Shopping on a limited budget has always been
disheartening for notebook buyers. Until recently,
systems with must-have features like fast processors
and bright screens started at AU$4,000 and up, leaving
cost-conscious shoppers with their faces pressed
against the window at the local computer shop. Fortunately,
those grim days are coming to an end.
Gateway's Solo 1150CL literally breaks the mold for entry-level notebooks. While performance isn't road-warrior-class, the Solo offers a good mix of features that make it a solid value at the low price of AU$2,699.
Your first glance at the curvy, contoured Solo provides striking proof that this notebook is not just another cookie-cutter budget box. With its rounded corners and surfaces, it bears more than a passing resemblance to Apple's much-ballyhooed iBook, and cool touches like the rubberised panels on the lid make it fun to carry. But don't let the sleek look fool you. The system measures a considerable 33.7 cms across and about 5 cms thick, and it weighs about 3.2 kgs.
Squeezed inside that girth is a decent notebook, packing a 550MHz Celeron processor, 64MB of SDRAM, and a 6GB hard drive, in addition to a fixed floppy drive and 24x CD-ROM. Note that you can't swap in, say, a DVD-ROM or Zip drive. And you must remove a screw just to access the battery -- not terribly convenient when you're at 35,000 feet and need to pop in a charged cell.
Most notebooks in this price range employ murky dual-scan screens, but the Solo packs a crisp, bright active-matrix display that's as good as any we've seen. At 12.1 inches, it isn't huge, but it's fine for most mobile-computing tasks. Resolution tops out at 800 x 600, so users who need to run high-end graphics and video software may need another notebook.
The Solo's legacy-free design follows a "less is more" approach. It has no parallel, serial, PS/2, or IR ports -- only an SVGA port and two USB ports. If you have older peripherals, you'll need a USB converter or a different notebook. The Solo also has a pair of Type II PC Card slots, as well as headphone and microphone jacks. Unfortunately, the jacks are located on the unit's back, the least convenient place possible.
With these limitations, the Solo seems primarily destined for basic productivity apps rather than graphics-intensive tasks or gaming. The Solo delivered a decent score of 18 on our Business Winstone 99 tests. However, the 24x CD-ROM drive was slower than average, and the 128-bit Silicon Motion Lynx3DM graphics chip with 4MB of SGRAM couldn't complete the 3D WinMark 2000 suite, nor would it successfully run the three games we loaded.
Fortunately, the Solo makes up for some of these flaws with an easy-to-use keyboard and good audio. The comfortable, full-size keyboard features four programmable buttons for quick-launching an e-mail client, a Web browser, and other apps. The touch-pad pointing device is appreciably large, but it lacks the terrific scroll buttons we've seen on other Gateway notebooks. Meanwhile, the AC-Link audio processor pumps surprisingly loud and crisp sound through the Solo's stereo speakers. As might be expected, bass response was a bit lacking, but overall sound quality was superb.
The Solo 1150CL is among the first notebooks we've seen to ship with Windows Millennium Edition (Me), along with Microsoft Works 2000. The updated OS offers a few worthwhile amenities, including faster booting. The Solo took only about 40 seconds to power up and load Windows.
We could not complete our battery-life tests on the Solo 1150CL -- possibly owing to an incompatibility with Windows Me. Because the battery is a lower- capacity NiMH cell, results probably wouldn't have been stellar. Gateway rates the battery life at roughly 2 hours and 15 minutes. The Solo's warranty covers parts and labour for one year. Another AU$400 bumps the warranty to three years, well worth the investment. Gateway's Web site offers few customisation options for the Solo, but it's easy to add peripherals at the time of purchase. The Solo 1150CL requires a few compromises. Some users may not be ready for its legacy-free design, it certainly isn't small, and performance could be better. But given its extremely attractive price, the Solo is still a great value that should be just the ticket for cash-strapped shoppers and students.
Gateway Solo 1150CL
Company: Gateway
Ph: 1300 302 952; Fax: 02 9966 1754
Price: AU$2,699.
Rating: 4 Star
4%
4%
