For people with simple needs, Gateway’s MD2601u offers an attractive design, fast hard drive, and strong wireless range. The only people who won’t like it are people who demand longer battery life or who plan on doing lots of gaming or heavy multitasking. Otherwise, for $499 (at Best Buy) this 15-incher is one of the best budget notebooks we’ve tested this year.
Design
With the exception of screen size, the MD2601u is identical in design to the 14-inch TC Series, which we reviewed recently. It has the same glossy burgundy lid with a thin, brushed-metal stripe running length-wise down the middle. The black bezel also has a glass finish that’s thin and shallow enough that you won’t miss having a glass-to-glass display.
Under the lid, the MD has a glossy keyboard deck, complete with orange touch-sensitive controls, a brushed-metal palm rest, and textured, chunky keys. As with the TC series, the multimedia controls didn’t exactly respond to the slightest tap, but we mastered them quickly enough.
At 6.6 pounds and 1.7 inches thick at its thickest, it’s not exactly svelte. While it’s relatively easy to move from room to room, we don’t expect many users to travel with this notebook.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The look of the rough, closely grouped keys against an otherwise glossy chassis is jarring. That said, we had an easy time typing on them. We enjoyed the shallow pitch of the keys, as well as their large size, although the panel itself felt a bit stiff.
The touchpad, on the other hand, is one of the more elegant details on the machine. It’s rimmed in metal, and the sides angle downward at geometric angles, meeting at the touchpad in the middle. The pad felt large enough, and its textured surface provided just the right enough amount of friction, making it easy to draw the cursor across the screen. We quickly got the hang of the scroll strip on the right side and had a good amount of control over how far pages scrolled. The long touch buttons provided good tactile feedback and weren’t too noisy.
Display and Sound
The 15.6-inch (1366 x 768) display has a 16:9 aspect ratio, that extra-wide, movie screen–like design that’s become de rigueur on mainstream notebooks. Although it looked sharp when we watched an episode of Heroes, the reflective finish limited viewing angles, both from the sides and from the front with the lid pushed down; any off-angle made the screen looked washed out.
The speakers produced loud sound and were great for watching movies, but music, including tracks by James Brown and The Roots, sounded tinny and the bass was low.
Ports and Webcam
The MD2601u has a generous selection of ports, most of which are easily accessible on the sides of the notebook (the audio jacks, as is often the case, are on the front side): four USB ports, HDMI and VGA output, Ethernet and modem jacks, two headphone ports, a microphone port, and a Kensington lock slot. It also has a 5-in-1 memory card reader.
The notebook also has a 1.3-megapixel webcam, which produced fluid, sharp video, although skin tones looked reddish.
