HOMEGateway - NV77H05u Review
Sunday, October 16, 2011
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Design
Despite its plastic chassis, the NV77H05u's exterior really pops: the bold red lid has a pattern of tiny copper diamond shapes that gives the whole design a rather regal look. However, its aluminum-covered counterparts, like the Asus U56E-BBL5 and Lenovo IdeaPad V570-1066A9U ($629.99 list, 4 stars), will offer more protection, a cooler surface, and a sleek, luxurious look. The NV77H05u weighs 6.46 pounds, which is expected for its size. Typically, 17-inch laptops aren't taken on trips, unless by trips you mean you carry it from one spot within your house to another. The 5.5-pound Asus U56E-BBL5 and 5.47-pound Lenovo V570-1066A9U feature smaller 15.6-inch screens and, thus, lighter chassis that wouldn't be as burdensome if you wanted to take it out for a Starbucks working/coffee session.
The NV77H05u's screen is huge—17.3 inches—with a 1,600-by-900 resolution. With a screen this big, multitasking with two or even three windows side-by-side shouldn't be an issue. The interior has a two-toned color scheme: the palm rest and mouse pad features the same red pattern seen on the lid, while the keyboard portion is all black matte plastic. The chiclet-style keyboard is full-size, with a numeric keypad to the right that will please number crunchers. The touchpad was smooth to navigate on, but the unified mouse button (as opposed to two distinct right and left buttons) was too stiff for my tastes.
Features
Compared with other budget systems, like the Asus U56E-BBL5, the NV77H05u is pretty limited on features. It has the usual ports: two USB 2.0, HDMI and VGA video, an SD card reader, audio and mic jacks, and Ethernet jack. The only outlier in the bunch is the single USB 3.0 port, which will speed up data transfer between your computer and a hard drive equipped with the same interface. Systems like the Asus U56E-BBL5 feature an advanced HD video connection option, outside of HDMI, called WiDi 2.0 that allows you to wirelessly stream your computer's contents to your HDTV (provided you have a Netgear Push2TV receiver, a $99 option). It also has a 3G wireless broadband technology called WiMAX. The NV77H05u only has 802.11n Wi-Fi. There's also a DVD-RW drive included for watching movies. The 640GB, 5,400rpm hard drive is one of the biggest you can get within the budget laptop category. Other laptops like the Asus U56E-BBL5 and Lenovo V570-1066A9U feature same-size hard drives. It won't fill up quickly, unless you're a heavy hoarder of digital content, but for the average user looking to keep family photos, documents, and some iTunes music, it should suffice.
Unfortunately, there's a considerable amount of bloatware on the desktop that includes Gateway's own suite of software along with Netflix, eBay, Times reader, and Nook for PC. I'm of the mind that a new computer means a fresh start, and when there's extraneous software on it, it seems … tainted.
Specifications
| Processor | Intel Core i3-2310M 2.10 GHz Dual-core Cache: 3 MB |
| Memory | 8GB DDR3 SDRAM |
| Operating System | Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium |
| Display | 17.3" Active Matrix TFT Color LCD |
| Hard Disk Drive | 640GB Serial ATA |
| Optical Drive | DVD-Writer |
| Web Cam |  |
| Wi-Fi | |
| Dimensions | 1.36" (H) x 16.33" (W) x 10.83" (D) |
| Weight | 7.28 lb |
| Color Options | Red |
| Power | 65 W |
| I/O Ports | USB Ports VGA RJ-45 Memory Card Support |
| Network | IEEE 802.11b/g/n Gigabit Ethernet |
| Pointing Device | TouchPad |
| Battery | 6 cell Lithium Ion |
| Other Features | Energy Star |
