Gateway rolls NV budget designer notebooks
updated 08:30 am EDT, Thu June 25, 2009
Gateway NV Notebooks
Gateway has quickly followed up on its desktop news with the addition of a relatively high-style but more frugal notebook line intended for the back-to-school audience. The NV series has a minimalist, glossy design with a relatively sturdy barrel hinge and touch-sensitive shortcut keys. At the same time, the notebooks keep costs down with a 15.6-inch, 1366x768 (but LED-backlit) display and lower-end AMD or Intel mobile chips.
Two of the shortcut buttons alternately automate backups to external hard drives and invoke a power-saving default setting.
The starter model ships near netbook pricing at $500 with a 2.1GHz Athlon 64 X2, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive and an integrated-level Radeon HD 3200 for graphics; it comes only in brown. Adding an extra $100 switches to a faster 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo without changing other features, albeit at the expense of slower GMA 4500 video. It also changes to a more colorful blue.
Gateway hasn't said when the NV models start shipping but has teased that higher-end models are coming, including versions with Blu-ray drives, 500GB of storage and lids in black or red.
