The touchpad, while stylish, is a bit difficult to locate visually, as it's distinguished from the rest of the keyboard deck only by a grid of slightly darker raised dots. The dots give the touchpad a slightly strange texture, but also make it easy to find by feel. Great idea, but darker dots would've gotten Gateway closer to the mark. The mouse "buttons" are actually a single rocker button on the front edge of the unit, a location that's quite comfortable and easy to find (again, by touch).

The only irritating aspect of the LT2120u experience is the amount of software junk on the machine's desktop. Of course, one person's junk is another's treasure, but the effect here is much like billboards on a major urban byway: eBay icons, Google Desktop (which has been rendered unnecessary by Vista/Windows 7's search), a Norton Online Backup trial, an Office Student trial, and so on. Gateway does include a real version of Microsoft Works, which balances the scale somewhat.

While its score of 33 on WorldBench 6 is in line with that of most of its competitors, the LT2120u offers battery life that's substantially longer than most. Along with its smooth video playback, this netbook should easily take care of any light-duty computing you care to throw at it. Gateway doesn't pile on the extras here, but the LT2120u does give you basic netbook performance and exceptional battery life at a reasonable price.