Digital Trends

When luxury notebooks come to mind, few consumers are likely to rattle off “Gateway” among the list of companies that offer a high-end product. If anything, the company's cow-spotted boxes and mid-Western origins are more likely to call to mind practical computers suited to Ma and Pa back on the farm. Acer's purchase of Gateway over a year ago has begun to shift that image, though, and the 16-inch MC7803u multimedia notebook is among the new breed of PCs to reflect that push toward a classier Gateway. Although priced at $1,000, Gateway has swaddled the MC7803u in leather, stretched the screen to 16 inches, and given it some respectable guts. If you’re willing to overlook the slightly cheap look and feel of its luxury posturing, there’s a decent machine inside for the price. But a major nag with screen flexibility killed any desire we had to own one of these notebooks.