I bought this as my first laptop and I am in Love. I have had it for about 18 months now and still love it just as much. There are a few details that I would like to see improved upon and if they are I will be buying another Gateway NV53 when I am ready for another laptop. Pros first...lightweight, great picture quality, durable, lots of great features (love built in webcam), easy to use and function, quick battery charge. Cons - Could use a bit more battery charge length (doesnt last long even when fully charged), better sound system and a little bit more quality of surfaces meaning, in 18 months it looks much older than that becuase if discoloration of keys, scratches easliy etc. that could be though because I use it SOOO MUCH. After I bought this I have used my desktop about 10 times (in 18 months). It starts up and shuts down in lightening speed. As I said, could use a few improvements but for the price I feel I got a steal!

leopardgirl31182

Waterford, MI

I was a little weary at first purchasing a refurbished gateway laptop as ive heard horror stories, But in all honesty when this thing arrived I did not see for any reason for this laptop to have any real defects :). This does not have a docking station port unfortunately. This has a gigabit lan which is awesome and very useful. However the wireless N might be dying as the speed fluctuates. The already installed windows 7 has been stable as a rock with some minor hitches here and there, but overall this laptop is great. Renders movies ok is very quiet, has memory card slots a 500 gig hard drive 4 usb 2.0 ports and a dvd burner which burns pretty good. and a nice touch panel at the top to activate the volume buttons and also a webcam. handles hd videos quite well :). no keyboard covers for this unfortunately. I forgot to also mention the screen is LED :).

djelusion

Bellflower, CA

This is the way to go for portable media viewing. The screen size is perfect for watching movies, and yet is still small enough to be extremly portable. I really love the touch pad volume controls, regular buttons wear out and break so easily but these will be around for a while. Internet always runs smoothly and wireless works almost perfectly. Battery life is about 2 hours or so. The power button is located on the side of the laptop in the rotating part of the lid so it took forever to find. :-D It shuts down quickly and comes out of hibernating smoothly. There is a handy button that turns off the touch pad so you don't accidently mess up something while using the keybord. The touchpad works great as well. the construction of the laptop is very sturdy and I even dropped it without breaking it. I wouldn't reccomend testing that out on purpose though. :-P I got this for a fantastic deal and it was worth every penny!

CosettePontmercy

Joliet, IL

This i s the fastest, coolest computer ever. Great laptop with all the features, but I got it for a steal. It was a one day sale, and am I ever glad I bought it. The blu-ray is excellent, easy to set up to my home theater system, so I can watch everything on my LCD big screen TV. The screen on this laptop is glossy LED-so crystal clear like I have never seen before. It has Dolby surround sound, so movies sound great and look great on the 16:9 widescreen. It has 4 gb of RAM, so I can run just about all my programs PLUS a movie at the same time, and it still has room to go. Super fast boot up and shut down, even with all the programs loaded on it. THe card reader works for all of my memory cards, and uploads in a snap with beautiful results and amazing quality. Wirelessly prints from my 802.11g WLAN printer, so I can  print with ease without having to plug into USB ports. The computer is rigged with 4 USB ports to handle all of the stuff I use-can have all four working at the same time with no loss of speed. Has wireless LAN so I can move all my data to other computers. It's lightweight, about 4 pounds, has a gorgeous blue hexagon print carbonite body that won't scratch, because it goes through all of the layers of paint. It's the only computer I haven't had to worry about getting a snap-on plastic case or even use skins for protection. I highly recommend this Gateway to anyone- novice or expert, because it will definitely not disappoint even the techies out there!    

dreamcatchersonline

Ladysmith, WI

One of the reasons I bought this laptop was for school. I was fooled by the pretty specs on the front. The only good thing about this is it makes a good paperweight. When I brought it home, I opened it and tried it out. Since I was not satisfied, I tried to return it and I could not. So I smashed it with a hammer and put the pieces into a bag. I then placed the bag into the oven and melted the pieces. I then opened the door to my batcave, and smelted a sword out of the melted pieces. I grabbed the sword and went out to fight crime. Since I lost my legs during WWII, I just beat the crap out of 80 year-olds. I retired after a few days and now the sword sits on my desk, as a paperweight. Whenever I get a customer through the door, I tell them this incredibly long story, and if they try to fall asleep, I jump on the desk and lunge at them with the sword, cutting their jugular. I hide their bodies under the carpet.

