Notebook Critic

Intel’s CULV CPU is finding a home in low cost netbook-sized notebooks. And why wouldn’t it? For only a fraction more than a typical Atom-based netbook you get a lot more usablity: more RAM, a contemporary operating system, modern video system (although still IGP) and higher resolution screen. I can tell you that this new platform is exactly what the doctor ordered to clear up that nasty rash known as ‘netbooks.’

Gateway’s EC1803H is essentially the much coveted Acer Timeline 1810T. What makes it special is the combination of size, battery life, quality and price – a regular price of $499 CDN it will garner a lot of attention.

After using it for a couple of days, I can see the appeal. Here are some quick thoughts:

• What kind of name is EC1803H? Does Acer/Gateway have a marketing department? Or do they just throw whatever the engineers come up with into a box and hope that it sells? This is a great notebook with a stupid name. Gateway’s product assortment is a mess. With so may netbooks and AMD based sub-notebooks in the same price range, its hard to make sense of it all.
• Holstein cow box doesn’t have much inside. Notebook, 4400 mWh battery and a tiny power adapter. There are no recovery disk as is common these days. The omission of recovery disks makes sense in a way – this notebook has no optical drive after all. On the other hand since there is no optical drive how am I going make a restore set with the included utility? This notebooks begs to have all kinds of exotic Operating Systems tested on it. Budget about $80 for nice little external drive.
• Build quality is phenomenal for this price point.If Acer could make all of its products this solid they would be knocking on Dell and HP’s door a lot faster.
• The EC1803H possesses a understated ThinkPad like aesthetic. I find it cool, particularly after removing the marketing stickers from its palmrests.
• A 1366*768 11.3″ is pushing DPI a bit high for these old eyes. A 720p screen would have been better IMO.
• Viewing angles are terrific. The latest LED screens are really impressive, even at this price point. Backilighting is more even than the MacBook Air I recently looked at. And unlike the Air, the EC1803H  suffers from no grey lines on the screen!
• Alas, up here in Canada we have to suffer with the multi-lingual keyboard layout. The keys and base are really solid though – perhaps the best I have ever used on a notebook this size. However, despite the quality I think only small hands will be able to touch type on this.
• The touchpad is OK. There isn’t room to make it any bigger, and a facsimile of Apple’s patented two finger scrolling is absent. You get Chiralmotion instead, which I don’t really like.
• Port selection is good: VGA, HDMI, 3x USB 2.0, Ethernet, Kensignton lock, audio in/out and an SD card slot. Awesome.
• Battery life – 6 cell battery is good for about 5 hours of real world use (lots of surfing, medium brightness, Youtube). If all you do is email, writing and reading you’ll be able to push this a couple of hours higher.
• Performance: Vista + CULV + 3 GB RAM = win for light computing tasks (i.e. what 90% on PC users need). A free Windows 7 upgrade should make things even better.
• Crapware: probably 45 minutes of housekeeping uninstalling junk from the notebook (Wild Tangent etc.).
• Noise and heat are almost non-existent.
• It is a joy to use – light, just fast enough, great stamina and looks professional.

This is a really nice little notebook. It’s tough to find much to complain about. The keyboard layout is a drag. Intel’s 4500 IGP and 5100 wireless card makes installing OS X on it a lot tougher (not that I would ever do such a terrible and evil thing).