Gateway T-6828 Review

The T-6828 isn’t embarrassing to take out in public, and it doesn’t have a drab design like that of the Acer TravelMate 4720-6727 or the Fujitsu LifeBook A6120. Yet coating the exterior and palm rests with red paint is an old concept; the paint should have been applied with more imagination to have any real impact, given the interesting things that are happening in laptop design. Laptops like the HP Pavilion dv6500t and the Toshiba U405-S2830 are experimenting with decorative laminates, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 impresses consumers with a textured surface. Another problem is weight. This 14-inch laptop weighs 5.7 pounds, as much as the 15.4-inch HP dv6500t. Gateway would have been better off going with a 13-inch form factor, as many manufacturers are currently doing.

The 14-inch screen is very pleasant to look at, but it has the modest 1,280-by-800 resolution found in many inexpensive laptops. By contrast, the Dell Inspiron 1420 gives you the option of a 1,440-by-900 resolution. The mouse buttons, like those of the Gateway M-152XL, make a noise that’s noticeable in a quiet setting, but I really enjoyed typing on the keyboard. Above the keyboard, the river of multimedia buttons is another example of how Gateway is falling behind in terms of design. Touch-sensitive buttons would have been a better choice, as they are much easier to press.

These days a company—especially one that’s not at the top of market—needs to throw in more in the way of features than people would normally expect. Yet with the T-6828, Gateway gives you just enough to get by. For instance, it omitted an HDMI port to cut down on costs. The T-6828 also lacks a FireWire port and an S-Video-out. The three USB ports and dual-layer DVD burner are no better than average for a 14-inch laptop. The T-6828 gives you 250GB worth of storage, but I can’t really applaud Gateway for this, because adding storage capacity is cheap these days. Lenovo, by contrast, went the extra mile with its Y510 by offering a five-speaker system with a subwoofer. (The T-6828’s speakers are decent, but ordinary.) The only thing that makes the T-6828 stand out is its two-year warranty, since the extra year alone is typically worth over $100.