Quick Version: Gateway’s new student-oriented NV series packs a lot of bang for the buck, although the machine is almost too heavy and bulky to function as a truly portable computer. If it’s going to spend most of its time on a desk, though, you get a fully-featured computer at roughly the price of an expensive netbook.
Features and Specs:
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 QL-64 dual-core CPU (2.1GHz)
- 15.6-inch screen (1366×768 resolution)
- Vista Home Premium 64-bit
- 4GB DDR2 RAM
- 320GB SATA hard drive
- 802.11b/g/n
- ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics
- Six-cell battery
- 8x DVD burner
- Four USB ports, HDMI, VGA out, card reader
- Weight: 6.82 pounds
- MSRP: $329
Design: For a $530 computer, the look and feel is pretty nice. It’s still mostly plastic but it’s kind of got a faux brushed aluminum trim with a nice subtle pattern of tiny interlocking hexagons adorning the lid. The trackpad button is a cool long, thin reflective bar and the power button sits inside the right hinge.
As far as portability is concerned, this thing’s a beast, tipping the scales at almost seven pounds. It’s got a pretty significant footprint, too, at 14 inches wide by 10 inches long by 1.25 inches thick.
I’m really not sure why Gateway made this computer part of its back to school offerings because, as someone who still remembers what it’s like to be a student, I wouldn’t have lugged this thing around campus unless it was absolutely necessary.
Screen: The 15.6-inch screen is plenty big and plenty bright. No complaints here. Videos hum along smoothly and the LCD is bright enough to ward off glare and reflections. The resolution is a standard 1366×768, which makes 720p videos look great. Gateway could have probably squeezed a 1400×900 panel in here but that would have driven the overall price up considerably.
Keyboard: I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a fan of big notebooks. However, with big notebooks you generally get big, spacious keyboards. So it’s a little disheartening that Gateway’s decided to add a 10-key numpad to the keyboard on the NV series.
I would have much preferred a huge, sprawled out keyboard. Instead, there’s a decent keyboard that’s positioned slightly off-center. The keys almost feel a bit cramped, if you can believe it. You’ll get used to it after a while but this is not a great keyboard for those of you who are going to be typing all the time. Again, kinda defeats the whole idea of marketing this computer to students.
Fun fact about Gateway notebook keyboards: I purchased a Gateway MX3215 for $600 way, way back in early 2006 and to this day, it’s still the best notebook keyboard I’ve ever used. I gave it to my mom and now she types like the wiiiind!
Battery: Battery life is okay — not great, though. I was able to manage an average of almost two and a half hours of actual computing. That’s a mix of surfing the internet, listening to music, watching short movie clips, and playing some older games. With Wi-Fi off and the brightness turned down to around 50% you ought to be able to manage close to three hours. Whatever the case, you’ll probably want to carry the charger with you at all times.
Performance: Gateway did the right thing by making four gigabytes of RAM standard on this machine (there’s actually a special 3GB version available at Fry’s). The Windows Experience Index is 3.7, bogged down by the graphics, but the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium clips along nicely. The included free upgrade to Windows 7 ought to make things even smoother, too, and upgrading the RAM and hard drive wouldn’t take too much time at all.
You won’t be doing any serious gaming with the ATI 3200 graphics chip but older games and current casual games will work just fine. You’re supposed to be doing your homework anyway!
Other Features: HDMI out is a big plus, making it easy to connect the notebook to your HDTV. And Bluetooth is a welcome addition that has a tendency to be left out of lower-priced notebooks from time to time. The audio system is powered by Dolby and gets adequately loud, although at music and videos tend to snap, crackle, and pop at maximum volume so you’ll want to keep things at around 80% or so. You’re not going to rock a house party (or even a dorm room party) without external speakers, though.
