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The NX200S is the lowest priced notebook from Gateway, only $599
after a $150 rebate. My experience of low-end notebooks led me to
believe that there was a point when too many features were
sacrificed for price. Thankfully, the NX200S disproved many of my
negative assumptions about a low-priced notebook.
The NX200S has 1.4 Ghz Intel Celeron Processor with 256 MB of
memory and a 40 GB hard drive. An impressive feature is the media
capability of the notebook and its ability to have a four in one
media slot supporting four types of flash memory cards. It can
support SD, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, and different
multimedia cards. This has multiple advantages, including the ease
of transferring digital photos without a cable. A simple insert of
a flash card into the computer can transfer the digital photos.
The battery power on the NX200S is what really put this notebook
over the top for me. I can web surf, watch movies, word process,
and play games for nearly three hours on just the battery. This
has been outright the best battery that has come with the low-end
notebooks. This rivals many of the higher-end notebooks as well,
but at that price people will throw on a 6-ion cell or 12-ion cell
battery. The NX-200S is excellent for the fact that people don’t
get cheated out of battery life by not adding additional features
onto their laptop.
The Gateway notebook weighs in at 5.29 pounds, but a decent amount
comes in from the 14 in screen that gives a great effect for
watching videos. It still can not make up for the lack of
brightness, but while it may not be the ultimate movie experience,
one can still enjoy a movie on the laptop. There is a nice
external volume control wheel which often makes sound adjustment a
lot simpler. Rather than shifting through the volume controls
electronically, the wheel is an added convenience one would not
appreciate until used. The NX200S has a good look, sporting a
sleek gray metallic finish. It is nice thin, just over an inch in
thickness; the laptop has a nice feel and stays cool after hours
of use.
The NX200S is a great performer, but the screen brightness and the
maximum volume on external speakers are a bit disappointing. In
comparison to the middle and high range notebooks, there is a
distinct difference between the sound and video quality, but it
outclasses most of the notebooks in its class. I would also
upgrade the memory from 256MB to 512MB. Personally, I always want
to have that option of laying back and popping in that Battlefield
2. A 512 MB RAM is almost mandatory for those high end games to be
enjoyable. The hard drive is a good size unless there is a craving
of music and games for the user. A college student who enjoys
music and games could easily use over 15GB of space for just tunes
and given that the 40GB will only be 30 after the basic program
installations, there will only be 10 to 15GB of space to use. Yet,
for most people the 40GB should be ample to play around with.
One of the only overall complaints I have with this notebook:
decent gaming can not take place on it. The chip is inadequate for
any of the new games and has problems with the old games as it is.
Games such as Need for Speed: Most Wanted will not get the respect
it deserves on a NX200S, but Warcraft III can still function
without much lag. The speakers are too quiet to get even close to
the effect of the super-powered XPS notebooks. The screen quality
takes away both from gaming experiences and watching movies, but
the $599 laptop was not designed for multimedia but as a performer
in the basics. If one were looking for gaming experience one would
not start with the cheapest notebook Gateway offers. Being neither
the company’s strong point or having the specifics of a gaming
computer, I never had any high hopes for the NX200S. It does what
a low-priced notebook should do, perform the basic tasks such as
wireless internet, offer an array of Office tools, and transfer
data seamlessly.
This notebook is the ideal buy for the college bound student. Most
students in high school require only a desktop because they will
always end up coming home. There is no required portability. Yet,
when students go to college, they will want to travel across
campus, might wish to work in coffee shops, on the lawn, or wish
to bring their work home. The transition to college is when the
notebook will serve a useful purpose and should enter the
student’s life. The notebook does not need to be a multimedia
giant, with strong points in playing games and movies. Not only
will this make the notebook pricier, but will not be helpful to
the student. The NX200S offers a college student a cheap notebook
that can perform well, but not look embarrassing.
The note book is great for its low range price and the battery
life is a great bonus.
It’s a definite buy for those who are looking for an entry level
notebook. Rating: 9 out of 10.
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Since
the dawn of the computer era, notebooks and desktops alike have
gotten smaller and cheaper. The problem is that quality has not
always increased along with the affordability and convenience.
More than often, manufacturers sacrifice the features of the
computer in order to sell a hundred dollars below the marked price
of a competitor’s computer. Thankfully Gateway has understood that
smaller does not always mean better and have ensured that the
NX200S is what consumers are looking for in a notebook.