15.6" Gateway® NV59C66u Intel Core i3 Laptop 4GB Deals

By listener (Lexington, KY)
This review is from: 15.6" Gateway® NV59C66u Intel Core i3 Laptop 4GB Notebook 500GB Computer with BLU-RAY (Personal Computers)
I was looking for a new replacement laptop and bought this one from Best Buy, party due to the many good reviews it had. I have been very satisfied.

My old laptop chugged and chugged on the hard drive, and I had decided that my next laptop would have a 7200rpm hard drive for the speed factor. However, I never found a laptop I liked with a 7200rpm hard drive. Furthermore, after doing research on hard drive speeds, I found out that a 7200rpm hard drive is not necessarily faster than all 5400rpm hard drives. This laptop has a 5400rpm hard drive, and I have been very satisfied with the speed.

My old laptop did not play videos well, stuttering on full screen standard def videos due to low processing power. I decided that my new laptop would need to handle 1080p full screen videos smoothly, and so far this laptop has been doing that.

As I researched new laptops, I noticed that some laptops seemed to get too hot. I have been impressed with how cool this laptop runs. Now mind you, you have to give it proper ventilation. If you are smothering the bottom by having it rest on a blanket, it will get warm/hot. But if you have it on a flat surface like a lapdesk, etc., it runs relatively cool. It's even cooler than my old laptop.

My old laptop had static on the headphone port, so I wanted to make sure that this one did not, and I have not noticed any static.

I'm glad I got this laptop, and I would recommend it.

 By Frosty - (BA)
This review is from: 15.6" Gateway® NV59C66u Intel Core i3 Laptop 4GB Notebook 500GB Computer with BLU-RAY (Personal Computers)
I bought this laptop as a replacement a year and a half ago. It has worked very well for me since then, no problems with the system. However, the hardware has slowly deteriorated over time, just from regular use. The screen hinge on the left side has loosened and when I went to open the laptop today, the hinge ripped a bunch of the plastic off the corner of the screen and the corner of the laptop itself. Another issue I had was that the charger plug also came loose, causing the laptop to not recognize that it is plugged in. Overall this laptop works well, but the hardware issues after long-term use that I have had would cause me not to recommend it to others. The hinges especially appear to be poorly made.

By DaytonaDan (Florida)
This review is from: 15.6" Gateway® NV59C66u Intel Core i3 Laptop 4GB Notebook 500GB Computer with BLU-RAY (Personal Computers)
I have good luck with Gateways in the past and this one is another real winner from the value standpoint, with a fast, cool running CPU, plenty of memory, a spacious and fast hard drive, n-wireless, plus Blu-ray and Wimax built in, you cannot beat this laptop for the price.
It's the only i3 laptop so equipped at this price point that I could find.
Setup was a breeze, thanks to Windows 7's near painless setup procedures. Almost no crapware to get rid of beyond the ubiquitous Norton Anti-virus (use free Avast or AVG and save the ridiculous yearly fees charged by Norton et al). Exceedingly quiet, as most laptops tend to be, and good battery life....about 4 hours when new. Not the best but not bad.
Don't need wimax yet but I tried it and it works. If you can afford the hefty monthly fees and live in area where this is available, it might but worthwhile. Nice to have if you need it in the future.
Keyboard may be the only downside. As a touch typist, I don't particularly like the square flat chicklet keys, but for those who want a stand alone numeric keypad, it's there on this larger than usual laptop keypad.
Screen format is 16:9, great for watching Blu-ray movies but shorter than the usual 15.6-inch screen. Screen quality is good but not great. There's HDMI out for connecting to larger screens.
Some don't like the satin "espresso" (brown) finish but it like it better than the shiny piano black of my old laptop, which showed every finger and palm print. Touchpad works OK, supports gestures.
Very good built in speakers, best I have ever heard on a laptop. Special "social media" key for launching all the usual suspects in one keystroke.
A good deal for the money.
My 5 year-old core2duo Gateway is still cranking but decided to upgrade because the battery was toast and wanted to move up to Windows 7. Hopefully, the new one will be as reliable as the old one, which cost a third more and is a bit heavier.