Gateway NV48

Full Review

In terms of looks, the Gateway NV48 definitely is one of the better looking laptops in the mix--it has a glossy, dark brown screen lid, and a silver-colored central tubular hinge. The keyboard, palmrest are black, and so is the screen bezel. We liked its springy keyboard and responsive touchpad.

Like the Asus K50IJ, this is the only laptop which has a slower processor than the Acer, Compaq, and Samsung laptops--an Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 2-GHz processor. But it has 3GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, and onboard Intel GMA X4500 graphics adapter. Apart from the Acer Aspire 4736, this is the only other laptop in this segment which includes Gigabit Ethernet, Draft-N Wi-Fi, and an HDMI port, apart from all the standard ports. Like all laptops in the comparison, the NV48 comes with a DVD writer.

Things we didn't like on the Gateway NV48 was its ordinary build quality compared to other budget offerings from Acer, Dell, or Compaq.

Things we didn't like on the Gateway NV48 was its ordinary build quality compared to the top three. Also, it is quite bulky for a 14-inch laptop, weighing in at 2.6-kg. But it has a very good screen compared to some other laptops, and good onboard sound as well. Similar to the Acer Aspire 4736, the NV48 has a strip of touch-sensitive multimedia button between the keyboard and hinge.

Overall performance, in terms of synthetic benchmarks, was lowest among the Top 5--WorldBench 6 score was at 82. Watching movies was a good experience, and both 720p and 1080p HD files played well on it. Battery life was slightly better than on the Samsung R420. A price tag of Rs. 39,990 is still a little too high for what the Gateway NV48 offers overall compared to other laptops.

Bottom Line

The Gateway NV48 is a stylish 14-inch laptop that impresses with its look. It has good overall performance, but lacks in terms of features and is overpriced for what it offers.