The Solos, as a series, handily outperform Dell's Latitudes and Inspirons at a far better price. I'm not talking benchmarks, I'm talking real-world consumer satisfaction. This model is a light, cheap, fast, sturdy laptop. My Gateway Solo 5300cx deluxe has a thin chassis, big screen, solid performance, and long battery life.

Point by point:

Lightweight
Loaded up, it's just 6.5 pounds. That's noticeably lighter than most of its serious competition.

Durable
I don't treat my possessions well, and this machine has handled my rough handling without complaint.

Great Screen
The 12.3-by-10-by-1.4-inch case includes a big, bright, clear 14.1-inch screen with rich colors.

Compatible
It runs all current applications with no problems. This includes games! Of course, you should be ready to spend the usual amount of extra effort if you run Linux on it.

Hot-swap Bay
The modular bay lets you hot-swap between the floppy, battery, DVD-ROM, or extra hard drive. This is a great feature that can be found on only a few laptops, most of which are either quirkier or pricier than this one.

Long Battery Life
The battery lasts for quite a long time, upwards of 4 hours of continuous use.

Keyboard
The wide-set, responsive keyboard has a smooth, solid feel.

Hard Drive
The big HD gives adequate performance. It's not stunning, but it blows the doors off the Dell Latitude.

Ports Aplenty
There are tones of ports: docking, USB, LAN, PS/2, parallel, VGA, serial, audio, and composite/NTSC/PAL video-out. It's got two Type II (one can be Type III) PC Card slots. Plus, of course, the requisite built-in 56K modem.

Good Sound
Excellent speaker quality for a laptop. I've heard complaints about the volume, but I think that's just because the speakers are right under your arms when you type. This forward positioning actually gives better sound, in my opinion, by putting the speakers closer to your ears and under your chin for better surround sound.

Warranty and Support
It comes with a one-year parts and labor warranty, plus lifetime, toll-free, 24/7 access to the worst tech support on the planet. Expect to hold for 20 minutes or more, then talk to a disinterested and/or grumpy rep who will walk you very slowly through a prepared support script for another 30 minutes, ignoring all input which does not fit. Said rep will then end your call with a lengthy inquiry about your serial number and contact information, so that a mythical follow-up call can be placed. You'll get much better results on the eSupport site, where you can find driver downloads, FAQs, and so forth.

If you're fool enough to buy at an actual Gateway store, prepare to deal with a sales staff who make Fry's guys seem like geniuses. Don't ask technical questions such as "what's the battery life like?" or "What's the refresh rate on the LCD?" unless you like blank stares followed by feeble generalizations and/or outright lies.

No Quick-launch Buttons
I've heard some complaints about the lack of CD/DVD playback button or user-programmable application quick-launch buttons found on some other laptops. But I never use those anyhow, so it didn't make any difference to me.

Summary
A great performance-to-price ratio if you can handle a little do-it-yourself tech support.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 2200
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 701-800
Screen Size: 14
RAM: 64
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30