Gateway EC1430U 11.6-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 7 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium)

by Gateway

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8 x 11.2 x 1.2 inches ; 3.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0009PTD86
• Item model number: EC1430u
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,789 in Computers & Accessories (See Top 100 in Computers & Accessories)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 18, 2009

Product Description

Gateway EC1430u Notebook comes with these specs: Intel Pentium Processor SU4100, Windows 7 Home Premium, 11.6" HD Widescreen LED-backlit Display, Mobile Intel GS45 Express Chipset, 3072MB DDR2 667MHz Memory, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD, 320 GB SATA Hard Drive, Integrated Webcam, Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader, Dolby Sound Room Audio Enhancement, Intel WiFi Link 1000 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N, 3 - USB 2.0 Ports, 1 - HDMI Port, Multi-gesture Touchpad, 6-cell Li-ion Battery (5600 mAh), up to 7-hours of battery life, 3.08 lbs. | 1.4 kg (system unit only), AC Power Adapter, AC Power Cord, Wireless Setup Card, Registration/ Limited Warranty Card, Norton Internet Security 2009 Trial (60-day insert)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent choice, I'm proud of myself!, October 23, 2009

By 

A. Cardoso "Skynaut" (North Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gateway EC1430U 11.6-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 7 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium) (Personal Computers)

It took me 2 months to decide on which laptop or netbook would replace my Toshiba 17 inches Widescreen laptop which I own for more than 3 years now. I travel a lot, my Toshiba has been great and continues to work perfectly but I needed an ultra portable laptop/netbook, easy to carry, something that would fit easily in a suitcase, backpack, or even carry it with me. Battery power came to be a major factor, since I travel a lot, sometimes to find a plug at the airports, or just every where else like a coffee shop can be a challenge; so I wanted at least a battery that could last 3 hours or so.
After careful consideration and research, and based on how much I wanted to spend, Gateway beats all other brands. The quality, the specifications and beauty, Gateway is unmatched. I'm a Toshiba or Sony lover when it comes to electronics, but this time around, Gateway proved me wrong for sure.

So, this Gateway Ec1430u is brand new as of Oct 23, 2009. I ordered mine yesterday Oct 22, 2009 when it was released with Windows 7 release. I'm very happy about my choice, the battery doesn't stick out as I saw on other netbooks with 6-cell battery and it lasts up to 8 hours. I just tested it with a movie, unplugged it, showed it could run 5 hours and 25 mins on battery alone, that's amazing. And I should add that once unplugged the default brightness is 50%, but I changed it to 80%.
It's very light, I can barely feel anything in my hand when I lift it, it's been running for 3 hours now and I can't feel any heat at all, how is that possible? my Toshiba laptop heats up tremendously, the fans run on high most of the time therefore noisy. This Gateway is quiet as a turtle. Not to mention how sleek it looks, the chrome Gateway label is pretty on the outside cover.
The keyboard is full, keys are soft to touch and I have plenty of room when typing.
The most dramatic change to come with this EC series is that previous netbooks couldn't play HD movies easily, this Gateway EC1430u is HD friendly and has an HDMI port. It doesn't have a DVD/CD optical drive which I don't really miss, with the Internet today, I can watch movies online, download TV shows, etc...for other purposes I would get an external drive just in case I need it. But I barely use my DVD/CD optical drive on my Toshiba laptop.
The Touchpad is mutli-gesture, you find some features of the iphone, it is smart enough to recognize 2 fingers command, expand/contract a picture etc...
Did I also mention it comes with Windows 7? incredible improvement from Microsoft from Windows Vista. It shuts down quickly, so far it takes less than 5 seconds to shut down. Start up is quick as well. Windows 7 is easy to navigate.
So my overall opinion is extremely good. I would give this laptop a 5 star-rating.

I strongly recommend you buy it as soon as possible while it is in stock, because once more and more people find about it, it would evaporate from any store. Too bad Gateway doesn't advertise.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Using laptop has never been so enjoyable, October 30, 2009

By 

J. Stateham (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gateway EC1430U 11.6-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 7 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium) (Personal Computers)

I am a PC power user. I build my own desktops, I game, I crave powerful hardware. My first foray into laptops was four years ago with an Alienware m7700 17" beast. Since then I've wanted to go back to desktops for the power and get me a smaller, more portable notebook. I bought my wife a 15" notebook and it suits her, but it didn't impress me that much. Likewise, netbooks were cute but near worthless for me. The Sony Lifestyle PC gave me hope that decent power in a small package was around the corner, hopefully from some other company that isn't known for premium prices.

The Acer/Gateway 11.6" series got my attention. Dual core? Three gigs of RAM? Eight hours of battery life? Sounded too good to be true. I chose the Gateway version simply because I thought it looked better. Got it a few days ago and I must say, impressed would be an understatement. I love having a full sized keyboard and an HD screen. I still might miss having an optical drive here and there, but overall I have never enjoyed using a laptop as much as I do with this little thing. My biggest gripe is the lack of carrying cases for this size.

The release of Win 7 marked a great day for PC users. Tons of new hardware and a great OS came out. This netbook/notebook hybrid literally changed how I view portable computing. A 15" laptop I now consider "semi-portable" compared to my Gateway. It beats everything in terms of mobility and power in one package. For a lot of people, this thing could be your only PC. It handles Office 2007 Pro like a champ and manages multiple tasks and programs better than some lower end full blown laptops. It runs Win 7 64 bit with aero beautifully.

Only con I have found that really was a bummer was even though this is a carbon copy of the Acer Timeline series and is priced the same, for some odd reason they didn't include bluetooth connectivity on the Gateway model. It's got the button to turn BT on and off, but it does nothing. So if you want BT, go with the slightly less attractive Acer.

Final Verdict: Buy one. You'll find it hard to go back to a 15" laptop and better still, you won't need to.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Netbooks beware! Here's a great upgrade!, December 21, 2009

By 

Y. Vo "TJHawaii" (Orange County, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gateway EC1430U 11.6-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 7 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium) (Personal Computers)

I love this little guy.

Physical elements:
Keyboard is great, excellent feedback from the keys
Trackpad is pretty responsive, buttons are a pain however
Great sizing, I don't feel claustrophobic like smaller netbooks make me feel
Super light and convenient! The fan works well, doesn't seem to overheat.
Screen is very nice, great resolution, doesn't feel cheap like most netbooks
Windows7 isn't bad, and this is coming from a Mac OSX user. Works well.

A few negatives:
The top is nice but is a MAJOR fingerprint magnet. I usually don't care but this one is so bad it makes you notice even if you didn't care before.
The trackpad buttons are really annoying placed and have bad feedback. Redesign!
Overall aesthetics could use some work, I know it's not a high end model but Gateway should try to make it look a little more sleek from the sides.

I really like this laptop because I'm buying it as a gift and didn't want to get something too cheap. It seems like for light notebooks you can either get really expensive (Macbook Air/Vaio X-series for $1500) or really cheapy (like any netbook for $300-400 bucks). This is a good balance, you get a nice processor that works well on multiple programs, is light, and has a great screen. Wifi works well too, great range and reception.

2115|R1WJY30Y81NW9G;2115|R2PQ4PS2TSKHDP;2115|R2JNSYKUF2LP12;