Just picked up a NV59C

More specifically, a NV59C63u. Best Buy had them in stock during Labor Day for $499. My battered and bruised Acer Aspire 5680 (purchased in 2007) burned its video card out a couple of months back, so I was hurting for a new laptop.

I can't say this is a review, per se -- just my opinions on it compared to my ol' beast of burden.

Specs:

• 15.6" HD LED LCD screen with 1366x768 resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio
• 2.26Ghz Core i3 350M*
• 4GB DDR3 RAM
• 320GB 5400RPM HDD
• DVD supermulti drive
• Intel HD graphics

*This machine was advertised as having a Core i3 330M with 2.13Ghz, even though it actually has a 350M with 2.27Ghz. There's probably so little difference between the 330M and the 350M that it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Either that or Gateway needs to update it's promo material.

The good:
The Core i3. It's one of the reasons why I picked this laptop over others that had Pentium Dual-Cores and Athlon IIs. Intel's really on their "A" game when it comes to CPUs. It was the only laptop I saw in the sub $500 range with an i3. The screen is nice, clear and bright, but I'm not a fan of the 1366x768 resolution.

The design is a nice touch -- dark brown "mocha" color with a wave motif. Not as striking as the wood paneled Asus laptops I saw, but pretty good noneoftheless. The battery life is also pretty good -- about 6 hours on all of the power saving settings.

The bad:
Intel HD graphics. Good enough for websurfing, but not necessarily what someone who does a fair bit of graphic design should look for. I'd rather have a nVidia 330m or an ATI 4500 series, but in this case, beggars can't be choosers.

It's also missing a USB port, thanks to the inclusion of the HDMI port. The cooling fan also seems to be a bit on the small site, but considering the hardware it's packing, it hasn't had any problems keeping things cool. The keyboard feel is pretty good, but it's way too easy to get crumbs and other debris underneath the "floating" design.

Verdict:
I didn't expect to get such a nice looking and decent-performing machine at this price and I'm pleasantly surprised. I'd recommend this to someone who's looking for an inexpensive but decent performing laptop for home or school.

What's next? A new hard drive. I'm swapping the 320GB 5400RPM drive for a 500GB Seagate Momentus XT.