Gateway ID49C08u

This 14-inch laptop delivers excellent graphics performance Akku HP Pavilion DV8 and a sleek design for a reasonable price.

When we first Akku HP Pavilion DV7 reviewed the Gateway ID49, we were impressed with its stylish design and glowing touchpad, but the performance of this $679 machine didn't exactly blow us away. Now we've tested the $849 version of that model, the ID49C08u, and it's well worth the $170 premium. Packed with an Nvidia GPU,Optimus graphics-switching technology, and a beefier CPU, the ID49 outperforms all other 14-inch notebooks in its price range. The glowing touchpad isn't for everyone, but overall this Dell GD761 Battery thin-and-light notebook has some serious muscle.

Editors' Note: Portions of this review Akku HP Compaq 6735S were taken from our earlier review of the Gateway ID49C07u.

Design

Both the lid and deck of the ID49C08u is an aluminum alloy that not only gives the system a Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery bpremium look, but will better protect it from occasional bumps. The bezel is a matte black, and, like the rest of the exterior, does not show fingerprints. This notebook is a relatively sleek 13.5 x 9.6 x 1 inches, and at 4.8 pounds it's slightly lighter than other laptops in the same class. The Dell Inspiron 14R and the Toshiba Satellite M645 both weigh 5 pounds.

Keyboard

The keyboard on the ID49C08u uses Sony VGP-BPS9A Battery the same FineTip design that's now ubiquitous on all Acer and Gateway notebooks. Like the deck, it's also a silver color. The letters and numbers are black, but the font is very thin, making it a little difficult to see. While we'd prefer a little more travel in the keys, they were nice and large, Sony Laptop Battery and easy to press. However, there was a bit of flex in the deck.

To the right of the keyboard are volume controls; above them is Gateway's new social networking

button, which, when pressed, opens an app that provides quick access to Facebook, Flickr. and YouTube. We'd be more impressed if it VGP-BPS9/S were possible to link to other social networking sites, such as Twitter.

Above and to the left of the keyboard Sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery are two buttons. One is a customizable quick-launch button for your favorite app; the other activates the notebook's Wi-Fi. On the right are touch buttons for media controls, and for opening the DVD drive.

Glowing Touchpad

The Alps-powered touchpad is the most visually distinctive aspect of the ID49C08u. It's Sony VGP-BPS9 Battery set slightly lower than the rest of the deck, and is trimmed in chrome. When you put more than two fingers on the pad, it glows bluish-white, which is a neat effect, but may prove distracting to touch typists who are focusing on the screen. You can deactivate this feature, too, but we wish you could customize its activation.

Similar to Apple laptops and some HP Sony VGP-BPL9 Battery systems, the ID49C08u's mouse buttons are built into the 3.4 x 2.3-inch touchpad itself, and are designated by two small horizontal lines. While the look is nice, these buttons require you to push down much further than Apple's or HP's, and the action felt floppy, for lack of a better word.

In an effort to avoid the multitouch issues that have been plaguing Dell and HP touchpads with integrated buttons, you can't initiate gestures in the button areas battery on the ID's touchpad. However, this means the effective area for gestures is much smaller, making it more difficult to actually perform them.