Overall: It’s a nicely-equipped system for the price. You get a fast processor, tons of RAM, a decent graphics chip, and a beautiful screen, along with thoughtful extras like HDMI out and Bluetooth. However, as a portable computer, it’s not very portable at all. The near-seven-pound NV series is going to weigh even the lightest of backpacks down uncomfortably, while taking up plenty of space to boot. If it’s destined to sit on a desk for most of its life, though, the NV series packs plenty of bang for the buck.
Gateway NV Series [Gateway.com]
“….along with thoughtful extras like HDMI out and Bluetooth.” Bluetooth? There’s no Bluetooth on this laptop. I wonder where you got that spec?
I concurr – no bluetooth – anyone know where a person can buy the bluetooth module to put inside this notehook? NV5214u.
Thanks.
This Laptop turns on but does not give anything on the screen, buy it for 10 days and it broke down, I was burned to the Board, the symptoms were constant blue screens denoting hard disk problems and Motherboard. and the screen showed stripes of all colors and so crashed. Now as I say turns on but no video screen is black. The typical problem when burning the video card nvidia 6150 in portable computers.
I recently bought this same laptop, and the thing that the power button is on, the other side of it like pops off and comes loose. And im not sure why because ive never actually dropped it or caused any damage like that too it, and it gets really annoying. I know theres no screw i can actually tighten to fix it but what might help this problem?
Okay. I just got this laptop computer about 2 days ago. Im 12 years old. And my Dad bought be this laptop and theres touch screen buttons. And everything. And to the very left. Theres a button that looks like a stack of pancakes. With a dot in the middle. And it keeps on flashing at me. And it wont stop. And when it stops flashing the computer goes blank and it like freezes and I cant turn it back on and I have to hit the power button all over again. And before I tell my Dad. I want to figure out how to stop it. Before I tell my Dad. Because I really dont want him to think that he bought a bad compuer for me. So. If you know how to stop it from going blank and the button flashing at me. PLEASEE email me back. I REALLY need to know. Thank you! Bye!
Haha. That’s the Hard Drive Activity light. There’s no way to get it to stop flashing because computers almost constantly use the hard drive.
Here’s what i think.. You sat there so long staring at the hard drive activity light (Pancakes) that when it actually did stop it was because your computer died. Hens why you needed to hit the power button all over again.
We just bought this laptop 7 days ago, right from the beginning the battery was not working right. I talked with Gateway and they actually ran me through some adjustments that actually tripled the lenghth of time the battery ran. Then we keep running into a problem with the screen going blank and nothing short of turning it off/on again works. I don’t know what to do about it, but I am going to call Gateway support.
Just wanted others to know that we are having the same problem with our monitor.
same here if any one do find a solution pleas let me know and it sinda hard for me to call the techsupport cuz im all the wa in the carribean atm bought this laptop like 1 day before i moved back here :( so pls if any one has or finds a sollution for the screen randomly going blank pleas let me know cuz from where i am i prob cant return it.
are you using an external mouse? I have heard that causes this issue.
yeah i am but even when i dont it does it.
Yep, I’m having the same problem. I just returned it for a new one from Best Buy and guess what… same problem. I set it to never go into sleep mode to see if that would work and it’s still done it. Not sure what I’m going to do about it. Probably have to go back and get another laptop and shell out more money for one that actually WORKS.
Ok, so i come here to add to the mess that these laptops have put us in. I am having the same problem. After using the computer for a while, the mouse cursor sticks and then the screen goes blank.It seems as though the laptop is still on and running but the screen is just dark and nothing can be seen on it.I tried updating the software/version of the video card and also for my external mouse and see if that fixes it.Apart from that, i have no choice but to bring it back before my two weeks cut off date reaches.
So, I did some changes in the power management, relating specifically to sleep mode and max/min processor speeds and that didn’t help a whole lot. So, I did some searching around for simply “windows vista random black screen.” And the results showed that it’s not just these brands of laptops, it’s even just laptops. Even someone that built their own computer had this issue when running vista on their machine. So, I personally am going to install the Windows 7 RC and see what happens, either that or XP-probably 7. I updated to SP2 and it’s been happening a lot less. But I am still going to go for Windows 7 next time it happens. I’d suggest just making a small 15-16 gig partition to install on.
