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Dorm room need a television? Wanting a family PC for the kitchen counter? Gateway has introduced two desktops PCs-all-in-ones doing double duty as televisions and entertainment centers-that it’s pitching as fitting the bill for either scenario.
A ZX300 line, introduced May 19, combines a 20-inch HD widescreen Ultrabright LCD display with 2.7GHz AMD Athlon II X2 processors and a range of desktop features, while a higher-end ZX6900 line offers a choice of Intel Core i3 or i5 processors with a 23-inch HD widescreen Ultrabright LCD display. Both run a 64-bit version of the Windows 7 Home Premium Edition operating system.
Additionally, the displays on both models are touch screens, offering user fingertip access for tasks such as launching applications, zooming in or out on photos or videos or screen sizes, or even creating a handwritten note.
“Because all-in-ones integrate a desktop tower into the back of a flat-panel display, they typically use smaller, less powerful notebook components that don’t require a lot of space,” Steve Smith, senior business manager of consumer desktops with Acer America, Gateway’s parent company, said in a statement. “However, Gateway was able to leverage the latest desktop components to give consumers the best of both worlds-powerful performance and lower cost, all in a stylish, space-saving design.”
A ZX4300-01e version, priced at $749.99, features an AMD Athlon II X2 2343e processor, a 640GB 7,200-rpm SATA hard drive and ATI Radeon HD 4270 graphics. There are 4GB of DDR3 (double-data rate 3) memory (1,333MHz), an 8x DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti slot-loading optical drive and a multi-in-one digital media card reader.
A wireless keyboard and mouse are included, as are 802.11b/g/n connectivity, six USB 2.0 ports, high-definition audio with 2.1 channel support, and built-in 5W stereo speakers.
If a bigger display is more your bag, a ZZ6900-01e model, priced at $1,019.99, pairs the 23-inch display-resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels-with a 2.93GHz, 4MB cache Intel Core i3 530 processor, an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator for HD graphics, 4GB of DDR3 memory (133MHz) and a 640GB, 7,200-rpm SATA hard drive.
A wireless mouse and keyboard are also included, along with a 4x Blu-ray player and Blu-ray Combo DVD burner, a multi-in-one digital media card reader, six USB ports, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, stereo speakers with high-definition audio, and 5.1 channel audio support, plus an HDMI port.
The Gateway ZX4300-01e will be available the first week of June, with additional models-featuring TV tuners and faster AMD processors-arriving in July.
The Gateway ZX6900-01e is currently available, with additional models-also getting the TV tuner, plus the faster Intel Core i5 650 processor-arriving sometime in June.