Excellent Value Overall
Written: Dec 09 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Quality of Tech Support: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Great value, good display, keyboard has many functions, good system for the price
Cons: short battery life, slightly quiet speakers, pointing device
The Bottom Line: The Solo 1450 is an excellent deal. It offers a great Gateway system at a great price that will last for a long time.
|
|
|
| leviathan14's Full Review: Gateway Solo 1450 PC Notebook |
The Gateway Solo 1450 is a great buy for someone who needs a good computer, with good specs, for a good price. This computer is like any other Gateway model, you get what you pay for. The price is great and the computer works and preforms good.
If you please, you can add on to the $899 price tag (which I did), by adding to or changing the specs. I bought mine in August of 2002, and it had a 1.33 GHz Celeron processor, 128 MB of RAM, a 8x DVD-ROM, and a 20 GB hard drive all for $999. Four months later it comes standard with 256 MB of RAM, a CD-RW/DVD Combo drive (which I paid $100 extra for), and a 30GB hard drive all for $100 less that I paid. I also noticed that it now comes standard with a Lithium Ion battery which, I'm sure is better than my NiMH. The notebook I have is a very good computer and the upgrades they have made standard on it only make it that much better.
One recommendation I would make would be not to upgrade the RAM. Gateway wants $200 to upgrade your RAM to 512MB. I would recommend doing it yourself, you can buy a 256MB PC-133 notebook SODIMM RAM chip for about $50 or even cheaper if you catch a sale. Then just unscrew the bottom and pop it in. It took me no more than 2 minutes to save $150.
Most aspects of this computer are good or at least acceptable. It is light and attractive. The display is very clear and bright, the keyboards function buttons are easy to use and save lots of time, and Windows XP Home Edition works very well and has a wizard for almost everything.
The NiMH battery that I have usually dies after only an hour and a half, but I'm sure the Li Ion battery which now comes standard is improved. I've also noticed the speakers are somewhat quiet, this is not a major problem because I normally use headphones. Also the pointing device has become slightly worn which sometimes makes it hard to slide your finger across. Other than that I don't have any complaints about it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1099
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Celeron
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 14 inches
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
leviathan14
|
|
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 1 member
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.