Let's review the specs of one of Gateway's most successful laptops, the M-520 series. Weighing in it at 7.5 pounds, this Gateway laptop, the M-520 is about average size and dimension for a desktop replacement. The Gateway laptop's elegant 'Art Deco' look and solid casing have made it a favorite among users disenchanted with the Dell Inspiron series. The sturdiness of the M-520 makes it ideal for college students, who, by and large, tend to abuse their computing equipment.

You can configure your Gateway M-520 laptop in a variety of ways. This Gateway laptop comes standard with a 2.660 hertz Intel Celeron chip. You get 256 MB of SDRAM, which may not sound like a lot, but the M-520 manages to optimize its memory pretty well. With 40 GB of space to hold documents, data, and music and DVD files, the M-520 holds its own within its class.

Other basic specs include a CD-RW/DVD ROM combination drive, a 15.4 inch display with an advanced active matrix, a sound card, a lithium ion battery, and a maximum resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels. You can also get a video RAM card installed, which gives you 64 MB of devoted memory. The M-520 features a 56 kBps modem, but you may want to upgrade to a wireless connection.

You may also want to consider the other computers in the M-520 laptop line--the M-520 XL, the M-520 S, and the M-520 X Plus. You get a standard Microsoft Windows XP professional operating system and a full year of warranty support. It may behoove you to splurge for a more comprehensive warranty package. Furthermore, you may want to upgrade from the Intel graphics cards to an ATI card, like the 9600 GPU.