Gateway laptops have excelled in two main areas: performance and competitive pricing. But while everyone else has been taking cues from Apple—placing industrial design at the top of their priority lists, experimenting with trendier metals, and using the latest post-processing techniques—Gateway hasn't put much effort into designing hot-looking laptops. (The one exception was the E-100M ultraportable, which debuted three years ago.) That may be changing, though. Its newest desktop replacement laptop—the MC7803u ($1,000 street)—is the best-looking one in the company's history. The edge-to-edge glass screen, an automotive-inspired lid, and its backlit keyboard represent some of the most cutting-edge design techniques. All of this is available at your local Best Buy, for only a grand.

The Gateway incorporates some of the most popular techniques in industrial design into the MC7803. The lid, for instance, looks like the hood of a classic automobile: The sharp edges, the centrally located leather strip, and a tapered chassis look embody all that's hot in the industry. Burgundy, the color of this configuration, is a nice, neutral touch. (Black is also an option.) The Gateway logo is subtly written over a fashionable metal piece that doubles as a lift handle.

The MC7803u's interior is striking. The 16-inch widescreen, including the frame, is completely covered in glass. The screen's unified look is very similar to the HP HDX16t's, and both are using the new 16-by-9 aspect ratio, which will be the preferred screen format by next year. The MC7803u's 1,366-by-768 resolution, however, isn't as high as the HDX16t's 1,920-by-1,080, but the brightness levels and the screen's contrast against the black interior make up for the lost pixels. The palm rests are adorned with brushed aluminum—giving it an Apple-esque look.

The amber lights coming from underneath the keyboard and the touch-sensitive media buttons add an extra level of style. The keys are a little mushy when pressed, but it's fine for those who prefer a softer typing experience than the resistant (but responsive) ones found on the Acer Aspire 6920G and the HDX16t. All of these design enhancements, especially the glass screen, come at a price, though—and I'm not talking dollars. The MC7803u weighs 7.7 pounds; that's about a pound heavier than the HDX16t (6.8 pounds) and the Sony VAIO VGN-FW198UH (6.4 pounds), all of which have 16-inch screens and approximately the same dimensions. While the HDX16t can be used for occasional travel, the MC7803 is strictly a desktop replacement.

The MC7803's feature set is reasonable. Gateway isn't offering a Blu-ray drive at the moment, while the HDX16t and the Sony FW198UH have them as options. The MC7803u's dual-layer DVD burner, however, should be sufficient for the average user. An HDMI-out port is present, and although Blu-ray movies can't take advantage of it, you can stream downloaded high-definition movies or high-quality presentations to a larger display that accepts the format. Other necessities like the four USB ports, two headphone ports, a 5-in-1 card reader, and a webcam are also included. You won't find a FireWire port, an internal TV tuner, or a fingerprint reader, though, as you would with the HDX16t.

Gateway laptops in general are excellent performers for the money you pay. At this price point, though, certain sacrifices had to be made: The processor is the 2.0-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5800, which is a previous-generation model. Both the HDX16t and the FW198UH carry current-generation Centrino 2 processors; but of course, they're more expensive. And now that Gateway has gone completely retail, processing options are limited as well. (The only configuration of this laptop currently available is the one I reviewed.) It gets better from here, though. The MC7803u comes with a 64-bit Vista operating system that takes full advantage of the preinstalled 4GB of memory. It also comes with an ATI Radeon 3650 graphics card, which is good for moderate game play, although judging from 3DMark '06 and World in Conflict tests, serious gamers would be better off with the HDX16t.

The HDX16t was more than twice as fast as the MC7803u on CineBench R10 and video encoding tests. The Gateway's Photoshop CS3 score wasn't quite as humiliating, though it still trailed the HDX16t by 43 percent. Performance scores may seem dismal, but this laptop is equipped well enough to handle general-purpose tasks like word processing and Web surfing without a problem, and even advanced tasks like some light video and photo editing.

This notebook's 71-Wh battery is bigger than the HDX16t's, which showed in the battery tests. MobileMark 2007 yielded a battery score of 2 hours 47 minutes—not great, but longer lasting than the HDX16t's 2:8. You should get well over 3 hours of battery life by turning off the backlit keyboard.

Gateway has a long history of delivering powerful products at competitive prices, yet for the most part, design has been missing from its repertoire. Now Gateway has that, too—and at a good time, as the MC7803u now sits on retail shelves competing to catch the consumer's eye. Overall, it's a very handsome and decent-performing 16-inch laptop at a price that will make any frugal shopper happy. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the wide selection of processing parts and features of our Editors' Choice, the HP HDX16t.

Check out the Gateway MC7803u's performance test scores.

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