Gateway - Netbook with Intel® Atom™ Processor - NightSky Black
Model: LT2104u
SKU: 9695408
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Customers enjoy the long battery life, sharp screen, and portability of the Netbook with Intel® Atom™ Processor. They appreciate the affordable price, adequate RAM, and satisfactory performance.
I'll be honest here: I bought a Netbook just because I wanted one. I really don't have any lofty needs for one, but after considering the pros and cons of one, I decided that since I do often take data and other information to friends' and family houses, it would do well to have one. Plus I rather wanted the ability to be lazy and do my online course work without being tethered to a desk. After doing a lot of side-by-side comparisons in store, I decided to pick this one up over other offerings by Asus, HP and Dell. I'm glad I did. For further clarity I should mention, upon purchasing, I also purchased a 2GB ram upgrade because, unlike some Netbooks, this one is easily upgradeable. No fuss, just swap parts and go. Likewise, I decided to perform a Windows Anytime Upgrade from Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Home Premium. Windows 7 Starter DOES NOT have a 3 application limit as one reviewer here has posted, but it does have significant restrictions such as the inability to change desktop wallpapers. The N450 Atom processor, which just released in January, is a powerhouse of a portable mini-CPU. On par with the late Pentium 4s, the Atom N450 is a hyperthreading processor which gives you two separate IO streams on a single core. This, alone, increases the abilities of this Netbook. With the 2GB of ram installed, Windows 7 Home Premium boots extremely fast and performs extremely well. Baseline RAM usage on Windows 7 Home Premium with only startup background services running is 450-465 megs, including running the modified Aero Glass UI. At one point, I was multitasking Mozilla Firefox, Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 and Microsoft Excel 2007 and the system still hadn't capped out ram usage. The CPU handled having two processor and memory intensive applications open at once very deftly. A screenshot included shows Windows Task Manager performance on this machine while running Adobe Photoshop Elements 8. Even with these upgrades, battery life was impressive: 7 to 8 hours on a full charge, 5 to 7 if I ran a lot of intense applications. However, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. The display seems to be matte but is just glossy enough that it can glare and become washed out with too much light. Additionally, the touchpad and buttons are not to my liking. The textured touchpad seems to have a life of its own and the button(s) are so sensitive that a light touch registers as a click. Windows 7 Starter will likely be fine for most people, however, for anyone who wants media center access, or the ability to customize their systems, an anytime upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium is a MUST. No, you won't be gaming on it, but you wouldn't be gaming (at least not very well) on a $499 laptop either. All said, I am officially impressed and happy with this purchase. This little netbook easily outperforms low end laptops with a simple 2gb ram upgrade.
Posted by Warnie
After owning two terrific Gateway Desktop PCs just purchased last year, I was a bit biased toward the Gateway family when making this purchase. Believe it or not, though, I really wanted a Dell netbook and sort of liked the Asus and Acer models, which were very similar. I also really liked the Nokia netbook. However, the new form factor accompanying the Dell netbooks with the N450 processor are very ugly and I couldn't see myself owning one. The Asus and Acer models scaled back features such as hard drive space and the Nokia was too pricey without an AT&T service contract. I saw several models on Gateway's web site and then saw Best Buy carries this one, which is fairly new. I was initially not very impressed seeing it in person (not sure why - maybe the lack of shininess on the area containing the touchpad?) but after carefully looking at several other models and reading reviews of this one, I must say this unit is perhaps the best of the whole bunch. It has the N450 processor, RAM is easily expandable to 2 GB (some aren't expandable - and some require you to take the keyboard apart to get at the memory), it has a 250 GB hard drive, has a very sharp, bright screen, and Gatway's claims of 8 hours of battery life are very close to plausible. Finally, it has everything that you need - no more, no less. Windows 7 is really a plus. It also really is sleek and stylish and has a very small footprint - something neat freaks can leave on their living room coffee table all the time. Bluetooth, TV Tuner, and GPS are all nice - but aren't really something you would necessarily use very often and drive the price of a netbook up a lot. Once you bog down the computer, it becomes less portable. Overall, after using this computer for many hours over a week, I'm very happy with the purchase I made. Gateway truly does have a great family of high quality, well-priced products. This computer will quickly become your best friend. You won't be sorry if you buy!
Posted by ComputerBen
After much hesitation, I entered the netbook market since I found it quite inconvenient to be hauling around my much more hefty macbook to school. However, since I knew netbooks aren't exactly cheap (300 dollars is still a lot of money), I decided to investigate and thoroughly research before making a purchase. I narrowed it down to Asus and Dell since I didn't think I needed the Samsung or Toshiba. I went to Best Buy to check out the models for myself and was just so surprised at how cheap-looking the Asus was. Sure, it's a great value, but it looks cheap. The trackpad and keyboard were not comfortable. Thus, I moved on to Dell and I found that it was great, but for the 349 price, the specs were not good enough (N270 processor). Then I laid eyes on a bunch of boxes stacked next to the netbooks, which were the Gateway LT2104s. They'd just been released a week ago, but I was curious about the specs. For an N450 250Gig hard drive, the price of 329 wasn't bad at all! Cheaper than the Dell. I went to the display, tested it and felt comfortable with the keyboard and track pad. Since purchasing, I've taken it to school and it doesn't disappoint. compared to a macbook, it's still a little slow, but it gets the internet/email thing done without problems. I've even got Office 2010 Beta on it and it runs just fine. My only complain with this machine is that it is only available in black at the stores - for the White and Red models, you have to order it online, which entails a long wait. Not only is the machine very useful for on-the-go people, but it's incredibly lightweight. I compared the Asus EEe PC and Dell netbook and found Gateway's to be the lightest at 2.81 pounds. The others are pushing 3 pounds or so. This makes a world of difference when you're already carrying pounds of heavy books for school. Bottom line is that you get quite a good value for the price; an N450 processor, 250 gig hard drive, Windows 7 Starter, Webcam, and even a slot for SD cards and other types. For all this, Dell wants close to 400. However, since this is a new model, there is not yet ample research as to the product's longevity nor professional opinions. Still, it is a great machine so far and I strongly recommend this over a laptop since laptops are becoming quite an inconvenience as of late. If you can wait, order them online so you can choose your color. If not, the store carries only black :(
Posted by Delita