Touch Screen Laptops

Touch screen laptops have always been my favorite kind of notebooks as they can be used both as normal laptops and even as a tablet PC. One example of the many touch screen laptops that can be found on the market is the Gateway E-155C, a model which comes at a starting price of $1849 but the price of the unit reviewed here is $2073.

The tablet Gateway takes its power from a 1.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 processor and 1 GB of RAM.  The graphics card found on this unit is the Intel Mobile Express 945 GM integrated. The total storage capacity of the hard drive is 80 GB. The dimensions of this unit are 14.2 x 10.1 x 1.3 inches and the total weight of the system is 4.9 pounds (if we include the AC adapter that will lead to a total weight of 5.7 pounds). The screen measures 12.1 inches in diagonal. The unit comes with the preinstalled version of the Windows Vista Ultimate. This display comes with a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels which is common for 15.4 inch laptops rather than 12 inch ones.




As for the selection of ports and features, this unit is quite under the category average. It comes with 2 USB ports, instead of 3 which is normal. Aside from those USB ports, you get a mini FireWire port, a multiformat digital media card reader, a VGA out, a PC card slot, an Ethernet port, a modem port and the regular headphones out and microphone in jacks. It is easy to customize this laptop. For example, the unit reviewed came with a 80 GB hard drive which was over $25 the price of the standard 60 GB one. If you wish to go with the 120 GB hard drive you have to pay an extra $64. Additional RAM is also going to be more expensive.



When you are dealing with 12 inch tablet PCs, you expect to get a decent score when it comes to the battery performance as it is essential for ultra portable unit to be able to stay on for a considerable number of hours when you are away from a power outlet. While performing the video playback test that drains the battery, the Gateway E-155C managed to stay on for 1 hour and 55 minutes with the four cell but you can choose the six battery for an extra price of $40.



Unfortunately, the battery life is way too weak and for the same price, you can get a tablet notebook that comes with better battery performance than the E-155C. For example, the Toshiba Portege M400 is a tablet PC which is quite similar to the Gateway presented above, with the exception that the M400 is capable of staying 4 hours and 20 minutes with a very demanding battery drain test. This Toshiba tablet PC comes at a starting price of $1745 and it features the same 12.2 inch display as the Gateway E-155C.