So, it’s not YOUR laptop if your having the same problem that I am… its VISTA. Grrr
I forgot to mention that, the day i bought my laptop, was the day i wiped it of vista and installed windows 7.I still have the same problem as you guys, so no point trying windows 7 for a fix.I do suggest though that you guys update the ati radeon video card.I did that, and still waiting to see if my screen will just go blank again.
Hello all, so it hapened to me this morning again. this is with windows 7 instlled, updated and with thvideocard drivers updated as well.
The laptop is still in the black screen stte and i realize that, none of the usb ports have power, and the vg port doesnt work either. I tried connecting my desktop monitor to the laptop, but no luck.
i am really clueless now as to what state the laptop could really b in, where itseems as though eveything is on and running,but only some things work. If you guys found anything, plese let me know.
Yea, I installed the 7 RC on a separate partition and thought everything was going good… but no. Since it’s not OS specific it leads me to believe that it is a hardware issue. You said that you nothing happened when you plugged in a vga cable from another monitor. That really makes me feel certain that it’s hardware. I’ve heard of this happening in numerous other situations with different brands and such. I believe what I read was that it is an improperly seating graphics chip. Not sure how true that is, but regardless it definitely seems to be a hardware issue.
Take it from us who tried 7 on the machine, my suggestion is take it back and get something else. Hopefully that won’t have the same problem. Or maybe you should talk to someone with more laptop knowledge than myself. Whatever you do, don’t just hold onto it and expect it to get better.
Hey Matt, im actually backing up stuff now. I dont even know which laptop to give a try from the bestbuy site. But yeah, i made sure i didnt restart the nv52 quickly, so i got the chance to try different things. I plugged things into all usb ports, no luck, vga no luck, closed the lid for it to sleep thinking it would wake safley, no luck.
I’m gonna have to re-look at their selection and see if i can pickup something healthy.
Yea, I just picked up a third… yes third. Gateway just to see if I got super unlucky and maybe I’ll get one that’s good. Wish me much luck. Try looking around new egg as well, they have some good stuff. Though I heard that they are a pain to make returns to(not sure how true that is.)
I noticed an Asus that they have advertised on the Best Buy website that looks nice. It’s got a much better graphics card and a better processor(Core 2 Duo.) But, it has not HDMI out, and it’s $600.
Best of luck to you!
Wow, 3rd.Did they charge yu re-stocking fee or check the laptop themself? Personally, i really love he nv52 and i can see tht you do too, if they can find me one thats working perfctly, that would be absolutely great. so each time you get different laptop, you get 14 days in which t be able to change it.?
Goodluck though, i just might do the same,as BB has no other laptop in this price range that i like.
Nope, no restocking fee’s or anything. Just, “Here’s a new laptop.” The current one just crashed again… really sucks. I know that it’s definitely a hardware issue. Talked to them and they are working on the 2nd one that I just returned today to see if they can fix it. So, if they can I will exchange for that one. Or if they tell me how to fix it (or how they fixed it–if they fix it) I will post on here for you. It’s an awesome laptop at an awesome price. Just sucks that Gateway has horrid quality control.
If this doesn’t pan out I am just going to wait and see what comes out with the Windows 7 laptops. Hopefully they aren’t too spendy right off the bat.
So, they didnt take my laptop becuase i wiped off vista, didnt do the backup cd’s and now have windows 7 on it. Alll i have to do is get back vista on it and i will be good (tonight).
They then claim that the nv52 has been discontinued. That didnt surprise me at all.So, being that i wont be able to test out another nv52, i am just going to carry this crap back tomorrow with vista installed and get my full refund.
