The M-7317u Gateway Pacific blue laptop with HDMI is impressive do to its versatility and power. The video capabilities stand out as the most prominent features applicable to those with a need for true HD on their laptop.

Color Laptop Computers

We used the Gateway M-7317u blue laptop to supply the video signal to a 60 inch plasma TV during a holiday promotion and it worked flawlessly in this configuration for about a month. This provided shoppers an opportunity to see the machine in action.

HDMI stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface and is a technology used for high definition home theaters, audio gear, and television. HDMI was designed to be somewhat future proof as it is capable of carrying over twice the amount of data required by current audio visual signals.


Older technologies required separate audio and video cables, however due to the amount of available bandwidth both audio and video are passed over a single HDMI cable (this does include Surround Sound as well). The HDMI signal is pure digital and is backwards compatible with DVI (Digital Video Interface).

In a nutshell HDMI is capable of delivering the sharpest, clearest, most detailed picture available today. It truly is a huge advancement over previous technologies such as S-Video and it is nice to have on color laptop computers. Basically this technology allows you to simply plug the cable in and you are good to go as opposed to some of the more difficult ways you had to accomplish your preferred setup in previous technologies.

Getting back to our Gateway M-7317u review we want to mention what an unusually striking color of Pacific blue this laptop has; very stylish, smooth, and modern looking. Often the colored laptops will have highly glossed finishes which tend to make them stand out with a futuristic look about them and this model is certainly no exception.

Powering the M-7317u is the 2.0GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core Mobile Processor T3200 with a 677MHz FSB (Front Side Bus). In our Gateway M-7317u review machine we had the maximum amount of memory installed, 4GB of DDR2 667MHz. These specs are decent on the higher-mid end and the performance of this laptop was everything we expected as far as power and reliability.

The installed OS (Operating System) is a fully loaded Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1. As far as storage goes there is a roomy 250GB SATA hard drive offering lots of space to store pictures, movies, etc.


During our video tests the Gateway M-7317u was able to play DVD movies with striking clarity via the 15.4" WXGA Ultrabright TFT Active Matrix display screen with a maximum resolution of 1280 x 800. The graphics processing is handled by the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500.

These specs really shined when we hooked the laptop up to a home theater system with surround sound to watch DVD movies in a cinematic like fashion as it produced smooth sharp images just as we would expect. Portable computers like this one have no problem powering home theater audio and generally most come with limited quality speakers and sound cards so this tends to really impress people who have not experienced this.

The Gateway M-7317u blue laptop we reviewed offered additional features such as 802.11b/g/Draft-N wireless networking, built-in Bluetooth 2.0, 5-in-1 Media Card Reader, ExpressCard expandability, built-in1.3 Megapixel Webcam, three USB 2.0 Ports, and several other advanced features.

If you are looking for a blue laptop which offers stunning multimedia performance virtually anywhere, then the Gateway M Series may be just what you are looking for.

The Gateway M Series lets you take control of your media in an utmost stylish fashion. Slick looks, HDMI connection, and cinema quality make this portable computer a real multimedia powerhouse.