Gateway UC7807u

Key Specs
Processor: 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6400Memory: 3GB RAMStorage: 250GB hard driveOptical Drive: DVD±RWScreen: 13.3 inchesGraphics: Intel GMA 4500MHDWeight: 5.3 poundsDimensions (HWD): 1.5x12.6x9.4 inchesOperating System: Windows Vista Home Premium

Review
Reviewed by: Sarah E. Anderson Review Date: January 2009
We like Gateway more and more every year, and if the company continues to turn out systems like the UC7807u, it could be our favorite vendor in no time flat. It’s not that this laptop is so fast or even so portable, but that it’s the only 13.3-inch system we’ve reviewed that tops out at $799 but looks like it should cost a lot more. It’s a little heavy for our tastes and it doesn’t blow any speed records, but it does keep up with the competition while offering an HDMI port, a slot-loading DVD burner, and a striking design.
At first glance, this system seems reminiscent of the Dell XPS M1330. A longtime standout for its combination of speed, design, features, and portability, the M1330 is a force to be reckoned with. It starts at $899 and tops out at over $3,000 with all the bells and whistles. Although the reality is that the UC7807u does not compete in that space, it sure looks like it could—and for some, that might be enough.
At 5.3 pounds, the UC7807u isn’t as light as the competition, but it more than makes up for that in style and price. On the outside, you’re greeted with an in-mold mocha-colored lid (officially named Moonstone), complete with a shiny silver Gateway logo. But our eyes really lit up when we opened the system: Very rarely are we so taken with the inside of a notebook.
The brushed-aluminum hinge looks more like brushed stainless steel, and extends across the entire width of the notebook—it’s truly unlike anything we’ve seen on a laptop. The full-size keyboard has nicely raised keys with flat tops and a chic font for the letters. We like the look and size of the keys (except for the short and crowded arrow keys), but their shape makes typing a little tricky; we missed some keystrokes at first because discerning one key from the next was difficult without any curvature to the individual keys. We expected to have trouble using the round touch pad, but we didn’t—it has a nice texture that never got sweaty or sticky, and it was big enough to accommodate the 13.3-inch wide-screen display. We weren’t too crazy about the single mouse button (used for both left- and right-clicking), though: It's quiet, but it seemed too far away from the touch pad, too small, and too stiff to press.
Watching movies on the 1,280x800 display was a pleasure. Although this system isn’t made for movie buffs, it handled The Matrix and streaming video just fine. The speakers provided enough volume to watch video, but we’d recommend headphones for audiophiles, of course. We should note, too, that the keyboard deck gets pretty warm when the system has been on for a while.
Around the outside, you’ll find a nice array of ports. On the left is the Ethernet jack, accompanied by HDMI and VGA outputs, one USB, and a headphone and microphone jack. In the front is a four-format memory card reader, and on the right, you’ll find the slot-loading DVD burner, an ExpressCard/34 slot, and two more USB ports.
We’re not going to sugarcoat the performance: It’s not stellar. But it is good enough for most users and on par with other notebooks in both its size class and price class—which says a lot, considering no other 13.3-inch system costs this little. In terms of raw CPU performance, the UC7807u’s 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 processor (paired with 3GB of RAM) returned a Futuremark PCMark Vantage score of 2,685. This trails other thin-and-lights by about 200 points (the closest is the $949 Lenovo ThinkPad SL300, with a score of 2,799), but is right on target when compared with $800 mainstream notebooks. It did better on our Windows Media Encoder and iTunes conversion tests, however, rendering our test video in 7 minutes and 47 seconds and converting music in 4 minutes and 32 seconds. Both of the scores are around average for a thin-and-light, with the WME score 10 seconds slower and the iTunes score 25 seconds faster.
In terms of graphics, you shouldn’t get your hopes up. The UC7807u’s integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD (with up to 1.7GB of video memory) managed just 800 on Futuremark's 3DMark06 (at 1,024x768 resolution)—again, just a little below the Lenovo SL300’s score. It completed our Cinebench 10 test with a score of 4,010, which is good for its size. Finally, battery life is not this system’s strength. Its six-cell battery lasted only 2 hours and 20 minutes on our DVD rundown test, which is about 20 minutes shorter than the average thin-and-light, and unfortunately, you can’t buy a second battery or an extended battery for this system.
Our configuration came with Windows Vista Home Premium, a 60-day trial of Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Works 9.0, and a trial version of Norton 360. Gateway backs the UC Series with a one year warranty on parts and labor.
Ultimately, the UC7807u's hefty weight and short battery life might limit its portability—and therefore its usefulness—to some. But if those aren’t issues for you, and you love the idea of a stylish 13-inch notebook that will meet basic computing needs at an ultra-low price, your search ends here. Price (at time of review): $799