Summary
The E-100M shell is made of magnesium alloy meaning that it’s sturdy and durable. The LED accents are all dark blue and tastefully done. The rigidity of the E-100M shell is reassuring and busy travelers won’t hesitate to bring this notebook along their trip. In what seems to be a popular trend, the E-100M features a latch-less lid.
The Gateway NX100X Open
The Gateway NX100X Closed
In terms of connectivity, everything is there that you would expect: Firewire 400, USB 2.0 ports, Wi-Fi, integrated modem, Bluetooth. The notebook even has a 6-in-1 media reader (SD, MS, MS Pro, mini-SD, RS-MMC, MMC) and a 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet adapter (still rare with today’s notebooks). The Gateway E-100M/NX100X features a 32-bit Cardbus slot instead of the faster ExpressCard54 format. The rationale behind this is that there are more CardBus peripherals on the market than ExpressCard54 peripherals. Things may change in the future.
The RightSide of the NX100X
The LeftSide of the NX100X
Peak words per minute
Gateway E-100M |
140 wpm |
99% accuracy |
Lenovo 3000 V100 (NMB) |
138 wpm |
99% accuracy |
Apple MacBook Pro |
138 wpm |
97% accuracy |
IBM ThinkPad Z60t (Alps) |
135 wpm |
97% accuracy |
HP Pavilion dv2000 |
129 wpm |
99% accuracy |
Apple MacBook |
125 wpm |
97% accuracy |
Dell Inspiron 700m |
121 wpm |
97% accuracy |
The NX100X Keyboard
The trackpad was also superb. The mouse buttons were firm and had just the right amount of travel (minimal). The sensor surface was reasonably sized given the notebook size, although if I’m going to nitpick, a wider trackpad would have been better.
The NX100X TrackPad
Our E-100M system was configured with the following equipment:
- Intel Core Solo U1400 CPU (1.2 GHz)
- 512GB memory (DDR-2 553 MHz)
- 80 GB Serial ATA HDD 5400 rpm (Fujitsu MHV2080BH)
- External 8x DVD MultiBurner (DVD-RAM, DVD+/-RW)
- 12.1″ 1280×800 widescreen display (Samsung)
- Integrated Intel GMA950 Graphics
- 802.11 a/b/g wireless adapter (Intel 3945abg)
- Bluetooth (Broadcom BCM2405)
- 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet (Intel PRO/1000 PL)
- High Definition Audio (SigmaTel HDA)
- 6-in-1 memory card reader
- 3-cell lithium-ion battery
The Intel Core Solo and Core Duo platform have become the wonder-products from Intel. Since all of the Core Solo/Duo notebooks use the same Intel i945GM chipset, there isn’t significant variation in system performance from manufacturer to manufacturer. It’s mostly a question of how fast your CPU is, how much memory you have, and how fast the HDD is.
The Core Solo only runs at 1.2 GHz, however it’s an Ultra Low Voltage model meaning that the loss in performance is compensated by exceptional battery life. Moreover, the Core Solo 1.2 GHz is approximately as fast an older Pentium 4 2.4GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2000+. That means it’s still fast enough to handle complex Excel queries, and animation or video-heavy PowerPoint presentations.
Despite the ultra low voltage specification and the slower CPU speed, the 3-cell battery only offered 1 hour 37 minutes of battery life. This is disappointing, although it’s probably enough for a brief PowerPoint presentation or a 1 hour commute via train. That said, a 6-cell battery should give a more reasonable 3 hour battery life, while the extended 9-cell battery (which takes the weight up to 3.87 lbs) should give something closer to 4.5 hours. Although the processor is energy efficient, the batteries are just too small to carry enough power.
We’ve all heard stories of laptops that can overheat and burn their users. With the ultra low voltage CPU, this isn’t a problem at all. The hard drive does warm up the machine, but it never reached concerning levels.
Gateway offers both high-gloss and matte LCD panels. Our notebook was configured with a matte LCD panel from Samsung. It works well, and although I prefer the high-gloss anti-reflective screen, Samsung did a superb job. The backlight was reasonably uniform for a laptop. There are 8 brightness settings.
Depending on whether you buy a NX100X or an E-100M, your software bundle is different.
For technical support, pricing is also different between the NX100X and E-100M. If you want accidental damage coverage, you’ll have to go with the consumer grade NX100X. I guess they figure people are more careful when they are the ones actually paying for the notebook (Gateway makes more money when they sell warranties to careful people).
We do like the fact that the NX100X comes “standard” with Windows XP Professional and Office Basic Edition. This makes the notebook a great choice for a first-time system owner who doesn’t already have a license for Office. Granted, Gateway is calculating the software cost into the price of the machine, but it’s still a better value than the software bundle that competitors are giving when charging the same amount of money.
When it comes to the main strength of the Gateway E-100M and NX100X, it’s price. The NX100X starts as just $1400 (with instant rebate) while the E-100M starts at $1200 (with instant rebate). When you factor in the small and lightweight form-factor, the best keyboard we’ve tested to date (despite its size), and exceptional build quality, this is a notebook that clearly could have been sold at a far higher price. Our only complaints? Battery life and the lack of an integrated drive – things that are generally true for all 12″ ultraportable notebooks that are less than 1″ thick.
- Best keyboard tested to date
- Superb trackpad
- Competitively priced
- Robust build quality
- Thoughtful software bundle on the NX100X
- Bundled external DVD burner
- 3 cell battery doesn’t hold a lot of juice
- The DVD burner is an external device
- No physical switch to disable WiFi (has to be turned off in software)
- Picky with its wireless access points.