Gateway EC1805U or EC1803U Notebook PCs $350 - BCB + SH @ TigerDirect, Circuit City or CompUSA

Gateway EC1805U or EC1803U Notebook PC - Intel Core 2 Solo ULV SU3500 1.4GHz, 2GB DDR2, 250GB HDD, 11.6" Display

Almost identical to a popular earlier discussed Acer Aspire AS1410-8XXX series Notebook PC

Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 1.4GHz
2GB DDR2 (max 4GB) - both memory slots are occupied unlike in Acer!
250GB HDD
11.6" WXGA
Intel 4500 MHD graphics
Vista Home Premium
6 cell battery

Available @ TigerDirect in black and red.

or @ CompUSA in black and red

or @ CircuitCity in black and red.

Price is $349.97 - $42 Bing Cash Back + about $7 ground shipping brings the total to approx. $315

Is the CPU upgradeable on these lappies? Or is it soldered in? I would love to drop a SU2300 in there. Is that possible?

I guess I saw the bluetooth feature listed in the specs of a similar model. That means that, like my Acer, internal bluetooth can probably be added later instead of getting a dongle. (I use the dongles on both my netbook and my laptop and but they are still sometimes kind of annoying.)

I have the ec14 version of this notebook which looks to be exactly the same as this. Only difference is mine has a dual core celeron (surprisingly fast) and added the internal bluetooth (eBay modules blink a lot). I get anywhere from 4.5 - 5.5 hours on battery. You can also buy larger batteries for these (I think there's an 1810 5600 mah that fits) and switching to an ssd is supposed to add a considerable chunk of battery time. 315 for this version is a good price (for comparison, mine was ~350). The trackpad on the gateways are supposed to be nicer than the as1410

Is it a 64 or 32 bit system.
Can't seem to find the answer anywhere ....

I have the same but the acer version (32bit) and need one as a spare (will swap the hdd)

It comes with Windows Vista Home 32bit

Got Bing Cash Back on the black one. I checked out the reviews and this seems to play HD well, which makes sense since it has HDMI out. I'll be putting Win7 on it. I've never used a flash drive to do that but it's supposedly much faster than using DVD. Imgburn will burn and image to a USB flash drive. All I have is an 8GB micro card. We'll see if that works. I may even install the Acer 1410 bluetooth module.

Finally got it to boot to the flash card. I used a free utility called
Novicorp WinToFlash (tried the Microsoft utility, Imgburn and UNetbootin which didn't work). Extracted the iso with Winrar and and then copied the files with WinToFlash. Lightening fast installation.

RogerOH879 said: how is this streaming video from hulu? Play some HD video files, 720? 1080? Thanks..

Wondering if I can use this as a Boxee box connected to a TV.

Hulu 360p vids seem a bit jerky even tho they only using 80% of cpu. Youtube HD 720p vids ran fairly smooth tho. Watching Lost online was jerky. HD vids that you download would run perfectly fine, I'm sure.

Wireless sensitivity is is very good. I'm at the park right now using someone that I normally can barely get and getting 2-3 bars. Sound is very good for such a small laptop.

Installing OS from the flash drive was incredibly fast (30 mins including making partitions and setting up network). Windows found drivers for everything but the touch-pad scroll and Launch Manager (fn key onscreen displays).

Update: Noticed a flickering on dark backgrounds but the new Acer 1410 BIOS fixed it! Installs from within Windows (right click, run as admin).

slycat said: installed from flash?...u don't mean usbkey..but a flashcard?

i have a 8gb lexar compactflash...so i can plug that into the memory slot and install win7 from there?

if so can u provide a short step by step? thanks.

u guys going to 32bit or 64bit win7?...which gives better performance...i'm prolly sticking with 2gig mem.

Yes, I used an 8GB micro card in an adapter (flat thing the size of a stamp) but 4GB would have sufficed. Extracted iso file to a folder using Winrar and then used WinToFlash to create the bootable card. I set BIOS to offer boot selection when you hit F12. I installed 64 bit Win7 tho I don't know if there is any advantage since this has only one core. Now that I fixed the flicker (BIOS), this thing is perfect. I'm afraid to install the bluetooth module, lol.

I'm getting used to the small screen. I set desktop fonts to 115% and IE zoom to 125%. Moved the taskbar to the left and set desktop icons to small. Turned off all animation in Advanced/Perfromance. Screen shot. Another screen shot.

slycat said: thanks...i just finished installing win7 32bit...used a usbkey instead...

i thought it had a compactflash so after loading the CF i was like...what the heck, no slot for CF, duh?

It comes with a dummy adapter to fill the slot. BTW, I discovered another trick to make a small laptop seem larger. I used MS Intellipoint (free) to set the wheel button to do F11. MS Optical Mouse 500 is a perfect mouse for this laptop, it even matches. A bluetooth mouse would be nice but I'd lose it and it would use power.

http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/ddaStep.asp?Tab=All

Synaptics driver and Launch Manager. I don't think you need anything else unless to want all the audio and video controls.

Here's one on eBay for $13.75 shipped free from HK after 8% Bing. http://cgi.ebay.com/2-0-bluetooth-module-cable-Acer-Aspire-1410-...

slycat said: so far my only gripe is the webcam...its pretty low res no?

I haven't tried it. One reviewer said there is a plastic film over it that you can remove. I noticed a plastic film on all the shiny parts. I'll take them off if I ever sell this.

slycat said: ok watched some 720p vids on this unit with everything turned on, aero etc...streamed over wireless network, worked great, no stutter, quite surprised

Maybe I should try Win7 32 bit. I noticed jerkiness on slow-moving backgrounds. Try LOST. People's faces and hands looked normal tho. I could put it on my 2nd partition and really be able to compare.

Another tip for dinky laptops: CTRL + mouse-wheel will zoom in 5% increments. Found a car adapter for $17.70 after Bing. http://cgi.eBay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220617063891

slycat said: dunno if you did, but make sure to also install directx...

That may have helped. Maybe I'm being hyber-critcal and looking for absolute smoothness. Also watching full-screen. I may install 32bit just for fun. My two partions are 50/50 so I can always reformat the one I don't want.

GMY said: Still alive. Just purchased a black one from Tiger Direct with $42 bing CB pending.

I love my Acer AS1410 which is this Gateway's twin.

How did you do this?

I get the following
"This product is excluded from the CashBack program. Adding this product to the cart will make this order ineligible for CashBack. "

raderator said: http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/ddaStep.asp?Tab=All

Synaptics driver and Launch Pad. I don't think you need anything else unless to want all the audio and video controls.

im having trouble finding the model number there for some reason.. must need sleep

chipmonger said: If you go to bing.com, log in, click 'Shopping', search for 'TigerDirect' click on the 'bing CashBack' for www.TigerDirect.com, and then at TD search for ec1803u, the product page will have the "This product is excluded from the CashBack program. Adding this product to the cart will make this order ineligible for CashBack." disclaimer.

If you go to bing.com, log in, click 'Shopping', click on TigerDirect under 'Featured $ CashBack stores' (or See all stores), when you go to TD and search for ec1803u, the product page will NOT have the disclaimer. Processing an order this way does not seem to show on any TD order page that CB will be included.

That worked! Bing shows my CashBack. Thank you so much.

Which is the best processor in this Acer/Gateway series? I just got a Acer 1810t with SU7300.