Processor: 2 GHz Intel Pentium M

RAM: 512 MB

Hard drive: 80 GB

Weight: 5.4 lbs. (6 lbs. with power adapter)

Display: 14-inch widescreen LCD

Gateway's M250 models — the lightest of this company's seven lines of laptops — can be had for much less than most machines in its weight class. The low-end M250S goes for just $699. But the model Gateway sent for review, the now-discontinued M250XL, cost $1,494 after a healthy round of upgrades.

All M250 models start with widescreen 14-inch displays, CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drives and 40-gigabyte hard drives. The tested configuration — while no longer sold as the M250XL, an M250X can be custom-ordered with the same specifications — included a faster processor, bigger hard drive, DVD burner (which had repeated problems playing back movies without skipping) and a larger, longer-life battery.

Of those updates, the faster chip, at $340, made the least sense. But the upgraded battery earned its $45 cost with an outstanding performance: 3 ½ hours of DVD playback. With the Wi-Fi off and the screen dimmed, it lasted a minute less than seven hours.

We liked the M250's generously sized touchpad, which includes a scroll strip at its right edge that serves the same function as the scroll wheel in most mice.

— Rebecca Rohan

Special to The Washington Post