Some of Gateway‘s praise for its new NX100X notebook system seems right on target: weighing just 3.15 pounds and towering at less than an inch thick, it certainly qualifies for the “ultraportable” monicker, even with the 12.1-inch 1280 by 800 display. A 6-in-1 media card reader, Type II PC Card slot, USB 2.0, IEEE 13924 (FireWire), VGA output, integrated stereo speakers, gigabit Ethernet, built-in modem, 802.11 a/b/g wireless, optional Bluetooth, and Windows XP Professional are all to the better.
Of course, it all depends whether you’re looking at systems like this as desktop replacements or productivity machines for use on the go. With the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 on board, gamers aren’t going to find this system moving enough pixels to get that visceral blood-and-slime feeling. And at the Core…why, it’s just a Core Solo, running at 1.06 or 1.2 GHz, which seems underpowered for a just-introduced system. Gateway says the units have “marathon” battery life, but never define their terms; batteries available include 3-cell, 6-cell, and 9-cell options, although the latter two extend outside the frame.
Gateway says the NX100X notebooks will begin shipping May 26, 2006 at a base price of $1,399. For the time being, it ships with a Canon printer and 1 GB of RAM standard instead of 512 MB.
