Gateway MC7803u

Beautiful outside, a little slow inside

THE MC7803U delivers stunning good looks and plenty of multimedia features.This 16-inch system appeals to buyers who take their media on the road, and at $999.99, the price is right.

The 7.1-pound MC7803u featutes a burgundy lid (or you can opt for black); the chrome stripe down the center is split by a leather-looking strip insert. The 16-inch, 16-to -9 widescreen is ensconced behind edge-to-edge glass. We love the multimedia buttons and full size, backlit keyboard.

The MC7803u is equipped with a generous 320GB hard drive, a 1.3- megapixel Webcam, a 5-in-1 card reader, an ExpressCard/54 slot. Bluetooth and 802.11a/b/g/n wireless, an HDMI port, and an 8x DVD burnet. The LCD's resolution on out test unit was 1,920x1,080, but final units will have 1,366x768. Our
test system reproduced good colors and video motion, as well as clean sound, but the audio lacked depth.

The 4GB of DDR2 RAM is a plus, and the 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 is solidly midrange.The MC7803u scored a subpar 2,202 on Futuremarks PCMark Vantage, and its showing on Cinebench 10 (2,153) is below average. It needed a long 13 minutes and 33 seconds to finish out WME 9 trial.
The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 CPU (with 512MB of dedicated VRAM) delivered playable frame tales. On F.E.A.R at 1,024x768, we saw 47fps, but when we upped
the resolution and effects for Company of Heroes, the system managed only 10.2fps. The eight-cell battery lasted a good 2 hours and 15 minutes on our DVD rundown test.



The Gateway MC7803u isn't the most powerful multimedia laptop on the market. But its style rivals the best in its class, and the 16-inch screen and attractive price make it a good fit for enthusiasts. —Jamie Bsales

www.gateway.com

Computer Shopper January 2009