Gateway LT3100 @ Best Buy for $399!

now i think i might want the gateway
http://www.gadling.com/2009/06/27/gadli ... 6-netbook/

 

Danigt...I wanna know what he did to fiddle. I have one in my lap rigtht now, and my fiddling is not producing the desired results.

Other quick notes: The Neo seems a bit peppier...as evidence a 1:19 second Super PI score, which actually beats about any other netbook. 3dmark 06 gives 250, whcih is about twice that of other netbooks (albeit still cruddy). Battery life: my guess so far is real word use about 4 hours (compared to about 6 with the 751).

Now back to fiddling!

 

so the score is still higher than any atom netbooks right? x.x

 

There really isn't any way to describe the very real difference in the way using the LT3103 feels compared to using the 751. The Gateway feels faster running Vista Basic than the 751 does running Windows 7.

Running Windows 7 on the 751 Aero is very sluggish and prone to pauses, rough animation and stutter. Screen savers, even the simplistic built-in Ribbons (!) bring the GMA 500 to it's knees. Running Windows 7 the Gateway flies and Aero feels and looks no different than on any other notebook.

Installing things like iTunes is much smoother/faster. Programs launch much faster, startup and shutdown take much less time ... from a purely performance standpoint the Gateway is truly superior.

I haven't really looked into video decoding too much since for anything really intensive I'd just use my Macbook Pro. For watching non-HD clips on YouTube or non-fullscreen, non-HD Hulu the Gateway is fine and seems to do as well as or better than the 751.

Having used both the 751 and the Gateway now I'd say without a doubt that the Gateway is vastly superior in day-to-day usage. I was constantly frustrated at the sluggishness of the 751 and, maybe because of that, I find myself pleasantly surprised at how snappy the Gateway is.

According to a Best Buy employee I spoke with Friday they should have the LT3103 on display in most stores as of today. I'd strongly suggest trying the 751 AND the LT3103 before making a decision as to which you'd prefer.

The tradeoffs are more heat from the Gateway and a fan that runs, quietly, pretty much all the time. Also, a 751 with a 6-cell will apparently last much longer than an LT3103, but at 5 hours or so the Gateway will suit me just fine. And the Gateway comes with a 6-cell for the same price as the 751 with a 3-cell.

This seems to be a case of one arm of the company (Acer) getting one-upped by another arm (Gateway) ... but with the rumored CULV replacement for the 751 due out sometime in July, who knows? An 11.6" Timeline with a 4500MHD capable of decoding pretty much any video you throw at it and still lasting 8 hours on a charge would be awesome, but all the other Timelines seem to get much more expensive as they get smaller, so who knows. If Acer replaces the 751 with an 11.6" Timeline with decent specs for under $500 I'm going to end up feeling silly for keeping the LT3103, but I don't really see that happening anyway.

One thing is for sure, though: the 751 is going back to Walmart. Having used the LT3103 for a couple of days now I've got no use for the 751 anymore.

 

Does the gateway have the same width of the acer? I still have a few days to return the acer but would like to be able to use the bag I bought. Also when you surf the net does opening a new tab in IE bring the gateway to its knees like the acer? . Also does it run so hot that you can't put it on your lap? I just want something to last 18 months or so till I hope we see ION platform with updated atom for 399 or less. I love everything about the acer except the sluggish performance. It is a shame that they could of not put a N280 in the acer.

 

the size of the gateway is basically the same as the acer 751

 

Thank you I guess the acer goes back. I just hope the performace diffference is worth the hassle of returning this to walmart. I just want to be able to surf the net with out all lag and stutter that the acer has.

 

heh.. walmart.. you're going to get charged 15% restocking fee ? do you think it is really worth returning it ?

 

There is no restocking fee at Walmart, at least not here in Kansas City.

 

I will just call and ask. Even if there is a restock fee I might eat the money and return it anyways. If the gateway has performance that is close to the N280 it might be worth it.

 

heh.. in california, where i live, theres restocking fee at my local walmart but i got mine at costco with a 90 day return policy.. no restocking fee from costco

 

I returned my acer to walmart today no restock fee. I picked up the gateway from best buy and wow what a difference. It is no speed demon but it is much faster than the acer. It is nice to be able to surf all my websites with out studders and pauses. I have not tried video yet web surfing and general usage is what is most important to me. I might try windows 7 soon to see if runs well enough with aero to make buying the upgrade worth while. It does get a little hot and the fan is always on but it is well worth it for the extra performance. Besides the extra performance the build quality seems to be a little better on the gateway. It feels much more sturdy and the keyboard has less flex. The only bad thing I can think of besides the heat and fan is ATI no longer updates the drivers for the x1270.


thank you again for your intital impressions I am much happier now with the A64 powered gateway.

