Gateway to launch laptop series in Q1
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The new Gateway will launch a complete line of notebook PCs as one of many steps to revitalize its business after&#160;merging with Acer, an Acer executive said Friday.&quot;Gateway&#39;s problem in the U.S. is that it mainly sells desktops, but the notebook is the fastest growing segment,&quot; said Gianfranco Lanci, president of Acer, during the company&#39;s third quarter investors conference in Taipei.New Gateway laptop PCs could be out as early as the first quarter of next year. Lanci said that no changes to Gateway&#39;s product lineup will be visible until then because it takes at least one quarter to discuss new products with retailers and distributors.Acquiring Gateway will raise Acer&#39;s share of the U.S. market to 11.7 percent, the company believes, and will give it a strong brand presence.Already, the company expects synergies from the acquisition to pan out better than previous forecasts. Acer predicts cost savings will reach $200 million, higher than a previous estimate of $150 million, and even the revised figure could be raised again, executives said.A large portion of that savings will come from volume discounts from component suppliers. &quot;When we have asked component suppliers for volume discounts, so far we have not encountered a single rejection,&quot; said Lanci.The cost of restructuring the Gateway business and integrating it into Acer is likely to be $30 million, Lanci said. The integration will likely be completed by March 2008, he said.The strategy of the new company will be to sell products under the Acer, Gateway, and eMachines brands. Once a&#160;deal to buy Europe&#39;s Packard Bell&#160;is completed, it will add that name to the list as well. The PC industry has changed, said Lanci. It has become a commodity business and in a commodity business it&#39;s better to&#160;sell products using multiple brands, not a single brand as in the PC industry of 10 years ago.&quot;We&#39;re going to run two brands in most regions plus maybe another that we use for special things,&quot; he said.Acer announced a plan to buy Gateway for $710 million in cash in August, and&#160;completed the deal&#160;last week. The company has nearly completed a deal to buy Packard Bell of Europe, as well.&#160;
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Gateway Inc. released the specifications Friday for a retail desktop PC based on a new motherboard design that should help cool high-end processors and graphics cards.
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Gateway Inc. , the computer  maker that recently shuttered its chain of 188 stores, will  begin selling its desktops at CompUSA Inc.'s outlets later this  week, the two companies said on Monday.
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Updated OS, new consumer products expected to be introduced next month.
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Gateway on Monday expanded the retail footprint of its eMachines desktop computers, which are now be available in Mexico. The company is selling three models--the L2541, the L2814 and the L2824--through chains in Mexico, including Elektra and Sam&#39;s Club.
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Gateway plans to overhaul its consumer PC lineup Thursday with new configurable models that will be sold exclusively through the company's Web site and call centers.
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Refreshed Centrino laptop platform aims to increase power, energy efficiency, and speed of optimized applications.
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Gateway has announced it will start sales on December 10 of own-brand high-performance personal computers in Japan through four consumer electronics volume retailers.
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Circuit City is set to offer Gateway PCs beginning next year.
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By Franklin Paul NEW YORK  - Gateway Inc.  on Monday said it would return to its roots as a personal computer company, backing off on an aggressive strategy of expanding into TVs, digital cameras and other gadgets in a move to return to profitability.
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Gateway is expected to announce a new lineup of business desktops based on a new PC chassis design that removes heat from the system and can help extend the life of a PC, according to the company.
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TAIPEI/SHANGHAI  - Taiwan's Acer Inc will buy Gateway Inc for $710 million to double its U.S. presence and unseat China's Lenovo as the world's No. 3 PC maker, while dealing a blow to its efforts to grow in Europe.
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Sensing an opportunity in the fast-growing consumer notebook market, Lenovo on Thursday is expected to launch a new line of consumer laptops with the IdeaPad moniker.Targeted at gamers and home users, IdeaPad adds a low-price line of laptops to complement the company&#39;s existing ThinkPad notebook line, targeted primarily at business users. The company will first introduce three IdeaPad notebooks in different sizes, including an ultraportable laptop that the company will ship in the end of March.The IdeaPad U110 ultraportable notebook comes with an 11-inch screen and weighs only 2.3 pounds (1.04 kilograms), according to Lenovo.Based on Intel processors, the ultraportable will ship with either hard disk drives or flash-based solid state drives, said Craig Merrigan, Lenovo&#39;s vice president of global consumer marketing. To add ruggedness, the laptop has a shock sensor that detects falls and protects the hard drive data from any potential damage. The feature, called the Active Protection system, is already available on the company&#39;s ThinkPad laptops.Lenovo didn&#39;t comment on pricing for the ultraportable laptop.The company also announced the IdeaPad Y710 laptop, targeted at gamers, and IdeaPad Y510 laptop, targeted as a desktop replacement for home users. With colorful front bases in textured finishes, the laptops are equipped with expressive designs oriented to personalities and lifestyles, Merrigan said.The IdeaPad Y710 comes with a set of controls, including macro buttons and a control to enhance PC performance to optimize gaming on laptops. A slider control allows gamers to overclock the CPU to maximize laptop performance, Merrigan said. Starting at $1,199, the laptop includes a 17-inch screen and is equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, an ATI graphics card, wireless networking, and an optional Blu-ray Disc drive. It can support hard drives up to 500GB.The IdeaPad Y510 notebook, with a 15.4-inch screen, is targeted at home users. Starting at $799, it comes with Intel Core 2 Duo processors with integrated graphics, wireless networking an integrated camera and a DVD/DVR optical drive. Including a battery, the laptop weighs 6.4 pounds (2.9 kilograms). It can support hard drives up to 250GB.The Y710 and Y510 have four speakers and a subwoofer apiece, and an inductive touch surface between the keyboard and screen that lights up multimedia controls based on context, Merrigan said. If movies are playing, it will light up movie controls, and if audio is playing, users can control equalizers using the touch surface.Equipped with 1.3-megapixel cameras, the laptops have facial recognition technology that makes a face a user&#39;s password, Merrigan said. Once a user sits in front of a computer, the computer recognizes the face and logs in a user. While consumers are not concerned about that high level of security, it may be useful to keep track of what kids are doing, Merrigan said.Both laptops will ship by the end of January and include Microsoft&#39;s Vista operating system. The laptops will initially launch in the U.S., France, Russia, South Africa, India, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Philippines, and Singapore, according to Lenovo. It will be available at online retailers and in stores.The announcements come ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show, to be held in Las Vegas between January 7 and 10, where the laptops will be on display.Lenovo is trying to establish its own identity after&#160;acquiring IBM&#39;s PC business&#160;in 2004. Late last year it&#160;established its first &quot;Think&quot; line of workstations, and with the IdeaPad line, it is trying to get a bigger share of the consumer notebook market. The company is&#160;in fierce competition with Acer&#160;in the global PC market, according to surveys from Gartner and IDC.The company is also planning an ultramobile device based on&#160;Intel&#39;s Menlow platform, though Merrigan wouldn&#39;t comment on it. The ultramobile device will be on display at Intel&#39;s booth in CES.
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The New York tech show gets started with a number of product debuts, including Gateway's latest all-in-one PC.
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HD DVD writers, Intel Penryn processors, and 1 terabyte of storage are among the features coming to new laptops near you.
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Acer's acquisition of Gateway will result in a different product mix starting with some new Gateway laptops to be released early next year, an Acer executive says.
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Acer is taking aim at Japan and also plans to launch low cost PCs and mobility products this year.