The Gateway ID59C has all the ingredients for a great laptop, in terms of price, power and looks. The excellent build quality of the laptop makes it feel a lot more expensive than it actually is. Gateway may not have the brand recognition of an HP or a Dell, at least in India. However, the performance of this machine is on par with the rivals.
Pros
- Very classy looks
- Slim form factor
- Excellent performance
- Glowing touchpad adds a bit of fun factor
Cons
- Screen tilts too far back; may be bad for hardware longevity
- Integrated touchpad buttons require a deep click
How often do we see a laptop that looks a lot more expensive than it actually is? In fact, the vice versa is true in most cases. Mostly, either the laptop turns out to be too plasticky or the manufacturer ends up dressing it up in a glossy body. However, when the Gateway ID59C landed on our desk, it was something which immediately made us stop whatever we were doing and admire this slim beauty! Since this has a 15.6 inch screen, the machine will appeal to those who need a powerful laptop on a budget, or as a desktop replacement. But does the performance match the good looks?
Look and Feel: Slim beauty
A laptop which has a form factor as slim as this one deserves its share of kudos. More so because it does not do away with the optical drive to achieve this slimness. The brushed aluminium finish gives it an extremely classy look. The non-glossy finish is smart, as well as a blessing in disguise, since it won't become a fingerprint and scratch magnet. The build quality of the Gateway ID59C is excellent, with no creaks or rough edges felt anywhere. With a weight of 2.5kg, this is not exactly lightweight, but given the slimness and the relatively large display size, it’s not too bad.
Features: Surprisingly loaded
Admittedly, it took us some time to move beyond the excellent finish of the Gateway ID59C, but then we stumbled upon the glowing touchpad! This adds a bit of colour and fun to the machine. The touchpad, which is pretty big in size anyway, has the left and right click buttons integrated. Touch anywhere in the area of the hidden buttons, and the touchpad lights up. Remove the finger, and the light goes off. Add a ‘floating keyboard’ in the mix, and the look is complete! The keys are big enough for comfortable typing. Also, the gap between the keys ensures that you don’t press the wrong key. The keys are totally flat, and this gives the keyboard a floating look. The area around the touchpad is large enough for someone to comfortably place their palms while typing – there is kudos to a larger display. The floating style keyboard is very comfortable to use, with adequate key size and gap. The travel is just right, and the chunky response makes typing easier. However, the integrated buttons on the touchpad require a pretty deep click, which is a tad disconcerting. The touchpad response, sensitivity and precision are quite good, negating the need for an external mouse.
Performance: Surpasses expectations
Powered by Intel’s Core i5 processor, and paired with 4GB of RAM, the Gateway ID59C did have the grunt, at least on paper. What was most interesting was the appearance of the NVIDIA GT 420M graphics card, with 1 GB dedicated graphics memory. For a price tag of about Rs 50K, a laptop with this powerful configuration makes a lot of sense. And yes, there is a 500 GB hard drive with Windows 7 Premium (64-bit version) preloaded.
The reading of benchmark scores proved to be eye opening experience, quite literally, in bewilderment. The PC Mark Vantage score of 6,016 means that this machine will handle multitasking with ease. However, the biggest surprise came with the 3D Mark 2006 score, which assesses the laptop’s gaming capabilities. A score of 6,846 mean this one is very close to some gaming notebooks, in terms of performance. To illustrate this even more, we ran the Far Cry 2 benchmark and managed 59.62 fps. The 15.6-inch display, with the 1366 x 768 HD resolutions is good for gaming as well, with vivid colours and adequate sharpness.
The big screen size makes this laptop a good option to view videos on. Even full HD video files, upwards of 5GB in size, play back stutter free on this machine. The speakers are very clear, but the Virtual Surround Sound barely makes a difference. The real impact can be felt when you connect the laptop to external speakers or a good quality headphone. The laptop’s built-in speakers don’t do justice to this feature.