 

@vikingguy

So is the fan quiet or is it really noticeable?

I often work in the room while my wife is sleeping and noise might be an issue.

RMF

 

The fan is barely noticeable unless it kicks into high gear, which it wouldn't do just surfing the web. Right now I am at a comfortable typing/reading distance while lying in bed and I can barely hear it. The AC vent across the room and the TV (at very low volume) mask it pretty well.

 

Thanks, zendik.

That helps. The ao751 is pretty quiet and I have no trouble with that one.

I read the review at Gadling.com where the fan was mentioned as well as a clicking hard drive. I'm guessing that the hard drive might be an unusual and occasional thing and wasn't too concerned. But, the fan always being on made me think.

 

The fan is pretty quiet for like surfing the internet. It can be noticable when you work the machine hard. It runs a little cooler than I first thought I was able to web surf for an hour with it on my lap in shorts. The first hour or 2 I worked the machine pretty hard getting rid of all the garbage they load on them. I could almost swear it is so best buy can make a few extra dollars removing that stuff for the average user. When I bought my gateway the sales persons really were pushing the boat removal for like 39.99 I can't remember. I have not heard the hard drive click ever I think the reviewer got a bad one. The only clicking hard drives I have ever heard are ones going bad.

The more I use the machine the more I am impressed with it. It will hold me over until next gen atom's come out on the ion platform with this screen at 399 or less.


So how does windows 7 run on it anyways? I bought the uprade version at amazon today wanted to get it before it was sold out like at newegg.

 

The hard drive in this one is silent. The hard drive in my 751 was so clicky I was going to take it back because I couldn't stand it -- but then I found the Gateway and was going to return it anyway. And with the 751 being so damned silent, the clicking seemed much more irritating.

I guess it's a problem with the drives Gateway and Acer are using in these things. Luck of the draw, it would seem, for both the 751 and the LT3103.

 

Here are the performance stats everyone wants

**** Here is the performance comparison between Atom and the Athlon-based AMD Processor, but running at 1 GHz ***
Tom's hardware did this article before AMD renamed and eventually released their low-power, Athlon-based chip.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Ath ... 36-10.html

We can take three important messages from the article and our knowledge of the chips:

1) The AMD chip is significantly faster at single-threaded tasks
2) The Atom processor catches up for applications that are dual-core optimized, due to it's Hyperthreading support
3) While the atom is slower overall, no x86 processor and chipset can beat the Atom + Poulsbo platform for low-power consumption: Less than 5 Watts at 100% CPU and GPU utilization, and much lower while idle.


There you have it. Choose better battery life (Atom + Poulsbo chipset) or better performance (AMD processor + chipset). Personally, I'll take the battery life. After all, neither machine is going to be powerful enough for games and HD video anyway (aside from a few codecs on the GMA 500, *if* you can get them working with hardware acceleration).

 

That compares a non-Neo chip, though, so I'm not sure those are accurate tests when considering these machines.

Of course, the conclusion you came to with those tests is pretty spot on hehe. 751 you get maybe 33% more battery life with slower performance (which won't be noticed on a majority of netbook tasks). You can do a few more 3d games with this, like WOW is a no go on the 751, but works well on this. I'm not sure yet if the loss of battery and slightly increased heat is worth the better performance and teensy bit more size. Gateway is definitely a better all-around machine for the average consumer, though, IMO (mainly because the build quality is super nice for a netbook).

 

So here's a question for the class. I value power much more than battery life. Since this uses a RS690E chipset, would it be possible to take, say a Turion X2 bought off of ebay, open this baby up, and put it in?

I know the battery life would be cut in half or more, and it would void the warranty, but is it doable? Could the power supply and cooling handle this sort of thing? Will the motherboard recognize the processor or do you need some sort of software or hardware clock setting thing?

If possible, for a total of maybe $450, you'd have a perfectly usable, fully functional ultraportable, without the cripled usage you get with these single core low power processors. If battery life goes down to like 2 1/2 hours, or even less, I could live with that.