Gateway ID49: Mixing the Bag

Another Dismal Notebook Screen

I've joked half-heartedly with some of the other writers and editors here that the screen section of our notebook reviews is under constant threat of redundancy, getting perilously close to being as pointless as reviewing laptop speakers. If one in twenty laptops produces halfway decent sound, then generally it's easy to assume the speakers suck and the exceptions to the rule are the ones that get brought up (example: the Dell Studio 17.) The same could be said of notebook screens.

The real problem is that while speakers often require a measure of physical space to produce quality sound, a good notebook panel isn't a matter of logistics. Unfortunately, we run the risk of repeating ourselves with the screen on the Gateway ID49C.

Ugh. Most of the other screens we have reviewed are pretty bad, so it's even more disappointing when the screen on the ID49C manages to sit at the bottom of most charts. While it's reasonably bright, the contrast on it is dismal and color-reproduction just as bad.

Even subjectively, the screen is unattractive. While backlighting and viewing angles aren't quite as terrible as some of the other review units, colors get washed out with alarming frequency, and the overall quality pales in comparison. If you wanted to nitpick, you might notice the dithering is also fairly poor and visibly noticeable. This is a bad screen even by laptop standards.