Update on the gateway after 2 months

[wafin]

Hi all,

So here's a quick update on my netbook experience thus far.

Installed windows xp and after finding the drivers and all it went well. Somebody already had a website up for doing this and if you need me to link to it, let me know otherwise you can google the information.

I'll just point out the negatives since those I can remember right now.

1. Going through airport security a few times and having to pull the netbook in and out of my bags, I realized I kept reaching for the battery to hold it by. This is not recommended as the battery latch is not that tight and there were a few times when the battery came out partially with it still being held by one of the other battery latches. So try not to hold it by the battery.

2. Wireless keeps having issues at my house. At times it works flawless but then when the girls try to do their webkinz it keeps losing signal yet my wife can be on facebook all night long without a drop. Go figure.

3. Can't really play 720p HD content via harddrive or video camera using USB connection. Tried it in itunes as well and no luck. So standard viewing is fine and of course you can always save the HD content and then transfer it to another computer to watch it if you are on vacation.

4. Speakers are really quiet even at full blast. Now, the speakers fire down-ward from the front. So having some type of reflective material under the netbook helps the sound bounce up but it won't help when you have 5 kids crowded around the screen trying to listen to Harry Potter.

5. Keys tend to get caught on loose clothing. This is because they are raised from the computer, kind of like little islands. Not a biggie since I'd rather have the larger keyboard but my 5 year old has managed to pop a few off by accident when her sleave caught the edge of a few keys as she was pointing to something on the screen.

6. Battery life is about 4 hours. Funny thing is that when I installed xp on it, it no longer automatically lowers the brightness when you unplugg the netbook from power. So if you forget to lower the brightness you run out of battery much faster.

Overall, I still really love the netbook and wouldn't trade it in. As others have said before you make compromises and for me, having the smaller form, large harddrive, ease of transportation, 4 hour battery is worth having some minor inconveniences.

Hope this helps!

Happy Netting!

[ThisIsNot]

I have been reading that some people are experiencing wi-fi issues. It appears to be either a hardware problem or a driver/software bug. I never had any problems but that doesn't mean that they aren't out there. Did you have problems before you downgraded to XP? Most of the people having issues seem to be running either XP or Vista although I have seen a couple of Windows 7 users with the same thing happening.

Ditch iTunes for 720p video playback. It took me forever to get things going in iTunes and they still weren't smooth. I had to download the latest version of ATI Catalyst and iTunes then stuttered. I had to further look for user created drivers, I also had to close a bunch of background processes. iTunes started playing 720p videos but it would stutter every now and then, it also experienced brain fart whenever I would want to watch a full screen 720p movie. VLC would playback most 720p content just fine though. I was able to go all the way up to about 8-9Mbps (with an mpeg-4 AVC video) before VLC started to stutter every now and then. Granted, CPU usage was up around 40% for the playback but it still worked.

Overall, I liked the Gateway netbook but I really wanted a model that could playback 1080p video content. I also thought that the Gateway model was a little thick and large for a netbook. It is fine in size compared to other 11.6" netbooks but it looks like a behemoth when paired up with a 10" netbook. I never installed Windows XP on it but Windows 7 was a much better experience than Windows Vista.

[wafin]

Concerning if I had noticed issues prior to installing xp on the netbook...I would say I didn't notice any.

Of course, I had the computer up for all of 30 minutes before wiping it and putting xp on the netbook. It seemed to have worked flawlessly with our wireless network at work. So that is why I think it is my home gear. Of course, my main laptop has none of these issues so maybe there is something wrong with the netbook.

At any rate, it is functioning. I may try reinstalling the wireless drivers but that is about all I'm willing to do at the moment. Haha...guess I should've gotten that extended protection plan.

[ThisIsNot]

Eh, the extended warranty might have helped but this netbook will likely be greatly out dated here in a few months. For $399, you can always get a new netbook a year down the line when they start featuring dual-core processors and whatnot.

I actually would have installed Windows 7 on it instead. The 64-bit version of Windows 7 runs much better on that Gateway netbook. That is what I installed on it before handing the netbook off to a friend. I would have been fine with the 32-bit version as the RAM is already maxed out to 2GB (unless there is another RAM slot under the keyboard that can accept an additional 2GB stick) but I figured that I might as well use the processor's 64-bit compatibility.

I can't blame you for not wanting Vista on there. That OS is terrible and a resource hog. The 1.2GHz processor really struggles under Vista and the 2GB of RAM seems more like 512MB.

[onemodog]

My Gateway has a little trouble picking up my wifi signal about half the time I turn it on. Sometimes it picks it right up, sometimes it takes several minutes. I have not noticed a pattern other than if its been off for a longer period of time, it takes longer to connect. If its on sleep mode and I comeback to it, it connects right away.
Aside from that, I have had no problems with my Gateway after about 2 months as well.
Thanks for the tip on the carrying it by the battery. I usually cradle the netbook with the battery on the bottom as its curved shape makes for good finger placement. I have not had any problems with a loose battery latch.
I am happy with my buy too! Still searching for that perfect netbook for my son in the 6th grade though!!