As I stated in the build section I found the keyboard and touchpad to be quite sturdy. The keys require just the right amount of pressure to press down and do not make a loud clicking sound like my old laptop did. The touchpad is made of the same material as the palm rest and is comfortable to use and does not flex either. It has a scroll feature on the right on side that I don’t use but I find those without a mouse will appreciate. The two buttons on the pad are not easy to push down which is good for those who don’t want to accidently hit them while gaming but bad for those with arthritis or who don’t like to apply much pressure to push down buttons.

Input and Output Ports:
I was impressed with how solid the chassis and how everything is in the right place. The fan is out to the left so heat doesn’t blow on the hand. The hard drive is located under the unused palm rest for the right handed. The four USB ports are located strategically; two beside each other and separated by the modem and internet ports are two on top of each other. The media card reader and PCI slot are located on the right hand side while the optical drive and fan are located on the left hand side. The battery, power outlet and DVI port are located at the back. The microphone, speakers are located at the front.

Again, I have no complaints about where everything is located.
Also I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the Logitech G5 mouse + Steel Pad (whether it is from Razer or another company) is a great combination to have and beats a touchpad anyday.


Wireless:
The wireless chipset is located separate from the bay so not as many screws need to be loosened if it needs to be replaced or repaired. It is a powerful 802.11a/b/g wireless adapter which I can use easily from the basement and remote places in my house. There is an option on the taskbar to turn it on or off making it easier than having to go through the control panel to access it.

Battery:
The battery is a 6-cell lithium ion battery that thankfully did not have to be recalled when the Sony batteries started exploding. I can set the brightness to a ‘low’, ‘medium’, or ‘high’ setting that can be done directly from the keyboard. Although I feel these are good settings I wish I had more choice in what level of brightness I could choose (i.e. the Asus G1 has 16 settings compared to the NX870’s 3 settings). Gateway could have done better here. But the battery does last about 2 hours on 'high' brightness and 2 1/2 hours on 'medium' brightness.

Operating System and Software:
The laptop came with Windows XP Home and a couple of the standard bloat ware packages; AOL Online, Nero DVD Burner, McAfee Anti-virus, and a couple others which I immediately deleted. The only one I kept was PowerDVD which is quite good for watching movies and playing music CDs. There is the option to upgrade to Windows Vista (and the laptop now ships with Vista) but I have opted not to do so until gaming performance gets back on par with XP.

Customer Support:
I have found Gateway’s customer service to be very reliable and helpful. There have been a few hiccups, especially when the part problem was my fault, but other than that I personally haven’t had much trouble with them. I guess the moral of the story would be not to void your warranty because they will turn into hard-liners.

Conclusion:
The gateway NX870 is a good 15.4” mainstream laptop for casual-medium users who require a little bit extra or play the odd non-demanding game. It is well built for in-home or at work use and provides portability as it is not as heavy as 17” desktop replacements. It is the perfect laptop for those who want a mix of portability and power with standard yet not great build quality at a budget price.

Pros
- Well built chassis (including keyboard/touchpad/palm rests/bay)
- Very mainstream
- Good mid-range GPU/CPU
- Affordable
- Good Speakers
- Great I/O device placement

Cons
- Poor screen resolution and build quality (albeit good brightness/contrast)
- Palm ‘imprint finish’ over time
- Fujitsu hard drive a little on the hot side
- Bloatware

 

Good review! Thanks for sharing your experiences with the notebook.