The Gateway 15.6-inch Ultra Slim laptop is a classic budget PC. Its price is difficult to beat, especially when you consider its reliable performance, ample storage capacity, and large screen size.

The recognizable spotted logo is still proudly printed on the top cover of the 15.6-inch Gateway Ultra Slim we reviewed here.

This laptop’s affordable price makes it seem like a reasonable choice for a child’s first computer or as an alternative to a Chromebook with a comparable price. It might be adequate for that, but be aware that the screen is the main cause of how cheap it feels—it looks faded and feels cheap.

If you are considering buying Gateway 15.6 notebook, keep reading our complete review, which covers all key information!

Pros And Cons

Pros

• Cheap for a 15-inch full-Windows laptop
• Lightweight for its size
• The webcam has a privacy slider
• Surprisingly long battery life
• Solid performance, storage, and screen size for the price
• Easy access to internal memory, storage, and battery
• Fingerprint reader
• MicroSD slot for adding storage

Cons

• Flexy, flimsy body
• Dim, washed-out screen
• No USB-C ports
• Sluggish performance
• The display has a harsh, blueish hue

Tech Specifications

Our Gateway 15.6-inch Ultra Slim Notebook review unit includes the following features:

• Display: 15.6-inch 1920×1080 IPS matte display
• CPU: Intel Core i3-1115G4 processor
• Memory: 8GB DDR4 RAM
• Storage: 256GB SSD (W800SH)
• Webcam: 720p
• Biometrics: Fingerprint scanner
• Left side: HDMI, USB-C, USB-A 3.0, barrel charger
• Right side: USB-A 3.0, headphone jack, MicroSD slot (up to 512 GB)
• Dimensions: 14.75 x 9.5 x 0.77 inches
• Weight: 4.2 pounds (4.7 with power adapter)

Display

This Ultra Slim model’s 15.6-inch screen is the same size as that of its older brother, the GWTN156-1 we previously reviewed. Three colors—blue, green, and red—are currently available for the 15.6-inch Ultra Slim: these are the ones our review unit is. Only the logo and the footpads along the bottom serve as color contrasts to the predominantly red design.

An aggressively thick (by contemporary standards) black bezel surrounds the screen when the laptop is opened, and a standard keyboard is located below it. The keyboard is raised at a slight angle by the hinge, which also serves as a kickstand, to make typing more comfortable. However, this configuration causes the screen to shake noticeably when opening the panel and only slightly when typing.

The Gateway Ultra Slim laptop comes with a variety of screen sizes, ranging from 11.6 inches to the 15.6-inch model we’re reviewing here. An Intel Celeron N4020 mobile processor, 128GB of eMMC storage, and 4GB of RAM are the only available configurations for the 15.6-inch model. I would have preferred a larger storage capacity or a quicker format than eMMC, but eMMC is typical in most Chromebooks and the least expensive Windows portables in a world where a 128GB USB thumb drive costs $15.

Keyboard And Trackpad

The quality of the keyboard and trackpad is another area where the Gateway Ultra Slim laptop makes concessions to achieve a lower price. Despite having reasonable travel, the keys themselves have a mushy, wiggly feel. A hollow sensation is caused by the plastic enclosure when you touch it with your fingers.

The trackpad is worse because it makes your fingers stick and restricts precise cursor movements due to its rough plastic finish. Another sign of poor build quality is that the trackpad made two consecutive audible clicks when you pressed down firmly.

Webcam, Audio, Security

The webcam on the Gateway 15.6-inch Ultra Slim Notebook has a 720p resolution, which is the same as the vast majority of Windows laptops, the majority of which still put camera quality last. Since this laptop costs $399, we wouldn’t anticipate its camera to support Windows Hello face recognition. A privacy shutter or camera kill switch, however, would have been convenient.

Despite being placed in an odd place in the upper-right corner of the trackpad, the fingerprint reader is a welcome addition to the security of a laptop that costs less than $500.

Gateway joins the trend of other PC manufacturers by working with a major audio brand to optimize its laptop speakers. As is to be expected given the limitations imposed by a laptop’s small screen, the partner in this case is THX. The upward-firing speakers are well-balanced, so you won’t feel like you’re listening to music or watching YouTube videos in a tin can. However, they tend to be quiet, so in noisy settings you might have trouble hearing your video or conference call.

The quality of the microphone is poor. When I recorded an audio sample, my voice sounded a little nasally in comparison to what I’ve recorded from other laptops. Its overly aggressive noise cancellation attempts were also audible to me.

Performance

It’s rare for PCWorld to receive a low-end Intel Core i3 processor for testing. We typically end up with Core i7 or Core i5 configurations since most vendors want to highlight the fastest versions of their computers.

