Who needs a backlit keyboard when you have a backlit touchpad? Okay, that's really a rhetorical question, but Gateway's newest 13.3-inch EC339C and 14-inch ID49C08u do in fact have glowing blue touchpads. The pad itself only lights up when you put your finger to it, and like
HP's ClickPads have integrated mouse buttons. The rest of the thin and light machines are equally as impressive -- they have nabbed Acer's chiclet style keyboard and have that
dedicated social networking key that Gateway seems to be adding to many of its systems. The key, which may very well have the cutest logo of all time stamped upon it, launched a social networking widget that allows for adding Facebook, YouTube and Flickr feeds to a timeline. Internally, the EC39C packs a Core i5 ULV processor and NVIDIA Optimus for switching between the GeForce 310 GPU and Intel's integrated HD graphics. The ID49C08u has a standard voltage Core i5, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive and an onboard optical drive. Your guess is as good as ours about availability and pricing, but we did grab you some nice hands-on shots and a video of that crazy touchpad after the break.
posted June 4th 2010 5:23AM
Looks pretty nice. How easily hackintoshable is it though? That and an i5 or i7 is my only requirements when choosing one at the moment.
@versp
It says it has an i5. There is also Intel and Nvidia videocards which means Hackintosh A-OK. Only thing you'd have to check is wireless card.
@versp pity about it being a gateway really....are they still making computers...they should really just give up
@dagetz My first computer ever was a Gateway...I remember my mom typing her entire phD on it, and saving it all to floppy disks.
sorry but if you don't know where your trackpad is without looking for it, you need your head looking at
@Gonzie
Mom: Why'd you go $200 over on your laptop budget, Greg!?!?
Son: I needed the glowing trackpad. Check it out, mom!
*Son's face... Mom's palm...*
ID49C08u says: Ladies... take a look at your notebook, now back to me, now back at your notebook, NOW BACK TO ME. Sadly, it isn't me, but it could look like me if you installed a glowing trackpad...
... i'm on a mouse.
@buoy
+1 for the reference to the best ad ever.
@buoy
Made. my. day.
I like this one. Gateway has been kicking ass with prices lately, so I'm hoping for a budget price on this one.
does it flicker? or is it because of the video capture..
@rizeljamn35 No but it does flickr.
One honest question. Why?
Assuming there's a reasonably answer, I pose another - why blue? It'll just annoy the crap out of you, particularly since it's one of the hardest colours for the human eye to focus on.
@Glitch
*reasonable
@Glitch
There is a serious case modding market for power gamers. But it's almost all for desktop PCs. When the time comes and laptops are suitable for hardcore gaming as well, these guys are ready. Apparently for some things you don't need a reason.
I remember my Toshiba X205-SLI1 laptop from three or four years ago had a glowing blue trackpad.. though it only lit up when it was in mode 2, which used quadrants to launch programs or adjust volume..
@Byzil Toshiba made some Satellite laptops that had the same feature. I always thought that was a ingenious inclusion. My sis still has her's (but it is quickly aging)
@Byzil
I'm sorry, I can't see the usefulness of this, other than for aesthetics and eye candy. It seems like it would be an additional (small) drain on battery life.
Chuck an uber cheap android device AS the trackpad that reports x/y co-ords to the main machine.
Always on, so you can do a quick check of something without booting up the main machine. Maybe a popout option to 'take it with you'
AND...
As Google would know everything being clicked on through the pad, they'd have even MORE knowledge of what you're doing! mwahahah *hic*
Ok... back to seriousness. I've often wondered why trackpads AREN'T more intelligent. Those EEE-pad PC's/new Commodore machine, it'd be neat if those displays in the keyboard could be used as secondary screens innately. If there's USB vga monitors about that do touchscreen, can't you get a small one as a trackpad that windows see's by default as a second screen and you could configure to show IM's popping up/IRC notes/ REALLY basic things, but on a secondary mini screen that's also a trackpad.
(26 hours awake now, things getting woozy, night all)
@Jyve I wouldn't be surprised if there were a laptop trackpad which used Sideshow on a screen to display information. It doesn't need to be an entirely separate OS (in fact, Microsoft probably wouldn't like an Android touchpad much), and Sideshow might integrate better with an installed Windows operating system. The drawback is, you'd have to figure out how to implement it yourself if you switched OS.
So many laptops to choose from.
This one
The ASUS N43
The new Acer Timelines
I want to say Asus for the brand and build quality, but who knows when that model will come out.
The Aspire Timelines are out now, but lack the Optimus technology and people say bad things about Acer (but I've never had a problem with them - the Aspire I have now has been going strong for 4 years this October)
Then there's this. It has Optimus, great keyboard (with decent sized shift key), but you get what you pay for, and I can't help but feel that I'll have some sort of problem with this just about of Warranty.
@garionw Acer owns Gateway.
I say no to useless light effects that chew on the battery for no good reason.
Gimmickry at its cheapest.
I like how the social media key is adjacent to the delete key. If you're too drunk to hit the right key, you now can't ruin your life with an innapropriate post.
Typical scenario:
Sales: "Our kit is regarded as junk but we need sales"
Marketing: "Put flashy lights on"
Customer: "Cor, look at the lights, pretty innit?"
Glowing track pads.
Close up shop Apple! You had a good run.
I bet glowing LCD screens will be next. Doh, they already glow. Darn, what about IO ports? Mac owns.
@jckchn almost! what's coming up are LCD screens that DON'T glow. it's going the other way. lol.
glowing touchpads? they have got to be kidding me. Backlit keyboards, i understand, but touchpads? this is just ridiculous.
man, my old toshiba satellite from 2001 did that...
That's freaking distracting. It's a stupid idea. When you want to concentrate your attention on the screen, this stupid trackpad will be blinking constantly. Who came up with this idea?
@bathellfire I am pretty sure that it wont be blinking, I assume that the flickering we are seeing is just from the camcorder itself.
The 13.3" one seems pretty neat... now let's just hope for 1366x768 or higher resolution... am getting sick of this 1280x800 business.
it smells like a really bad battery-sucking marketing idea to me.
i don't see any advantage to a pad that essentially flickers when i use it. computer interfaces need a purpose to succeed and what's the purpose here? give us lighted keys !!!
How is this a new technology? My 5 year old Toshiba Satellite A105 has a backlit touchpad that looks exactly like that, blue color and all. You can turn it on, off, or set it to come on when you touch it just like that one does. I don't even use that feature though because the Ubuntu drivers don't bother to include it. Not to sound cynical or anything, but I find it slightly annoying when an article raves over a "new feature" that's really just a played gimmick.