Gateway's Windows 7-boasting EC18T tablet images, specs leak onto the screen
By Laura June 
posted October 5th 2009 1:17PM
posted October 5th 2009 1:17PM
Hey, what's this attractive looking dude? Well, from the looks of it, it's Gateway's not-yet-announced or previously spied tablet PC. A tipster with access to a seemingly infinite number of photos of this bad boy also shot over a spec sheet of the purported EC18T, and here's what we're looking at. This 11.6-incher is going to boast an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, a Mobile Intel GS45 Express graphics chipset, and it'll run either Windows 7 Home Premium or Basic. Of course, none of this is official information, and we have no info on pricing or availability yet. Hit the gallery for a plethora (seriously) of photos.
[Thanks, Anonymous]
[Thanks, Anonymous]
Hello Anonymous,
is there talk of backlit keyboard for this baby?
in my opinion that is one option that Acer should implement on this model and the upcoming 1410TZ models.
i often work in bad lit places, or after dark, and i would love the option of having my keyboard lit up. would do wonders for my eyes!
thnx
I have a C140X and it is nearly indestructible.
be nice if they had the really important specs, like digitizer/touchscreen, those lil' things.
If I might ask a question…?
Actually, let me start by saying thanks to you for taking the time to answer my post as directly as I had hoped… Your response was very candid and I respect that. I have a question for you (that pertains to the new EC18T) that I would like to leave until the very end, if you don’t mind…
As to your question, I have absolutely no problems at the moment, other than my gummy feet keep falling off and I have no working mic… But it really has more to do with the type of glue that is used for the feet than how much heat is being generated by the system (we’ll get to the problems with the microphone later… If you’re still around by then…). Why the same type of glue isn’t used on the gummies as was used to attach the rubber onto the battery for traction/style is beyond me… (It’s really good strong stuff)… As I said in my last post… I’m pretty much self-sufficient . The extra heat that was being generated by this laptop (note: this never occurred to me but there were quite a number of posts on this topic by fellow forum members over at TPCR…) was believed to be caused (by many on the forum) by a faulty bios… Once people experiencing the problem upgraded to the newer version, the problem usually ceased.
My particular problem comes when one speaks to the Level 1 techs and they flat out tell you that there is no such thing as tier 2 techs ... My question was much more specific… You see the first time my rubber feet started falling off, I called in and asked for new ones… (I still have the old part numbers somewhere) Level 1 sent them to me, no questions… After about 1.5 years the same thing happened only this time, (Post-Acer Takeover) I was told that not only could I not order those parts anymore, GW doesn’t even carry them... Um… Ok… ? Not only will I have to send my pc in to get it fixed, not doing so will void my warranty…? AND in order to replace the feet they have to replace the whole body of the system because it turns out they still have the feet, they’re just attached to the chassis of the pc… Um… WTF?
In addition, (yes, you’re right typically on most Laptops, overheating will usually have more to do with the heat sink being covered in dust…) they believe that the reason that this laptop is overheating has to do with my processor overheating… (um… but I usually run at 40-60? Well within the parameters for the t7300 that this pc is packing). Finally, and here’s the clincher… Did you know that the RAM, CPU, HDD and PCI-e cards on this laptop are supposed to be completely upgradable by the user? I mean 100% user upgradable… Did you know that the heat sink (according to whatever Tier 2 manager I spoke to a few months back) is absolutely not at all to be touched by the user? But it says I am allowed to upgrade the CPU… right? But Wait, I can’t remove the heat sink? So how am I supposed to get to the CPU? Ah… YES… I know… How about I pull the motherboard away from the heat sink? That way, I’m removing the motherboard, not the heat sink… Does that mean I have to take it apart from the back? And oh… So wait… Anonymous, you just told me to clean out the dust in the fan right? How would you suggest doing so? Canned air would only push the dust deeper into the heat sink, thus compounding the problem, while most vacuums lack sufficient suction to be able to clean out a computer from the inside… What does one do? Well, typically, you would remove the heat sink and --- oh wait… I just voided the warranty... The plain fact is that this system was designed with the end user in mind to be able to remove the heat sink to perform upgrades on the cpu as necessary… (I usually clean my heat sink every 6 months, it’s not hard, even a chimp will get it right sometimes…)
My biggest gripe about all this is probably one of the pettiest things that I could moan about… WTF was Gateway thinking… When I bought my laptop it was just before Vista SP1 came out (probably about 4-5 months at most). I remember the day I picked it up from the FedEx station.. It was glorious… **sheds a small tear**… No seriously, it was awesome, I could do the whole vista voice commands and stuff… Next thing I know, SP1 roles out and it kills my built in mic… WTF?!?!?!?! Ok… Granted it’s not your fault (hell, technically Acer wasn’t even in the picture yet… but you inherited their business, so you also inherited their responsibilities) its Microsoft and IDT’s fault, because SP1 doesn’t play well with the driver for my microphone… You know what you could have done? You could have spoken to those people over IDT or (whatever the company was called before) and told them that they needed to update their software to make the mics in our brand new systems compatible with SP1… It’s not right that a brand new computer (4 months old) can’t be used to its full potential because they manufacturers of one component are unwilling to make the effort… Again, it’s not your fault, but GW could have stepped up to the plate for its customers but instead it took a pass… Now we have dead built in mics… nice (and I’m still under warranty…?)
Once again, I’m sorry for the windedness of my rant, but I feel that it’s necessary given the opportunity…
My question is as follows… What sort of market research is Acer doing into the Tablet pc and convertible market? I ask because it seems to me that you are definitely pointing in the right direction, but are still missing the mark… If I might inquire, who is getting to design these systems which touch on beauty but do away with elegance?
I would love to have the opportunity to make some suggestions that might actually influence some sort of change in the minds of the people who are envisioning these masterpieces. The dream of future computing is hitting us now and I believe that it is time for a company like Acer to actually step away from the box and leap into today… I truly believe that whoever makes the next big leap in this form factor of computers will completely dominate it until the next generation of user interfaces is developed (3D)… Consider Apple’s iPhone… much as I hate to admit it, it’s pretty damned snazzy… You gotta beat them to the next punch… An even more relevant example, look at HPs tx2500 series… (In know you’ve seen it…). For the last 2 years it and its predecessors have topped the ranks of TPCR’s charts… Why? Because it’s the fastest laptop convertible? The C140 can STILL beat it at PC AND 3d mark…
The difference is style… This thing looks beautiful AND elegant
The difference is functionality… I like having both the option to use my finger AND the precision of a WACOM screen… It’s glorious…
Look me up on tabletpcreview.com if you would like, I don’t know how to get a hold of you otherwise… I would love to finish this, but my supervisor just said the typhoon is coming and I gotta get going…
Look forward to talking to you soon,
-Spartikiss