The battery life of just over 2 hours is decent, but won't win any battery backup marathons. This one will not be the choice of those who need a laptop for the road, but will fit well as a home entertainment rig or even a desktop replacement. However, we tested the battery on the High Performance battery setting. If you tone down the power settings, reduce the screen brightness and switch off Bluetooth/Wi-Fi when not in use and the battery may last about an hour longer
Verdict: A good deal
This is a machine which offers really good performance without costing a bomb. However, the battery life and the weight kind of reduce the mobility to a large extent. You may buy this if you are looking to buy a sleek desktop replacement or a laptop which would not be needed on the move very often. If you already have a similarly configured machine, this may not offer an enticing enough alternative. However, for anyone willing to upgrade from a lower configuration laptop, this could be a very good upgrade. There are a couple of other machines which offer similar performance- the HP Pavilion dv6 and the Dell XPS14, in a similar price band.
Specification
Intel Core i5-460M processor @ 2.53GHz
4GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce GT420M
15.6 inch display (1366x768 resolution)
Overall: 7
Email: ailenquiries@acer.co.in
| Brand | Gateway |
| Model | ID59C |
| Features | |
| Component Specifications | |
| Processor Model No | Intel Core i5-460M |
| Processor Speed | 2.53GHz |
| RAM (MB) | 4096 |
| RAM Type | DDR3 |
| Memory Speed (MHz) | 1066MHz |
| Chipset | Mobile Intel HM55 Express |
| Graphics Solution | Nvidia GeForce GT420M |
| Dedicated Video Memory (Y / N) | Y |
| Dedicated Video Memory Size (in MB) | 1024 |
| Audio Chipset | Conexant High Definition Audio |
| Storage size (in GB) | 500GB |
| Drive type (HDD/SSD/other) | HDD |
| Optical Drive Type / Speed | DVD-Super Multi/8X |
| Bundled OS | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) |
| Characteristics | |
| Screen Size (Inches) | 15.6 |
| Type of LCD | LED LCD |
| Screen Resolution (Native) | 1366X768 |
| Weight (Kg) | 2.5 |
| No. of Ports (USB / FireWire) | 4 USB |
| USB 3.0 (Y/N) | N |
| Connectivity (LAN / Bluetooth / Wi-Fi) | Y/Y/Y |
| E-Sata (Y/N) | N |
| Display output (VGA/DVI/HDMI/Display Port) | VGA/HDMI |
| Memory Card Reader (Y/N) | Y |
| Type of Memory Cards Supported | Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Multi Media Card, Secure Digital, xD-Picture Card |
| Inbuilt Webcam (Y/N) | Y |
| Webcamera resolution (in megapixels) | 1.3MP HD |
| Build (So 10) | |
| Body | 9 |
| Keypad | 8 |
| Lid, movables | 7 |
| Ergonomics and Usability | |
| Keypad Tactile Feedback (So 10) | 8 |
| Key Layout, bevelling, spacing & Usability (So 10) | 8 |
| Shortcut Keys/Switches (So 10) | 8 |
| Trackpad ergonomics, size, position (So 10) | 8 |
| Trackpad accuracy (So 10) | 7 |
| Biometrics (fingerprint/face) login (Y/N) | N/N |
| Wi-Fi On/Off Switch or Button (Y/N) | Y |
| Dedicated Bluetooth On/Off Switch or Button (Y/N) | Y |
| Dedicated TouchPad On/Off Switch or Button (Y/N) | N |
| Performance | |
| Synthetic Scores | |
| PC Mark Vantage | |
| PC Mark Score | 6016 |
| Memories Score | 3418 |
| TV and Movies Score | 3914 |
| Gaming Score | 3481 |
| Music Score | 6280 |
| Communications Score | 4899 |
| Productivity Score | 5574 |
| HDD Score | 3555 |
| 3D Mark 2006 | |
| CPU Score | 2858 |
| Graphics score | 2774 |
| Overall Score | 6846 |
| Maxxon CineBench R11.5 (CPU score) | 2.26 |
| Display Mate Colour Accuracy Test (So 10) | Score not available |
| Battery Life Test (in minutes) | 2:09:26 |
| Wi-Fi Signal Strength Test (Zone 2) | 16% |
| Real World Tests | |
| Speaker Quality (at 50% volume) (So 10) | 7 |
| HD Movie Viewing (using VLC) (So 10) | 8 |
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