When it comes to value proposition, multi tasking, mobility and the zeal to conserve energy along with a preference for style and elegance, you will definitely find me leading the bandwagon! Ah! An outright exaggeration of facts! Well, whatever I said can be attached to the new Gateway EC series netbooks! However, one thing that I can assure you is that I hate heavy netbooks and the new Gateway EC series probably knows that.

Gateway EC Series

Definitely light weight (500 grams or 1 lbs whatever you prefer), the new stylish and elegant EC series netbooks from the house of Gateway has a thickness just below 1 inch and embeds a smooth design that I appreciate a lot. The best part of the nettop is that, it is loaded with advanced power management features. I will take you through the features of the nettop but with a caution that you may inevitably fall in love with this masterpiece.

Features

Graphics and screen:

The new Gateway EC series is loaded with advanced power management features and extends the battery life up to 40%. The netbook has a graphic activation switch, which can be used for deactivating the discreet graphics card, which is supported by the chipset used.

There is a power save button, which allows saving power by switching between the ATI graphics chipset and the integrated chipset, which is slower than its counterpart. Yet another power saving feature that is bundled with the Gateway EC series netbook is the 13 inch LED screen that provides 16:9 aspect ratio. The size of the screen ensures that it is not a hindrance to ultra mobility and at the same time makes it comfortable for use with an external monitor. Sharp and vivid images are a feature of the led backlit display!

HDD:

Gateway’s EC series comes with a 500GB Solid State Drive, which is different than the conventional HDDs. It does not have any mechanical parts and it is lighter and smaller than the conventional hard drives. This is power saving feature that consumes less powers and is a step towards energy conservation, which helps in improving the life of the battery by 10%. The presence of an exclusive cooling system optimizes the thermal efficiency of the netbook.

Power saver mode and CPU:

The Gateway EC series netbook is compliant with Energy Star 5.0 and is capable of providing power efficiency in Sleep Mode. This is actually used for saving energy when the machine is in Standby Mode or is performing a number of tasks. The claim of eco-friendliness is fortified by the use of ultra low voltage Intel CPU. Therefore, there is a lot to save your expenditure on energy consumption. All these features together ensure that the battery life is increased by 40% and that the battery gives a runtime of 8hours! That is incredibly high.

Design and feel

The Gateway EC series netbook has an elegant and attractive slim look, which makes a bold statement with dark silver and black color cover and has a palm rest of brushed aluminum, which highlights the frame and the black matte keyboard. With soft surfaces and smooth curves, the Gateway EC series netbook is an example of sheer elegance and beauty.

Touchpad and Sound

The touchpad of Gateway’s EC series netbook has a brilliant multi touch functionality that helps in intuitive and easy access to a number of applications. As far as the sound is concerned, the netbook also offers state-of-the-art listening experience with its Dolby® Sound Room.

More Features

The EC series comes with an HDMI out port, which is capable of transferring high-definition data to another display. Well, I really enjoyed watching a movie on my LCD television by transferring the data! The netbook is known for supporting DDR3 RAM and is equipped with an internal webcam. It also has an option for 3G and Bluetooth functions. It also has capacitive hotkeys, which are place on top of the keyboard.

Conclusion

The Gateway EC series netbook is a perfect blend of beauty and functionality making it an outstanding performer in terms of portability and multitasking capability.