Gateway ID47H02u

What makes the Gateway ID47H02u ($699.99 list) stand out from its mainstream laptop counterparts is that it fits a 14-inch widescreen into a 13-inch frame. The result is a compact frame with a whole lot of screen real estate. It's graced with style, using a fine metal throughout the exterior and interior. It's also the least expensive among its brethren, yet it runs a powerful Core i5 processor and pulled off over 8 hours of battery life. It's a solid buy no matter how you break it down.

Design
Materials used for laptop designs boil down to two types: aluminum and plastic, with the former suggesting a level of class and luxury that you simply don't get with the latter. As with plastic, patterns can also be applied to metal; the ID47H02u uses a fibrous pattern to dull out the shine from its aluminum top, similar to how the Asus U46E-BAL5 ($699.99 List, 4.5 stars) and HP Envy 14 (Sandy Bridge) ($1,079.99 direct, 4 stars) dull theirs' with etched patterns. Its metallic top isn't as hardened or ridged as that of the Samsung QX411-W01's ($899.99 list, 3.5 stars) and Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Thunderbolt) ($1,299 direct, 3.5 stars), though. Even with a built-in optical drive, the ID47H02u is only an inch thick, and because it's technically a 13-inch frame, it's (4.4 lbs) significantly lighter than the Asus U46E-BAL5 (4.9 lbs), Samsung QX411-W01 (5.1 lbs), and HP Envy 14 (5.5 lbs).

The 14-inch screen itself isn't standout gorgeous, as its brightness levels and baseline 1,366 by 768 resolution are consistent with its peers. What makes it unique is that the bezel surrounding it is about the width of a twisty-tie and barely noticeable from afar. The all-screen and no-bezel look is clean and modern, which is something that more of its competitors should be looking into. The typing experience is usually a coin toss in this price range, but Gateway didn't disappoint here. The chiclet-style keys are raised to an ideal height so that it doesn't feel like your fingers are pounding on a hard surface. It's a softer typing experience than the MacBook Pro 13-inch. Gateway added a column of dedicated keys for volume control and launching its own social network (Facebook, Youtube, Flickr) widget, which, fortunately, didn't get in the way of typing. I'm a proponent of dedicated mouse buttons, like the ones found in the U46E-BAL5 and Sony VAIO VPC-EG16FM ($829.99 list, 4 stars). Hence, the ID47H02u's clickpad, with its integrated mouse buttons, is my least favorite part about this laptop. Although accidental cursor movements were kept to a minimum, the clickpad's unusual plastic surface is prone to drag friction, particularly if you have clammy hands.

Features
The feature set is almost as solid as that of the Asus U46E-BAL. It's equipped with a USB 3.0 port, which transfers data at 10 times the speed of USB 2.0. There are two USB 2.0 ports on the right side, giving the ID47H02u. Like every other mainstream laptop, it has HDMI andVGA video-out ports, Ethernet, and a multimedia card reader. The built-in DVD burner isn't as glamorous as the Blu-ray drive found in the Sony EG16FM, but you wouldn't expect that from a $700 laptop. You'll get a slightly bigger hard drive with the Asus U46E-BAL5 (640GB), but the ID47H02u's 500GB hard drive isn't too shabby for mediaphiles.

Performance
The ID47H02u matches the processing power of its rivals with a 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M. There are some differences in memory configurations. For instance, the Asus U46E-BAL5 and Samsung QX411-W01 have 8GB and 6GB of DDR3 RAM, respectively; the ID47H02u uses 4GB. Otherwise, its Cinebench R11.5 (2.6) and Handbrake (1:55) scores were practically identical to that of the Asus U46E-BAL5 (2.59, 1:53) and Samsung QX411-W01 (2.56, 1:59). By the same token, its slightly inferior memory configuration (4GB versus 6GB to 8GB in the other two) didn't affect its Photoshop CS5 (4:09) performance, as it was as well accomplished as the Asus U46E-BAL5 (4:10) and Samsung QX411-W01 (4:10). The integrated graphics solution won't get you very far in terms of gaming, but it can handle many of them at medium quality settings. The Samsung QX411-W01 and HP Envy 14 are the better gaming laptops, because they house a discrete graphics chip.

Like the Samsung QX411-W01, the ID47H02u's 64WH battery is sealed in to maximize capacity and prevent any physical bulging. Meanwhile, the Asus U46E-BAL5 and Sony EG16FM have removable batteries, making them easier to replace should they wear down over time. The ID47H02u performed admirably in MobileMark 2007, lasting 8 hours 23 minutes. It outlasted the Asus U46E-BAL (7:19) by about an hour, while falling in between the Samsung QX411-W01 (8:48) and Sony EG16FM (8:12).

Differentiating a mainstream laptop from the rest of the crop is no easy task, but the Gateway ID47H02u found a cubbyhole. It squeezed a 14-inch screen into a 13-inch frame by using very little bezel, which its rivals have yet to attempt. It's also a well-designed laptop and is both powerful and battery efficient. It's not the best deal in this class, though. That distinction belongs to the Asus U46E-BAL5?our Editor's Choice in the mainstream category.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS

COMPARISON TABLE
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