Gonzephus

Miami, FL

Last year our desktop and my husband's laptop bit the dust, so we decided to find a laptop he could take to school with him. The NV 53 has been a great computer for us. We love the web cam, the speed of the computer and the ease typing is on it. The only thing we don't like with it is when it hibernates it doesn't turn back on right away, which is frustrating.

hyperosmolar

Salt Lake City, UT

Ok this laptop is pretty awesome when it comes to upgrading. I was able to slap in a amd M620 cpu without a hitch. The memory I am not sure if this can support 8gb but is worth an effort. It has a dvdrw gigabit lan which works really well. also an hdmi output which is great for adding a tv monitor to it. I am not able to find important features like disassembly of this but after looking on youtube this is identicle to the NV52 actually. No keyboard key covers so not very friendly if you want to protect the keys. It has 4 usb 2.0 ports a nice kensington lock on the side and a nice webcam located at the top lid is. There is also a microphone placed by the lid as well. This laptop does have a nice touch bar which you can raise / lower the volume enable / disable wireless. A program button which I believe you can assign programs to open. Last but not least a 1 touch backup button that works with the gateway software. I am not sure if you can assign this button to norton ghost instead :). I forgot to mention it has a multi card reader and comes installed with windows 7 and Had a LED Display. I am not sure if this laptop has windows xp support. Gateway does not offer any real technical support such as replacing keyboard or any other miscellaneous parts.

phraser

Bellflower, CA

I've had this Gateway NV53 laptop PC for almost a year now and I can never get off it.It has evrything I want in a laptop.500 GB and 4 G memory.It has a webcam and a muti in 1 card reader so that you can download all your pictures or favorite songs off your cell phones, digital cameras and MP-3 players. It's a pretty soft touch keyboard.I find it very easy to navigate.I have Windows Media Player which not only stores my personal info,pictures, etc...but I can personalize them into whatever categories that I like.The unit itself is not very heavy so it's easy to take with you when you're on the go.It comes with Windows 7 and a 30 day trial of Norton's antivirus.I actually wanted another version with a Blu-ray player but this version turned out to be what I needed.This is the second laptop from Gateway that I have purchased and I have never had any problems with their systems.I definitely reccommend this laptop if you'rre looking for a computer with a lot of features and a little price!

acenchula

Chicago, IL

I do love this laptop, but hate the problems that I have been having. I got this computer in April/May 2010. I have had the same problems that most everyone has had with W7 and IE8. However, the problems have continued and could possibly be memory(ram) or heating issues. System throws shut down error messages and then shuts down and restarts. I have been working with Gateway to resolve issues, but shipping can be costly. I bought my first GatewayPC in 97, long before the Emachine takeover and the Acer buyout. I had no problems with computer at all. Bought my second computer, Emachine, prior to takeover and had no problem with that one. Bought my new GatewayPC at Christmas 09 and it runs beautifully other than IE8 shutting down. Windows really should fix that problem. Overall, I love Gateway products and still would recommend them regardless of the issues I am having with this laptop. Of course, love and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

grneyeldy

Kings Mountain, NC

Going back to school after be out for awhile is always a challenge. My gateway has made it alot easier. I have all my reports, homework, portfolio, files all seperated from my at home just messing around on the computer stuff. It is so easy to set up and I love having to the update alerts. seriously who has the time to go around looking for updates on all the programs. who would want to. Thank you Gateway!

placename

Temple, TX