Wave Systems Corp. (fka WAVXQ)

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Gateway M465-E

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ZDM/story?id=1648810&technology=true

New components (including a dual-core processor), enhanced security, and improved battery life are just some of things the Gateway M465-E offers.

The Gateway M465-E is not just a conventional business notebook, although its design might say otherwise. With Intel's latest Core Duo components, a solid security platform, and long battery life, it packs a wallop. If raising the performance bar is your company's motto or if you're a tireless workaholic, then the M465-E is worth considering.

On the outside, the M465-E retains the same bland design as the Gateway M460 (and every other laptop the company makes). Newer components trim the weight down to 6.3 pounds (from the M460's 6.8 pounds), but the Lenovo ThinkPad Z60t (5.5 pounds) is still a lighter traveling companion.

The M465-E 15.4 inches of screen space is plenty for viewing Microsoft Word and Excel files side by side. On the input from, the touch pad is responsive, but the pointing stick is less so—stiff, in fact. The ThinkPad Z60t's TrackPoint technology is still unmatched.

If you're tired of seeing your antivirus software bog down other applications, then dual-core processing is for you. The 1.83-GHz Intel Core Duo T2400 is a notch below the Core Duo processors in the Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi and the Dell Inspiron E1705, but the results are still impressive. We simultaneously rendered a high-resolution image using Adobe Photoshop CS2 and transcoded a video file using Windows Media Encoder 9—and both tasks ran smoothly with Norton AntiVirus scanning in the background.

The M465-E's SYSmark 2004 SE scores were slightly below those of another recent dual-core notebook, the HP Pavilion dv1000t, which has twice as much RAM and a faster Core Duo processor. Overall on these tests, the M465-E outperformed the M460 (which has a single-core processor) by 25 percent. Windows Media Encoder test results were on a par with those of the other dual-core notebooks we've tested, but Photoshop scores were not as impressive because of the somewhat stingier allotment of RAM (512MB).

Battery life was a bright spot for the M465-E: It outlasted the competition on our MobileMark 2005 tests. The system's 6-cell, 57-Wh battery chugged along for 4 hours 4 minutes, besting the dv1000t's 3:47. If 240 minutes isn't enough, Gateway offers a 12-cell, 98-Wh battery that lasts an astonishing 7:09. The larger battery brings the system weight up to 6.9 pounds, but if you're in meetings all day, the extra weight—and $120—is worthwhile.

For I/O, you'll find four USB ports, all on the right side of the notebook, and you'll also get FireWire, S-Video Out, and VGA ports. The M465-E comes with a modular dual-layer DVD±R drive and a 5-in-1 memory card reader. The standard 60GB hard drive is adequate for business use, but you can also upgrade to a 100GB drive for $135.

The machine doesn't have a fingerprint reader, but it does include a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip, the first Gateway notebook to have one. This means that you can store and encrypt passwords and security keys at the hardware level, which is much safer than having them stored in Microsoft Windows. The M465-E also integrates its own proprietary recovery suite, which we found easy to use, but the laptop still lacks a comprehensive set of management tools such as Lenovo ThinkPads offer. In a very small business or a home office, you might not need all those management tools, though.

The Gateway M465-E is significantly more powerful than its predecessor, the M460. Although its design won't turn any heads, the new security features and excellent battery life will have corporate buyers thinking "upgrade."

See how the Gateway M465-E measures up to similar machines in our laptop comparison chart.

Check out the M465-E's benchmark test results.