Gateway NS series notebooks

Now functioning as Acer's European channel brand for SME and enterprise products, Gateway has just announced a batch of four new business notebooks based on Intel's latest range of i-series mobile CPUs.

The NS series (the 'S' stands for 'Standard') is Gateway's mainstream range aimed at SMEs and there are two brand-new models, the NS10 and NS30; the NS41 and NS51 are additions to its existing Core 2 Duo-powered NS4x and NS5x range.

The smallest model in the range, the NS10, has an 11.6in. LED-backlit WXGA (1,366 by 768) display powered by integrated Intel HD Graphics. Its Intel HM55 Express chipset supports Core i3-330UM, i5-430UM, i5-520UM and i5-540UM low-power processors. The touchpad can handle two-finger multi-touch gestures, and other peripherals include a flash card reader and webcam. There's a full range of wireless options including Bluetooth, 802.11n Wi-Fi and embedded 3G. Battery life is 3 hours with the standard 6-cell battery pack, according to Gateway. The NS10 weighs 1.35kg.

For those wanting to combine a larger display and integrated 8X DVD burner with reasonable portability, the 2.1kg NS30 offers a 13.3in. screen and benefits from the higher clock speeds of the 'M' variants of the i3-330/350, i5-430/520/540 and i7-620 mobile CPUs. The NS30G model gets an Nvidia Geforce 310M switchable graphics chip, with 512MB of DDR3 video RAM instead of the Intel HD Graphics in the base N30. Maximum RAM support increases from 4GB in the NS10 to 8GB, and the 8-cell battery gives a claimed 8-hour battery life. Gateway's Bio-Protection fingerprint reader with pre-boot authentication is available as an option, and an Intel 160GB SSD can be specified in place of the standard hard disk.

The slightly heavier (2.26kg) NS41 has the same 14in. screen size and 1,366-by-768 pixel resolution as the current NS40, but the chassis has been redesigned. It features the same range of Core i3, i5 and i7 processors as the NS30, as well as the same graphics options and 8X DVD burner. There are two battery options, 6-cell standard or 9-cell extended, giving a claimed eight and 11.5 hours' autonomy respectively.

At 2.47kg with the 6-cell standard battery option, the 15.6in. NS51 is slightly lighter than the existing NS50, and its 31mm thickness trims 12mm off its predecessor's girth, although the footprint is slightly increased. Once again, it uses the same range of CPUs as offered in the NS41 and NS30 and there's an NS51G variant with discrete switchable Nvidia graphics. Battery life is quoted as identical to the NS41 with the same battery pack options.

All the new models come with Gateway's standard one-year return-to-base parts and labour warranty, plus three years' parts-only cover. They will be sold through Gateway's reseller network, but pricing had not been announced at the time of writing.

Kelvyn Taylor