We did have some trouble inserting the floppy disk -- tough to get it to click in. We also tended to accidentally hit the floppy drive eject button, which sticks out the front of the docking unit. Floppy drive also seemed awful slow.
Gateway portable played DVDs okay. But with only 8 MBs or video RAM, images on movies and video games were a bit jumpy. The bigger problem: machine failed MD test. Sound was no better than adequate. Worse, when we inserted Sketchs of Spain, entire wrist-rest vibrated. Either machine likes Miles Davis a whole lot, or our CD drive was a lemon. Think the latter's more likely. Why? First off, machine did not vibrate when we inserted a DVD. What's more, we could not recreate this problem on the Dell X200, which is pretty much the same computer.
Assuming the VWR (vibrating wrist-rest) is not a standard feature, and assuming you don't play a whole lot of Frogger, you'll be hard pressed to find better portable computer for the money.
(Editor's Note: Thin is in for notebook computers, but how about the computer makers themselves — how much cash do they keep on hand? See for yourself with the CFO PeerMetrix interactive scorecards.)
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