Gateway ID47H02u review: Gateway ID47H02u

Gateway laptops are funny products. Of the two mainstream lines available, the "budget" NV series and the "higher-end" ID series, neither one currently has a single model that tops $699. So, in that sense, both are budget lines. The Gateway ID is the slicker, more polished-looking product, and a significantly thinner laptop with a 14-inch display, more closely matching what most people consider to be easily portable.

7.7

Gateway ID47H02u

The Good

Strong battery life and a clean design along with a fast processor and USB 3.0 make the $699 <b>Gateway ID47H02u</b> stand out; the laptop also manages to fit a 14-inch display into the body of a 13-incher.

The Bad

The Gateway ID47H02u lacks Bluetooth and dedicated graphics, and plenty of other 13- and 14-inch competitors offer similar features for a similar price.

The Bottom Line

The Gateway ID47H02u is a slim-bodied, full-featured 14-inch laptop that offers a surprisingly strong mix of performance and design at a price that hovers between budget and mainstream. While there are plenty of similar alternatives from other manufacturers, this Gateway should keep up with most of them.

The $699 Gateway ID47H02u has a surprisingly good set of specs for its price. An Intel Core i5-2410M processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive are considered mainstream specs nowadays. A sleek--for Gateway--design, comfortable keyboard and touch pad, and a long-lasting battery complete the package. It's definitely a more attractive and slimmer notebook overall than you see in the Gateway NV line, which we recently reviewed in the form of the Gateway NV55S05u.

Still, $699 isn't necessarily "budget" to everyone, which is why we wish Gateway had shaved an extra $100 off the ID47H02u's MSRP. That being said, there's a strong chance you'll see this laptop offered for less online. There's a lot of competition in the $700 range of the 13- and 14-inch laptop market--more than you'd think--but Gateway's ID47H02u is a very good entry.