Gateway 15″ NV53: Budget Notebook Review Part 2

Low on Price, High on Design
Continued from part 1. Using the increasingly more popular 16:9 aspect ratio for its screen, the NV53 is quite portable for a fully-loaded laptop. At under 6 pounds, I find it light enough to carry around just about anywhere. The measurements of 25cm depth, 37.2cm width, and 3.7cm thickness are comparable with other low-end offerings. I do like the style and sturdiness of the Gateway’s hinge, which is similar to Sony’s FW and Z series, with the power button on the side of the right hinge.

The magnetic latch does not stay closed completely if the laptop is not held upright, but the cover snaps quickly into place as soon as the magnets are near contact. I feel confident that the hinge will hold up over extended use, as it is rugged and does not allow the display to wobble around, yet closing and opening the lid feels smooth. Although aesthetics are very subjective, I like the lines of the NV53 and reckon that many consumers will also deem it to be a presentable - perhaps handsome - laptop. While the glossy lid scratches easily, the honeycomb pattern looks rather thoughtful. I am not enamored by the silver-gray trim along the lower case, but it is not distracting. The lid does bow a bit under pressure, but the NV53’s entire plastic enclosure feels firm.

Now existent on many notebooks, the touch sensitive multimedia buttons located above the keyboard work well and are responsive. In my opinion, the keyboard and trackpad, on the other hand, are this notebook’s largest disappointments. There is little separation between each key, and some prefer more feedback from typing, but I acclimatized to the keyboard with exception of one major flaw: the left shift key is far too small, as Gateway put the “\” command in between the “Z” and shift. As a result, I kept accidentally tapping “\” whenever I wanted to capitalize a letter or use quotations. After writing over a thousand words, I finally remembered to reach further over for the shift key, but my typing speed was hindered. Gateway incorporated a full number pad into the keyboard, thus the cramped left shift, caps lock, and tab bars. Personally, I would gladly eliminate the number pad for a better, more conventional layout.

For those of us who are accustomed to Apple’s extra smooth, responsive, and large glass trackpad, switching over to a PC laptop is always a big change. While the NV53 supports a couple of two-finger gestures (swiping and pinching), the trackpad is simply not responsive enough to allow them to work properly. Even basic tapping fails to register at least 10-20% of the time. Although the Gateway chrome trackpad button is attractive, it is also far too thin. Simple dragging and dropping is more difficult than it needs to be. I tried doing limited Photoshop editing - something that I can accomplish easily on my MacBook Pro - but found myself frustrated with the doggedly ungainly trackpad and its buttons. If you use an external mouse often, then a laptop’s trackpad might be inconsequential to you, but I now rely on my laptop’s trackpad, so I cannot overlook a badly executed design.

Bright & Quiet
AMD’s latest generation of mobile Athlon CPUs, called the “M” series, are now about as energy efficient as Intel’s. Battery life has definitely improved over the 65nm AMD chips (although Intel’s Penryn CPUs will still yield longer battery life). A corollary of lower power consumption is that less cooling is needed to keep everything under normal temperatures. There is a conspicuous growl of its fan when a major operation begins (such as the launching of Photoshop), but during regular use, the NV53 is quiet. The webcam is VGA resolution and works well, with the frame rate constant and image fairly sharp. A few budget notebooks do not include a camera at all. Wireless is fast, as should be demanded of b/g/n, and the range seems long enough, but my connection did drop a few times. I will not discuss the ports, since the specification list is sufficient explanation, but I do commend Gateway for including HDMI when many pricier notebooks still do not offer it. There is not much to say about the speakers other than that they are adequate for occasional Youtube viewing and Skye/AIM chatting, but no one should use laptop speakers for movies, prolonged gaming sessions, and definitely not for music; for these activities, Gateway has included toslink to use with an external DAC or receiver.

The NV53’s 1366×768 (WXGA in 16:9) LED-backlit display is very bright. I do not have cd/m² or contrast ratio numbers, but I estimate the brightness to be well over 225 nits, with average illumination evenness from edge to edge. I have certainly seen far worse at this price range. Although the vertical viewing angles are small (as is the case with all laptops), the horizontal angles are good. The contrast is not amazing, but blacks do look acceptable for a laptop; whites appear slightly tinged even after color calibration, but I have never been thrilled with whites on any laptop. Image quality is sharp, and ghosting is unnoticeable for film, while color reproduction is above average. One complaint that I have about the otherwise very good display is that there is a high amount of sparking present. When viewed up close, the artifacts can become very bothersome, but at around 2 feet away from the screen, I had problems detecting the sparking unless I really scrutinized the display. Glossy reflections are unfortunately a part of mobile computing life now, but the NV53’s is not really better or worse than other shiny LCDs.

Gateway’s Reputation:
Over the years, Gateway has developed questionable reputation for customer service and reliability. Whether or not the company can be relied upon depends on which source is consulted. PC World gives Gateway unspectacular but not bad marks in its 2008 reader’s poll, whereas PC Mag is unimpressed with general reliability –although customer service is reportedly impressive. HP, by far, has the worst ratings in all of the data that I have encountered. Gateway falls somewhere in the middle and sometimes receives an unfair rap, maybe because of low prices. I tend to believe that if a notebook is not abused and is not a lemon right out of the box, it should last several years without major issues, but of course, there are always exceptions.

Great Laptop for Some but Not for Me:
I dislike the NV53’s small shift key, but getting used to it is conceivable. Ultimately, though, I cannot live with the inaccurate trackpad and thin button. Judged on its on merits, the NV53 is arguably one of the best values under $500. It has good performance, great specs for the price, a bright and clear LED screen, HDMI and digital audio output, and a pleasing appearance. The NV53 cannot replace my MacBook Pro, but if I were in the market for a budget notebook, I would be quite happy with this Gateway, although I would have to invest in a small portable mouse when editing photos.