Gateway 8550GB review

Modern laptops are good for much more than just your digital chores - a good notebook will run the latest games, play DVDs, let you listen to music, and if it has Wi-Fi, which most now do, you'll be able to surf the Web wherever there's Wi-Fi access.

If, however, your laptop is really going to make your life more fun, it shouldn't just be able to do all these things - it must be able to do them well. It's not much fun playing games that will only run at their lowest settings or watching DVDs on a screen that's blurry and dull. With its powerful spec and bright, widescreen display, Gateway's 8550GB is designed specifically with fun in mind.

POWER AND GLORY

Most laptops run our Doom 3 benchmark at somewhere under 10 frames per second (fps). The 8550GB managed 23.3fps. In our test the detail settings are turned up high - turn them down and you get a playable frame rate of above 30fps.

The 8550 did even better in our performance benchmark, scoring 83.19 points - a good score for a notebook. The 1.7GHz Pentium M isn't the fastest notebook processor we've ever seen, but together with 1GB of RAM it can handle any commercially available software you might want to throw at it.

IN THE BOX

As well as being able to run demanding software, a good notebook should have a reasonable selection of connectors. The Gateway, for instance, has four USB 2 ports, so you'll be able to plug in printers, a mouse and other peripherals without any hassle. There's also a mini-FireWire port for plugging in external hard disks or a digital camcorder. As you'd expect it has both wired and wireless networking.

There's a 100GB hard disk, the biggest we've ever seen in a notebook. This complements the 1GB of RAM perfectly - giving you plenty of space to store video and audio files.

The 8550GB also comes with a good software bundle, including Microsoft Works 8 and Nero Burning ROM 6.

CARRY ON NOTEBOOK

How portable a notebook is depends on its size and weight, how long its battery lasts, and how well it can stand up to being knocked around.

In our intensive battery tests it took two hours and two minutes before the Gateway finally ran out of power. That's long enough to watch most films all the way through. And because our test is intensive, you really will get this length of battery life. If you're using your notebook for less demanding things - for instance writing letters or surfing the Web - you can expect even longer.

Not surprisingly, however, given its large screen, this is quite a large notebook. At 3.5kg it isn't light either. If you're just carrying it from your car to a hotel and back again you won't give yourself a hernia - it's not ridiculously heavy. If you want something you can pop in your shoulder bag and carry around town, then this isn't for you.

On the bright side, the 8550GB is well built and sturdy. Even the lid that protects the screen is pretty tough and doesn't flex too much - a rarity. This was never designed to be a portable notebook, so we didn't count it's chunkiness against it.

A THING OF BEAUTY

There's no sense in mincing words - this notebook's screen is beautiful. It's bright, evenly lit and displays the full range of colour perfectly. Our test DVD looked flawless when we played it on the 8550GB. Even the darkest, fastest moving scenes were rendered perfectly. The effect was so engrossing that we forgot we were supposed to be working for a while.

Its speakers aren't loud, but they're loud enough not to detract from a film and to make music enjoyable.