Gateway 14 review: it’s blue!

I’ve simply completed a day on the Gateway 14, some of the talked-about laptops within the funds Windows house. And of us… I’m very impressed.

We purchased this at Walmart for $279 (discounted from $360 since it’s a pair generations previous), and sure, it has the legendary cow spots on its lid. The Gateway model from the Nineties that everyone knows and love is now licensed by Acer and has turn out to be a Walmart-exclusive model. The cow moos on. Mooooo.

The mannequin I’ve been utilizing contains an Intel Core i5-1135G7 (a chip that powered lots of 2020’s most premium ultraportable units, together with the Samsung Galaxy Book, the Acer Swift 5, the Dell XPS 13, and the Lenovo Yoga 9i). There is 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. For $279, that’s a really stable deal and possibly near one of the best specs you will get for that worth. The largest compromise is a mediocre touchpad, however that’s mitigated by a strong port choice that ought to assist you to plug in a mouse with no downside.

The chassis can also be the sturdiest and best-built one I’ve ever seen from a Windows laptop computer, with no flex within the keyboard or display screen and spectacular fingerprint rejection. There’s even an empty drive slot on the underside (mounted with two screws), so you’ll be able to stick in nonetheless a lot storage you want. Oh, and it’s blue. Blue! How enjoyable is that? Gateway additionally put the little Microsoft and Intel stickers on the underside of the system, so the palm rests are a totally untarnished blue. It’s a pleasant, daring look. I approve.

I opened the Gateway up simply earlier than 9AM to begin work. It shipped with actual Windows, not S-mode. I seen instantly that there was a lot of stuff preinstalled. Some of it was useful — I didn’t must obtain Spotify! — however there have been additionally video games like Solitaire pinned to the taskbar, in addition to some backends to browser video games like Forge of Empires and Elvenar on the desktop. In the identify of Marie Kondo, I cleared all of that out.

It was a reasonably uneventful morning and afternoon; I largely spent it writing in Chrome, with round a dozen tabs open and Spotify sometimes streaming within the background. At first, it appeared a bit laggy, and this was apparently as a result of it actually, actually wanted to be up to date (the unit has been sitting round in our assessment closet for a bit since its buy). I attempted to place this off as a result of I’m a procrastinator that manner, however the system ultimately took issues into its personal palms: it froze, crashed, and started updating itself. Fair sufficient. I assume I deserved that.

Once the replace was sorted, I resumed my workload. And reader, the Gateway is quick. It sailed by the day with out breaking a sweat. I didn’t as soon as hear a single decibel of fan noise; I might make out a teensy little bit of coil whine if I put my ear to the keyboard, however that was it. Performance was visibly smoother and sooner than that of our slightly-more-expensive HP 14 unit, which has a weaker processor and 1 / 4 of the Gateway’s RAM. I additionally barely desire the Gateway’s display screen, which is 1920 x 1080 and simply has a little bit of a extra fashionable look to it. I used to be working at 20 to 30 % brightness indoors with no glare.

Audio was tinny, with weak percussion and no bass, however had respectable quantity to it, and I might definitely hear higher than I might on the HP 14. The microphones, however, are purposeful however not excellent — we examined them on The Vergecast (in, admittedly, a really unfavorable surroundings), so take a look at that episode to listen to what they sound like firsthand.

I began the day with the Gateway totally charged, and the unit virtually made it by the complete day unplugged, dying within the late afternoon across the seven-and-a-half-hour mark. That solidly beats the HP 14, in addition to… fairly just a few dearer Windows laptops I’ve examined lately. I’ll take it.

My post-work exercise was the Gateway’s final take a look at. I spent the night engaged on a manuscript and researching potential brokers to submit that manuscript to. This was an concerned affair, and I had in all probability 40-50 Chrome tabs open — lists of varied companies, their necessities, their blogs, and different such issues — and I used to be resizing, swapping, and clicking out and in of all of them very quick. No bother for the Gateway, which zipped by all of it.

I additionally had a complete bunch of my very own Google Docs open, together with the manuscript itself, which was properly over 300 pages. I’ve to watch out which computer systems I open this doc on as a result of Docs information of this dimension get very unwieldy and sluggish very quick. This was additionally no bother for the Gateway 14, which loaded the entire thing about as rapidly as any Windows laptop I’ve ever used and by no means as soon as froze or lagged whereas enhancing it.

The Gateway’s keyboard isn’t backlit, however I truly had no downside engaged on it late into the evening with my lights dimmed. The brilliant white textual content towards the darkish black keys supplied sufficient distinction that I might make out what I wanted to in the dead of night. I truly a lot desire this expertise to that of utilizing laptops which are backlit however not very properly (which is usually what you get when you purchase a backlit system on this worth vary).

Now, there’s one vital draw back that did maintain me up. This is among the worst touchpads I’ve ever used. The dimension just isn’t a difficulty; it feels roomier than the tiny one on the HP 14. However, the clicking may be very tough. You actually must shove the factor down. It’s fairly loud and appears like a chore. I’m additionally not fairly certain what was happening with the actuation factors, however there have been instances once I would click on in a sure space at a sure angle and really feel like I used to be clicking a number of instances.

But most annoyingly, clicking and dragging doesn’t fairly work. There gave the impression to be a tough cap on how a lot textual content I might spotlight earlier than the touchpad simply determined it was finished; it additionally took many makes an attempt to spotlight as click-and-drag makes an attempt, which actually screwed up my manuscript enhancing course of.

Now, on a laptop computer that’s even barely dearer, this situation can be sufficient to tank the Gateway’s rating. I’m barely extra forgiving of it on this sub-$300 laptop computer as a result of the intensive port choice (additionally higher than the HP 14’s) will make it very straightforward to plug a mouse into it. In specific, the truth that there are USB-A ports on either side will make it fairly handy to stay peripherals in, no matter which hand you utilize your mouse with. I don’t use peripherals when reviewing laptops, however you need to plan to maintain a mouse helpful when you purchase this. (There’s additionally a lock slot, an HDMI (unusually upside-down, however nonetheless), a USB-C, a microSD (!), and a headphone jack.)

Given the truth that my two largest points, the touchpad and the microphones, can each be solved by exterior peripherals, I actually didn’t have an excessive amount of to complain about right here. If you don’t already personal a mouse or microphone and might want to purchase them, this system could lose a few of its worth — but when you have already got them readily available (or simply received’t be needing to make use of the Gateway for video calls too typically), I actually assume this is among the finest offers you’ll find on a Windows laptop computer. Even with its issues, this looks as if it might simply be (no less than) a number of hundred bucks dearer. Plus, it’s blue! Did I point out it’s blue?

I’m so severe once I say I’m truly pondering of shopping for one in every of these for myself. Come on — it’s blue!