Notebook Critic

Montevina notebooks are popping out everywhere and that means there are deals to be had on Intel’s previous platform; Santa Rosa. This is great news for value-centric consumers.

Gateway has been on a roll since being acquired by Acer last year. Acer’s aggressive pricing for decent specifications combined with Gateway’s newfound sense of style makes the $599 Gateway T-6321 a notebook of interest.

Hardware Highlights:

• 14.1″ WXGA High-Definition Display With 1280 x 800 Resolution
• 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
• 3 GB DDR2 System Memory
• LabelFlash Super Multi 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support

A jersey cow print box, hardly any larger than the notebook itself, opens to reveal the T-6321 wrapped in protective plastic. Its 4400mAh battery, recovery disc, manuals, marketing materials and very small power adapter are in a tidy little box.

A deep wine red metallic color sets the T-6321 apart. This notebook really stands out (it is also available in gloss black). The high gloss finish collects finger prints quickly. Hinge tension works in place of an LCD latch mechanism. Popping the lid reveals brushed metal trim around a silver keyboard. The trim includes media control buttons and capacitive volume control – this arrangement is very similar to the Gateway P-6821FX. Above the high-gloss screen sits a 1.3 Megapixel webcam and microphone.

The display is bright with excellent contrast and color saturation. This screen is very easy on the eyes. At 1280*800 most people should be OK with the text size and amount of usable screen real estate. For example, there is room for one page (web or Word) with the Vista Sidebar still visible.

The keyboard is lovely. Keys are nicely sized and have good travel and dampening. There is a bit of keyboard flex towards the right side of the keyboard where you find dedicated Home, PgDn, PgUp, and End buttons. This keyboard takes very little getting used to.

Gateway has equipped the T-6321 with a very good touchpad. Out of the box it required no fussing with control panels. Buttons are firm and rattle free and the vertical scrolling zone is spot-on. Wireless and disk activity LEDs line the bottom of the touchpad.

The weight and size of the T-6321 are both quite good. At only 5.5 lbs and just 1.3″ thick you won’t find carrying this unit around taxing. Width is 13″ and length is 9.8″ – not quite a thin and light but pretty close.

First Boot

Despite excellent first impressions the T-6321, like most computers these days, really struggles handling the first 30-60 minutes of a fresh Vista install. Trialware, the OS and various offers all compete for your attention and the system’s resources. The best thing to do is a nice clean install. Vista ships with almost everything you need except a full anti virus solution (Avast, Avria or AVG can be had for free).

Microsoft has to exercise a bit more control over the initial experience. It has been said before, but it isn’t hard to imagine that many users would be disappointed by the performance of their new computer. Not knowing that things get better they might even return the item to the store for a refund and suffer a bit longer with their old XP computers.

Performance

Intel’s budget Pentium Mobile Dual Core T2390 CPU does the thinking. This chip is part of Core 2 Duo architecture family but it only has a 1 Megabyte level two cache. In demanding applications such as media encoding or gaming this chip suffers, but for basic tasks and a light computational work load this chip delivers many advantages versus single core Celerons. The T2390 supports EMT64 so the option of running a 64 bit operating system is open.

With the dual core CPU and 3 GB of RAM you should be able to handle many office applications at one time. The RAM runs at 533 MHz but is actually rated for up to 667 Mhz. The PCMark05 score was 3501 – very average.

The Western Digital WD1600BEV 160 GB HDD in the T-6321 provides good storage capacity at this price, although larger drives are starting to creep into the low end segment. The 5400 rpm speed of the drive provides good performance. Optical recording is robust, the T-6321 8x dual layer multi-DVD burner with LabelFlash is exactly what you would expect at this price point.

The Intel X3100 video system is basic. It draws a good two dimensional screen but it will not allow 3D gaming without some serious compromises such as low resolution and detail. That is a big part of the appeal to 3D games right there. On the T-6321 stick to Age of Empires II, Diablo or Bioware and Black Isle’s classic games – you won’t miss the stuff coming out right now.

Ports on the T-6321 are limited; three USB 2.0, VGA, microphone, headphone, Ethernet and modem handle the basics. A memory card slot accepts SD/MMC/MS and xD flash formats. An Expresscard type 54 slot is available too.

Heat and noise can become issues on small notebooks as they lack the material and space for internal airflow required to dissipate heat. When plugged in the T-6321 is quiet, but it gets hot after about an hour even when on the Power Saver profile. Unplugged, I was able to use the T-6321 on my lap without discomfort but heat was still noticeable.

[update] Continued use has revealed the temperature issue to be a sufficiently annoying trait to justify revising the review. The T-6321 will not burn you, but it will bother you.

Battery life was poor to average for an Intel notebook. In normal use you can expect to achieve 2.5 hours of use using the default low power setting. Watching a DivX movie, the T-6321 managed to get through about two hours.

[update] Battery life combined with the lousy temperature control suggests a flaw in the BIOS. Perhaps the power state is not switching voltages. Whatever the cause, the problem has not been fixed with software and BIOS updates. At this stage, with new models due any day, it is safe to assume the problem will not be fixed. Gateway’s attention is focused elsewhere.

Wireless performance is quite good. Detecting networks seems to turn up more options and once connected the T-6321 holds a signal very well.

Audio performance is acceptable. Speakers are tinny but loud – for playing casual games, light media playback and YouTube watching they are fine. Outputting via mini jack to a stereo system yields good results.

Conclusion

Last fall single core notebooks were pushed down to incredibly low prices. Mainstream notebooks are now $500-600 to purchase – great news for consumers. Today’s mainstream notebook is not a stripped down affair and it sacrifices little in the way of looks or build quality. A notebook like the T-6321 is the perfect embodiment of this.

Does the value of this notebook make up for any performance issues? High end multimedia tools such as Photoshop or Premiere might cause this notebook to choke a little. Many times people shopping for computers are presented with units that cost nearly all of their budget without consideration for the software the user will require. An expensive notebook without the right tools is pretty limited. With the T-6321′s low price you might be able to afford those tools – for examples office suites, photo and video applications.

In terms of looks and build quality, Gateway has done a great job of making the T-6321 appealing to the senses. It looks nice, feels solid and makes little noise during operation.

The lack of noise is due to fans that never seem to spin up. If the CPU was lower voltage this might be OK, but in this case lots of heat is a direct result of the T-6321′s silent operation. It is a bad compromise and coupled with the disappointing battery life mars an otherwise desirable notebook.

The war for the 2008 back to school shopping dollar is going to be fierce. Montevina based Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks such as the SL400 are creeping into this price range with availability in late August. Its hard to imagine that a ThinkPad’s cooling system will have the same problems.

Pros:

• Attractive design
• Solid construction
• Solid platform – not quite Centrino, but good
• Value for the price

Con:

• Temps are too high – even on power saving mode
• Too much junk ware
• Garnet red finish attracts fingerprints

Verdict: Avoid (unless the temp and battery life do not bother you)