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THE netbook market is one crowded space.
So to set themselves apart from the competition, vendors are turning to bigger screens and faster chips.
Others such as Gateway are borrowing features from touchscreen smartphones.
Take the LT2005g.
Compared to its earlier models in the LT netbook series, this version sports a bigger 10.1-inch screen and a faster 1.66GHz N280 Atom processor.
To make sure it is not an also-ran, Gateway designers are counting on the touchpad for good measure.
The touchpad here likes to be gestured at: Specific finger flicks let you zoom in and out of Web pages and pictures, plus navigate back and forth in photo slideshows.
Zooming requires a pinching action - similar to what you would do on the Apple iPhone and other touchscreen smartphones.
To navigate back and forth in a photo slideshow or Web browser, simply slide two fingers together horizontally across the touchpad.
Finger gestures are great for screen control and navigation, except that they work better on touchscreens than on touchpads, which make gesturing seem awkward and unnatural.
Also, applications such as Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer are not that responsive to all the finger pointing on the touchpad.
The Gateway LT2005g has all the standard features of netbooks - a memory card reader, three USB ports, a 160GB hard drive, an integrated webcam and both wired and wireless network connectivity.
Its Atom processor and standard 1GB DDR2 memory are sufficient for basic computing tasks including word processing, Internet browsing and video streaming.
The six-cell battery lasted for about five hours, which is acceptable given that I also played games like Bejeweled and Zuma Deluxe. High-definition (HD) video, however, continues to be a sticking point for current netbooks in the market.
Gateway has paired the N280 Atom processor with the older 945GSE chipset rather than the GN40, which is touted to have better high definition.
The result: HD videos streamed from YouTube appeared choppy.
The widescreen display showed bright images and videos, though it seemed odd that Gateway did not include an onscreen indicator for screen brightness.
Final say
The LT2005g looks too similar to its Acer AspireOne cousin.
More work is needed in the design department.
This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.
