Physical exam I
The MT6825B has an attractive gunmetal-like finish and is presented in a svelte form factor, measuring 358mm (w) x 264mm (h) and 35.5mm (h) at its thickest point. It weighs in at 2.4kg, which is decent considering the 15.4in screen size. The lid is plastic and is attached to the chassis by a single latch.
Moving on around to the left, we see the multi-format DVD ReWriter and S-Video socket sandwiching the heatsink and associated vent for the Core 2 Duo T5200 processor.
Gateway's kept clean lines by not outfitting ports on the back. Rather, that space is reserved for the laptop's battery.
A DVI port would have been preferred to the VGA's, for outputting to an external screen.
The 6-cell 10.8V 4800mAh battery offers around a 52Whr capacity, again impressive for a sub-£500 laptop.
Turning it around again, the high-speed ports are positioned on one side. There's a single PCMCIA slot but, as mentioned, no provision made for the high-speed ExpressCard version.
Removing the three covers on the back, we see that there's easy access to the system RAM, hard drive and mini-PCI slot. Indeed, even changing the CPU for a more potent model, when required, is a simple enough affair and well within the compass of most readers.
