Gateway 200XL notebook

Review:
I traveled with this notebook for about a week, and every time I opened it up to do some work, I got several 'oohs' and 'ahs' from people watching me open the laptop. Maybe it was because the cover is sleek silver, maybe it was because the notebook has a slim design without being too slim. I'm not sure just yet.

What I am sure about is that this was a great notebook to carry on the road. Our normal production notebooks are these black, ugly 'bricks' that often feel like I'm tearing out my rotator cuff when I'm carrying it around. The Gateway 200XL that I had weighed almost 5 pounds, and fit much easier into my laptop bag.

Still, this isn't an ultraportable, as it also had a DVD drive, which made it great to use during my long plane ride back from San Francisco to Boston (I still didn't finish the movie, but then again I was watching 'Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers').

The notebook had Windows XP, integrated 802.11b wireless connectivity, internal speakers, standard Etherenet and phone jack, and one USB port. I would have liked more USB ports, but one kept me happy with the external mouse that I often use with notebooks.

Another great feature that we often forget to write about when talking about notebooks is the power cord. Gateway's power cord came with a base that you could wrap the cord around to make tidier - if there was a way to wrap up the power plug part of the cord (only the cord that connected the computer to the power base could wrap), then this would have been perfect.

The notebook's 14.1-inch screen is a good size for a notebook. It's large enough to impress others with smaller notebooks, yet small enough to keep the weight down to make it easy enough to travel with.

Reviewed by Keith Shaw