Gateway NX860XL

The NX860XL's keys clack a bit and don't feel entirely secure. In fact, by the end of our testing, the <Ctrl> key had come loose and fallen off, no doubt due to rough handling in transit. The keyboard layout, however, is excellent; and a touchpad of reasonable size, with a dedicated scroll area where you can slide a finger to move a page up or down, aids typing.

Connections are sparse for a notebook costing over $2000: four USB ports, network and modem jacks, VGA and S-Video ports for connecting external screens, a FireWire port and a dual-layer DVD writer. There's also a slot for PC Cards, but it doesn't accommodate next-generation ExpressCards. The shared card slot accepts only SD cards and Memory Sticks. Audio ports are basic as well, consisting of a microphone port and a headphones port.

Our test unit included an 80GB hard drive, which is disappointing when you consider that some sub-$1000 notebooks come with 120GB of storage. (You can bump up the NX860XL's hard-drive size to 100GB or 200GB when you order).

Battery life was even less impressive, at 1 hour, 56 minutes with the standard eight-cell. You should get better results from the twelve-cell battery for $44 more, though it extends the back of the notebook, too.

To its credit, Gateway offers a bigger selection of batteries than most other notebook vendors do. A third option, a six-cell battery priced at $130, reduces the overall weight by a few ounces. Both memory and the hard drive are user upgradable, but Gateway sells only a simple $180 port replicator, which attaches to the bottom of the notebook.

Where the NX860XL really shines is in its raw speed, whether for multitasking business applications or for outquicking enemies in the latest 3D shooter. Configured with a 2.16-GHz Core 2 Duo T7400 processor and 2GB of RAM, the Gateway earned a WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 80, just two points behind the top score of 82 earned by the 2.33-GHz Core 2 Duo T7600-equipped Micro Express NP5760. And thanks to its powerful 256MB nVidia GeForce Go 7900 GS video card, the NX860XL cleaned up in our gaming tests, finishing second only to the Micro Express in frame rates and running Doom and Far Cry without a stumble. In addition, the NX860XL's integrated 2-watt stereo speakers sounded fantastic. (Most notebook speakers max out at 1.5 watts or less.) Not even HP's Pavilion dv9000t, a better overall entertainment notebook, sounded as good. It's too bad that Gateway decided not to exploit the NX860XL's big sound, omitting dedicated media buttons and a Windows Media Center remote control.

But if you need to work like a dog during the day and crank up Doom 3 when the office empties out, Gateway's NX860XL has the muscle, screen, and audio to put most other notebooks to shame.

Carla Thornton