Yeah, it was the only decent model of the Solo 9300 released. It has firewire, TV in, and 5.1 optical sound all working. Revisions after that had at least one of the features above gone (and usually replaced by an odd looking blank). I used it as my only system for a while. I bought the dock, and threw in a Voodoo 3 for my games, and it worked rather well. It was also quite happy with Windows 2000 (and worked well with ACPI once a BIOS glitch was fixed).

Gateway laptops to me seem real hit or miss. They have made some really nice ones, and some really horrid ones. And the feature changes in the same model number drive me nuts. But it wasn't bad for a first laptop.

I personally think I am one of the few people who can't stand Dell laptops. I love the tech specs on their top end models, but they are always bricks. Big, overly plastic feeling, and heavy. The model Dell offered at the time I bought the 9300 that was comporable was 2.5 pounds heavier, and had a few less features.

Right now I am on a company provided Compaq Armada M700, and I will never go back to a plastic casing again. This one I believe is a magniesum (sp?) alloy casing, and it's awesome. It also has a variable speed fan, compaired to the on or off the 9300 did. My next laptop? Well I am leaning to a Powerbook. I love OS X, and having that in a portable package will be awesome. The one mouse button may drive me to the point of insanity though.