I’ve simply completed an afternoon at the Gateway 14, one of the talked-about laptops within the finances Home windows house. And people… I’m very inspired.
We purchased this at Walmart for $279 (discounted from $360 because it’s a pair generations outdated), and sure, it has the mythical cow spots on its lid. The Gateway logo from the Nineties that everyone knows and love is now approved via Acer and has develop into a Walmart-exclusive brand. The cow moos on. Mooooo.
The type I’ve been the usage of contains an Intel Core i5-1135G7 (a chip that powered lots of 2020’s maximum top class ultraportable units, together with the Samsung Galaxy Book, the Acer Swift 5, the Dell XPS 13, and the Lenovo Yoga 9i). There’s 16GB of RAM and 512GB of garage. For $279, that’s an overly cast deal and almost certainly with reference to the most productive specifications you’ll be able to get for that value. The largest compromise is a mediocre touchpad, however that’s mitigated via a powerful port variety that are meant to let you plug in a mouse without a drawback.
The chassis may be the sturdiest and best-built one I’ve ever noticed from a Home windows computer, without a flex within the keyboard or display and bold fingerprint rejection. There’s even an empty power slot at the backside (fixed with two screws), so you’ll be able to stick in alternatively a lot garage you want. Oh, and it’s blue. Blue! How a laugh is that? Gateway additionally put the little Microsoft and Intel stickers at the backside of the instrument, so the palm rests are an absolutely untarnished blue. It’s a pleasant, daring glance. I approve.
I opened the Gateway up simply ahead of 9AM to begin paintings. It shipped with actual Home windows, no longer S-mode. I spotted straight away that there used to be a lot of stuff preinstalled. A few of it used to be useful — I didn’t need to obtain Spotify! — however there have been additionally video games like Solitaire pinned to the taskbar, in addition to some backends to browser video games like Forge of Empires and Elvenar at the desktop. Within the identify of Marie Kondo, I cleared all of that out.
It used to be a rather uneventful morning and afternoon; I most commonly spent it writing in Chrome, with round a dozen tabs open and Spotify infrequently streaming within the background. In the beginning, it gave the impression slightly laggy, and this used to be it appears as it in reality, in reality had to be up to date (the unit has been sitting round in our overview closet for slightly since its acquire). I attempted to place this off as a result of I’m a procrastinator that method, however the instrument sooner or later took issues into its personal arms: it iced up, crashed, and started updating itself. Truthful sufficient. I assume I deserved that.
As soon as the replace used to be looked after, I resumed my workload. And reader, the Gateway is rapid. It sailed throughout the day with out breaking a sweat. I didn’t as soon as pay attention a unmarried decibel of fan noise; I may make out a teensy little bit of coil whine if I put my ear to the keyboard, however that used to be it. Efficiency used to be visibly smoother and sooner than that of our slightly-more-expensive HP 14 unit, which has a weaker processor and 1 / 4 of the Gateway’s RAM. I additionally barely favor the Gateway’s display, which is 1920 x 1080 and simply has slightly of a extra fashionable glance to it. I used to be running at 20 to 30 % brightness indoors without a glare.
Audio used to be tinny, with vulnerable percussion and no bass, however had first rate quantity to it, and I may undoubtedly pay attention higher than I may at the HP 14. The microphones, however, are practical however no longer superb — we examined them on The Vergecast (in, admittedly, an overly destructive surroundings), so check out that episode to listen to what they sound like firsthand.
I began the day with the Gateway absolutely charged, and the unit virtually made it throughout the complete day unplugged, demise within the overdue afternoon across the seven-and-a-half-hour mark. That solidly beats the HP 14, in addition to… reasonably a couple of more expensive Windows laptops I’ve examined lately. I’ll take it.
My post-work job used to be the Gateway’s final take a look at. I spent the night running on a manuscript and researching doable brokers to publish that manuscript to. This used to be an concerned affair, and I had almost certainly 40-50 Chrome tabs open — lists of quite a lot of companies, their necessities, their blogs, and different such issues — and I used to be resizing, swapping, and clicking out and in of them all very rapid. No bother for the Gateway, which zipped via all of it.
I additionally had an entire bunch of my very own Google Medical doctors open, together with the manuscript itself, which used to be smartly over 300 pages. I need to be cautious which computer systems I open this file on as a result of Medical doctors recordsdata of this measurement get very unwieldy and gradual very rapid. This used to be additionally no bother for the Gateway 14, which loaded the entire thing about as briefly as any Home windows laptop I’ve ever used and not as soon as iced up or lagged whilst modifying it.
The Gateway’s keyboard isn’t backlit, however I in truth had no drawback running on it overdue into the night time with my lighting dimmed. The brilliant white textual content in opposition to the darkish black keys supplied sufficient distinction that I may make out what I had to at the hours of darkness. I in truth a lot favor this revel in to that of the usage of laptops which might be backlit however no longer really well (which is regularly what you get if you purchase a backlit instrument on this value vary).
Now, there may be one important problem that did grasp me up. This is likely one of the worst touchpads I’ve ever used. The scale isn’t a subject matter; it feels roomier than the tiny one at the HP 14. On the other hand, the press may be very tough. You in reality need to shove the object down. It’s reasonably loud and seems like a chore. I’m additionally no longer reasonably certain what used to be happening with the actuation issues, however there have been instances after I would click on in a undeniable house at a undeniable attitude and really feel like I used to be clicking more than one instances.
However maximum annoyingly, clicking and dragging doesn’t reasonably paintings. There looked to be a difficult cap on how a lot textual content I may spotlight ahead of the touchpad simply determined it used to be finished; it additionally took many makes an attempt to focus on as click-and-drag makes an attempt, which in reality screwed up my manuscript modifying procedure.
Now, on a computer that’s even barely dearer, this factor could be sufficient to tank the Gateway’s rating. I’m barely extra forgiving of it in this sub-$300 computer for the reason that in depth port variety (additionally higher than the HP 14’s) will make it really easy to plug a mouse into it. Particularly, the truth that there are USB-A ports on all sides will make it reasonably handy to stay peripherals in, without reference to which hand you utilize your mouse with. I don’t use peripherals when reviewing laptops, however you must plan to stay a mouse to hand if you purchase this. (There’s additionally a lock slot, an HDMI (surprisingly upside-down, however nonetheless), a USB-C, a microSD (!), and a headphone jack.)
Given the truth that my two largest problems, the touchpad and the microphones, can each be solved via exterior peripherals, I in reality didn’t have an excessive amount of to whinge about right here. Should you don’t already personal a mouse or microphone and can want to purchase them, this instrument would possibly lose a few of its price — but when you have already got them available (or simply received’t be desiring to make use of the Gateway for video calls too regularly), I in reality suppose this is likely one of the superb offers you’re going to in finding on a Home windows computer. Even with its issues, this turns out love it may simply be (no less than) a number of hundred dollars dearer. Plus, it’s blue! Did I point out it’s blue?
I’m so severe after I say I’m in truth pondering of shopping for the sort of for myself. Come on — it’s blue!