P.S. if anyone thinks they can get me some copy of the restore discs before my 2 weeks return period, let me know.
email: dc1129 at nova dot edu
Be warned that the Gateway Recovery is messed up. You need to go onto their website and download an update for system restore.
http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/getFile.asp?id=22834&dscr=Gateway%20eRecovery%20V4.00.3008&uid=247172303
That’s the link to the eRecovery update. I tried to use the recovery on my first one and it froze in the middle and screwed up the OS.
Hey Matt,do you have msn.?
my situation is i didnt make any recovery discs and when i installed windows 7, i complety wiped the entire hard drive including the recovery partition..So, right now im hoping someone can make discs for me and ship them to me, if it even means that i pay them a small fee to do so for me.I have till the 12th to be able to take this crap bck to gateway.After that…im pretty much alone.
They should take it back anyway. That’s really bizarre. When they get it all they are going to do is wipe it, or send it back to the factory. Did you try installing the driver for the eRecovery? Regardless the fact is that you bought a product from them that has a defect and you tried to fix it. They should definitely take it back, full refund. I’ve heard that threatening to call the Better Business Bureau can work to your advantage if you’re treated poorly.
well, they didnt take it today.Instead they were the ones throwing the threats saying “you basically void your warranty by installing another OS’ and “we shoudnt even be servicing this at all” and its either i give them as is and pay the re-stoking fee, or i get vista back on it and everything back how i got it and get the full refund. So im here trying to get back vista and give them the POS.
That’s ridiculous. Unfortunately I can’t get at the recovery files, since they are hidden and don’t show up as a separate drive. I’d suggest trying to get a hold of Gateway and maybe they can get you a recovery disk. If you can track down an OEM copy of Vista 64 bit you could install that with the serial key on the laptop.
We, i here owoading one incase i dont get to pick one up from a friend.So, imm just install it,get the drivers back if any device needs them and should be fine and $477 richer.
How much did they charge you in the first place? What’s their restocking fee? Sounds like your Best Buy doesn’t treat people too good. I’d suggest shopping somewhere else if you can.
$449 plus tax. 15% of $449 is restocking fee. I just want this to be done with……that geek squad guy tday was just a dumb ass. I will hopefully gethis done tongith and give them their laptop in the morning.
What’s up darron, so i looked up into the problem and many people seem to have the issue with the touchpad freezing up than causing the screen go black. It really seems that its a hardware issue, and it not only on few laptops it seems if its most of them. I work with GS, and its not few of them with same problem but most of them.
Hey Milly, thanx for the info. I”m completely done trying to fix this laptop, this is just ridicuous. And bestbuy says i was the only one that came in with this problem…..total BS. This problm is written all over the net, and even in the review section of the laptop on their site. But life goes on, i am still in my 14-day return period, and should be returning it today for a full refund.
My scare now is if all gateways have been acting like this. I saw the G180-15440,and i really like the look and specs.
What is GS.?
I got the same problem. I purchased my NV52 two days ago and have been experiencing this screen issue non-stop. I’ve tried everything from updating BIOS to drivers, to resetting factory settings, an nothing has worked. It’s really a shame, cuz it could be a great laptop, but it seems like gateway just rushed it out. It’s a loss for them too, because now I’m not really in the mood to purchase a gateway again, and I am taking it in to bestbuy today to see what happens, I think I’ll just go for the refund and see what else i can get. By the way darron you can call gateway and get a system recovery disk for vista from them if you still need it.
Mine worked just fine until I formated the harddrive. Since I have kept the external mouse unplugged, It has not gone to the black screen.
I am currently looking on google for fixes, maybe it has todo with the usb drivers or something. All I know is, it worked fine for like 3 weeks with the external mouse until I formated.
I’ve had my NV52 for a good month now and haven’t any issues whatsoever, and I pretty much use it non-stop….I have had the black screen/unresponsive issue, and had to remove the power and battery to reboot, but that was only when trying to run games, and I found out that it was actually my firewall blocking the games from running until I authorized the exe. files as safe.. So my issue was indeed software related, and after marking the games as safe in my firewall, they start up and run just fine…..I’ve read about this issue on almost every review thread about this laptop however, so all I can figure is a maybe a large bad batch of them or something…I did however, remove most of the bloatware and trial programs as well, and I’m using my own anti-virus and firewall software as well, …All in all Im very pleased with this machine however…….
