Editor's Notes: Parts of this review were taken from an earlier review. Also, though our review unit was black, the product pictured in this review is red. Images of the black Gateway MC-7803u are forthcoming, but for the sake of visual reference, the images included in this review suffice.
Gateway hasn’t exactly been known for its laptop designs in the past, but the MC Series makes a statement. With an eye-catching lid, 16-inch widescreen (with 16:9 aspect ratio) glass display and backlit keyboard, the Gateway MC7803u looks the part of a modern notebook and backs up those looks with Centrino 2 performance and decent graphics muscle. As long as you don’t mind carrying around a little extra weight and using a slightly cramped keyboard, this $999 notebook will satisfy.
Head-Turning (But Hefty) Design
With the MC7803u, Gateway dresses up the stock multimedia notebook in a new, attractive costume. Appearing less flashy than other systems like the HP HDX 16, Gateway went with a classic, automotive-inspired design. The black cover has just the right level of gloss, offset with a synthetic black leather strip that runs vertically down the center of the lid. A brushed silver trim on the lid and around the edges of the chassis adds a black-tie look to the entire system.
At 7.8 pounds and 15.3 x 10.4 x 1.7 inches, the MC7803u is a bit too large and heavy for anything but occasional travel, and it can be considered more of a desktop replacement than a mainstream notebook. In fact, it’s more than a pound heavier than the Sony VAIO FW series, which also features a 16-inch, 16:9 display. The Samsung R610-64G, another 16-incher, weighs just 6 pounds. The MC7803u is portable enough to tote around the house, but you won’t want to do it often.
The sleek design extends under the lid to the keyboard and touchpad. The brushed-metal palm rest is comfortable and sleek. Surrounding the touchpad itself is a glossy frame that angles in toward the pad, which adds to the MC7803u’s distinctive look without sacrificing much in the way of ergonomic comfort. Below are two large touch buttons that were quiet and easy to press. The touchpad on our unit provided just the right amount of friction, and the scroll bar on it was responsive and useful for scrolling through long Web sites.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard on the MC7803u was quiet and comfortable, but Gateway sacrificed the size of some keys to make the layout a perfect rectangle. The right Shift key, for example, is noticeably smaller than on a typical mainstream notebook. The entire layout is backlit with a fluorescent orange coloring that doesn’t quite match the outer lid. While useful, we would have preferred a different color or simply a white backlight.
Backlit Touch Buttons Galore
Two panels of touch-sensitive buttons flank the MC7803u’s keyboard. They’re not quite in your face, but they subtly reminded us of landing-strip lights. Starting below the Power button on the right are Video, Music, and Photo shortcut buttons for Windows Media Center. Below that is a shortcut button for the browser, and two more buttons for Windows Mail and your instant messaging program of choice. On the right side you’ll find the more typical Play/Pause, Stop, Fast-Forward, and Rewind buttons from top to bottom. And below those is a volume-control strip with a one-touch mute button beneath it.
These buttons, which control media playback on the right and shortcuts on the left, pulsate when pressed to show they’ve been activated. The buttons were a little finicky; they responded only when pressed with the pad of our finger.
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