Gateway LT32 Netbooks
by Balraj Sandhu on July 7, 2010 8:00 AM ESTNew Gateway LT32 Netbooks
Gateway is launching their latest netbook today. The LT32 is a little larger than the competition with an 11.6” display, but it promises improved performance from an AMD Athlon II Neo processor with ATI graphics.
The netbook is fitted with an 11.6” LED-backlit display with a resolution of 1366x768. Performance comes from an AMD Athlon Neo II K125 with a single core running at 1.7GHz. This is supported by ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics using 384MB of the 2GB DDR3 system RAM. This is one of the new netbooks using AMD's Nile platform, which promises improved performance and better battery life compared to the older Congo platform.
Storage comes in the form of a 250GB HDD. Connectivity includes wireless 802.11b/g/n and wired Gigabit Ethernet along with 3xUSB 2.0, HDMI, and VGA ports. It also features an integrated multi-format card reader. The netbook features a full-size keyboard, multi-gesture touchpad, integrated webcam, and digital microphone in a chassis that is less than an inch thick and weighs in at 2.76Lbs. Battery life is rated at 5.5 hours from the standard 6-cell battery.
Like most of Gateway’s new notebooks, the LT32 netbook also features a shortcut key to access popular social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr at the touch of a button. The Gateway LT32 will be available from $449.99. This makes it $20 more than the almost identical Acer Aspire One AO721. The high price also moves it even closer to the mainstream segment so it's difficult to recommend on value for money. What you're getting is better than Atom performance with HD video capability with reduced battery life. If that's what you're after, the LT32 should deliver.
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cknobman - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link
With a single core AMD and mediocre battery life these notebooks will be priced for the wrong segment.To even be work consideration these need to be $299 or $349 at the most.
Einy0 - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link
I have to agree. The price is too high. I recently did some shopping in this segment. I tried my best to find a netbook sized machine with a non intel chip that could deliver good battery life in real world usage scenarios. Due to a lack of info on the new AMD chips and lack of availability for VIA Nano, I settled for an Atom based unit.I wanted something that had a bit more speed than the Atom. I looked very hard but the battery life compromise was just too great. The only way to get an idea about battery life from the K125, K325 AMD chips was to look at MV-40 netbooks and add the supposed hour more of battery life they are suppose to get. In that case most real world usage scenarios had them at about 2.5 to 3hrs. A far cry from the estimated 4.5hrs claimed. 5 to 5.5 hrs real world usage would have been a compromise for me any way. I wanted 6-8hrs real world usage. I was not even able to find a Nano based unit for a decent price, that wasn't used. I really tried to find a Nano 3000 series netbook, no dice. Oh well, I guess I'll see just how much the Atom can do or can't for that matter.
Alexvrb - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link
It looks OK overall, but at that price point I would at least expect 128MB of sideport memory. Better yet 256MB of sideport, with another 256MB shared. The Athlon II Neo is a good performer, but they should have gone with one of its dual-core variants.Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - link
I do think you'll be able to buy a K125 notebook for $300 during the back-to-school shopping sales. I am also curious about sideport memory options. But it is probably overkill on a single core. Maybe for the K325...Roland00 - Thursday, July 8, 2010 - link
This is a very similar Acer version of the above Gateway but it retails for $349.99http://www.frys.com/product/6282560?site=sr:SEARCH...
Things you give up for the $100 dollars
10 inch 1024x600 vs 11 inch 1366x768
1 gb vs 2gb of memory.
Things that are the same
Processor
Integrated Video with HDMI
Hard Drive
Same inflated rated battery life.