Gateway 450XL

WHAT'S HOT: The 450XL's 2.6-hour battery life is a hair above the 2.5-hour average for a Pentium 4 notebook. The $2277 price includes a removable combination drive that you can swap out for an optional second battery or second hard drive.

WHAT'S NOT: Removing devices from the modular bay is cumbersome--first you have to shut down the notebook, and then you must slide two releases on the bottom simultaneously. A floppy drive is not included.

WHAT ELSE: The 450XL turned in uninspiring performance for a 1.8-GHz Pentium 4-M notebook; its PC WorldBench 4 score of 91 was a shade (4 percent) behind the typical P4-M portable's score of 95. The unit is a lighter, more modestly appointed version of Gateway's current behemoth, the 600XL. It lacks the 600XL's dedicated audio controls, wireless hardware, S/PDIF connection for Dolby audio, and second modular bay--but it offers just about everything else its bigger and pricier sibling does. At 15 inches, the 450XL's screen is almost as big, though its native resolution is only 1024 by 768 (compared with the 600XL's 1280 by 1024). Because of the lower resolution, you'll see less of a document on screen, but text at a given point size will appear a bit larger.

The 450XL has the same roomy keyboard with the same four application launch buttons as the 600XL does; the only differences are that the buttons are centered above the keyboard, and Function-key shortcuts have been added to control volume. The built-in speakers reside on the front of the case instead of in the palm rest as they do on the 600XL, so typing won't muffle the sound. Despite this advantage, their sound isn't quite as full as that from the 600XL's speakers. The two machines have the same complete set of ports on the back and side--including a TV-out for presenters, a FireWire connection, and two PC Card slots. The RAM, hard drive, and battery all pop out easily, and the battery has an external LED that makes checking remaining life easy. And like its bigger sibling, the 450XL bundles an attractive and thorough user manual.