It was enlightening using Gateway’s laptop’s Core i3-1115G4 processor. The Core i3 chip proved that you probably don’t need anything faster unless you’re getting into media creation or gaming by being incredibly quick for basic document editing and web browsing.

Unfortunately, benchmark tests don’t reflect that reality, so bear that in mind as you browse the graphs below.

The 15.6-inch Ultra Slim Notebook’s 11th-generation Core i3 CPU managed to outperform the 10th-generation Core i5 in Microsoft’s Surface Go laptop in PCMark 10, which simulates a variety of productivity tasks. It lags far behind higher-end 11th generation chips, which is not surprising.

Due to the dual-core nature of the Core i3-1115G4 processor, Cinebench multi-threaded performance is subpar. The Gateway laptop outperformed several 10th-generation Core i5 processors and competed favorably with the 11th-generation Core i5 in the HP Envy 14.

Connectivity: You Can’t See Usb-C

There are two USB Type-A ports, a microSD card reader, and a dedicated headphone jack on the laptop’s right side. On the left are a third USB Type-A port, an HDMI port for connecting a second screen, and a barrel-shaped charging port. Unexpectedly for a modern laptop, there are no USB-C ports.

The laptop has Bluetooth 4.0 for wireless peripheral connections, and it quickly paired with my wireless headset. I noticed a lag between pausing the track and the music ceasing on my headphones while I was listening to music. When using wireless headphones over Bluetooth, there is always a small delay, but in this case it was substantial enough to be felt.

An ad-filled version of Solitaire is among the bloatware that comes preinstalled on the laptop. Forge of Empires, a free-to-play online strategy game, and Walmart’s websites both have shortcuts. One year of Kidomi, a subscription service for educational children’s media content, is offered at a discounted rate of 50% in the laptop’s documentation.

Graphics Tests

The Gateway Ultra Slim uses Intel’s UHD 600 integrated GPU for graphics processing. While the Solitaire app may be enjoyable for some users, others may prefer to play more difficult games on it. We can use the 3DMark Night Raid test to compare the laptop’s performance to that of its rivals since it can run DirectX 12.

The performance of the processors that come with more powerful integrated graphics is far superior to that of the UHD 600, even though it may be able to run some older DirectX 12 games. Furthermore, despite the Dell Inspiron 15 3000’s 11th Gen processor and faster SSD, it cannot compete with it.

In addition to these tests, we frequently perform Photoshop image editing tests, the more difficult Fire Strike benchmark for 3DMark, and the GFXBench graphics test suite. None of these could be finished by the Gateway Ultra Slim. A minimum amount of graphics memory is required to run many of the benchmarks in 3DMark and GFXBench, and Photoshop benchmarks frequently fail on systems with less than 8GB of memory.

Battery Life

The battery life is now going to be potentially decisive. The laptop lasted just under 6 hours (5 hours and 58 minutes) in our offline video rundown test. That’s more in line with what we see in power-hungry workhorse PCs than typical thin-and-light laptops. Any chance of finishing a full workday without using any electricity is destroyed.

Is Gateway 15.6-inch Ultra Slim Laptop Worth Buying?

The Gateway 15.6-inch Ultra Slim Notebook is a reasonable investment if $399 is all you have. It has a big display (though of average quality) and offers basic productivity performance.

If you can stretch your budget, you might be able to find a reasonably priced Windows PC without the Gateway’s glaring flaws, especially by looking at older model years. The excellent Lenovo C740 Yoga, for example, is still available for $640 on Amazon (with a smaller SSD than what we tested). The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 typically sells for less than its $629 asking price at Best Buy, for those who might be interested in one. HP’s Envy x360 15 is a stylish convertible that costs as little as $720 on HP.com. There is a strong case for using an entry-level iPad as a laptop substitute, even though we wouldn’t advocate it loudly.

The Gateway 15.6-inch Ultra Slim Notebook’s greatest saving grace might be its capacity to serve as a low-cost desktop substitute. The performance in real-world situations is fairly quick, the memory can be upgraded if necessary, and the HDMI port makes it simple to connect to external monitors. You could get around many of this laptop’s biggest drawbacks by using an external display, keyboard, and mouse. It would be challenging to find a comparable desktop for $400.

You won’t understand why it was initially so inexpensive until you put it on the road.

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FAQs

The Bottom Line

True to its name, the Ultra Slim is an incredibly thin laptop that weighs only 3.5 pounds. The weight of this surprises you when you pick it up.

The Gateway Ultra Slim GWNC21524’s ridiculously low price might make it seem like a no-brainer purchase for your child’s first laptop, for example, but its shoddy construction and subpar screen highlight how on the cheap it is.

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