Just wanted to add that I did also disable the onboard mouse pad and use an external usb trackball from logitech with no problems as well….I will be doing the Windows 7 upgrade when I receive it so Ill post back with results from that….
I have been having problems as well. It looks like Gateway’s support website is now saying that the Atheros Network Driver may be to blame and that should be updated to V7.7.0.356. However, they are only showing the V7.6xxxx as available for download from their website.
http://support.gateway.com/s/notebook/2009/gateway/nv/nv52/NV52faq7.shtml
Hopefully they can get it together before I exceed the 14 day window I have to return this machine.
Hi there!
Plz, I need some assistance!
I’ve got this NV52 since aug/2009. There was no problem at all. As MS launched Windows 7, I had this “bright” idea of updating drivers and bios, in order to prepare the system…
The thing is a “upgraded” my 1.08 BIOS to 1.03 BIOS! The updater simply did it, without asking anything!
May anyone tell me where can I found the latest bios (1.08 or newer) to really update here, plz?
Any help will be good, thanks in advance and sorry about my english!
Sincerely, Paulo
Paulo
Where did you get a 1.08 bios
These Nv5214u ship with a 1.02 bios and then upgrade to 1.03
so if you are at 1.03 do not worry about it
I have been having the exact same issues as all of you. Its actually my mother-in-law’s laptop that we all share when we are at her place. The problems started immediately after it was out of the box. First black screen occurred within 15 minutes of being unboxed and continues to be an issue. Ive done some hunting and it seems this is a problem with all/most Gateway laptops and support on their site appears nonexistant. Unfortunately we exceeded out return date and now have to deal with the problem. Ill be paying close attention to this thread for feedback on this. We are getting our free copy of Windows 7 in the mail in a day; after installation I will report the performance. I am thinking this may be a combination of unstable hardware, vista, buggy bloatware and Norton.
I swear to you all, Norton has caused the majority of instability issues that I have seen on computers (laptop or desktop) that have it installed. Going to be putting my 7 year license of AVG on this when Win7 is installed.
Good luck to everyone else having these issues. Let us know if you find a solution.
I realize there has been a lot of posts after i got my situation dealt with.
The persons who are still able to carry the laptop back and get a refund, do so now !. As for the others, goodluck….i mean really…..goodluck, cause i think it might just be a hardware issue.
The laptop was indeed a good one, but, i honestly think there was just a bad batch. My friend and I, along with Matt tried so many different things, and still couldnt get it fixed. I you guys do find out the problem, hats off to you.!
I have updated that Atheros Network driver to the latest and everything now works perfectly on my machine. I updated the driver via Windows update as Gateway could not get their act together and send me the correct driver.
Updating this driver has completely eliminated all dark screen issues as well as the problems with the USB external mouse. Give it a try and good luck.
Please let me know if this Atheros driver update did indeed help you.
Thanks,
It fixed everything for me. I updated it through “Windows Update”. I clicked on the “other products” box under windows update and it brought in the right Atheros driver and fixed all the problems I had. I have used the laptop for about a month since performing the update and everything has worked.
Good luck.
wow I just got this laptop about 2 days ago and the multiple media card reader thing doesn’t even work!!!! I had put in my memory card thing for my camera and it makes a sound as if it notices it go..but nothing appears! I’ve tried differen’t chips to put in but nothing pops up..anybody have the same problem? or know how to fix it?
Has anyone had any problems reloading the bluetooth drivers after upgrading to 7? I remember it working when I opened the sucker, and after the upgrade I see the symbol with a red x after hitting fn+f6. I try the driver program from the site and it says it needs to be turned on… /sigh