Gateway Adds BTX Systems To Business Desktop Line

Gateway on Thursday extended its business line of desktop PCs to include a full range of BTX-format machines and Intel dual-core processors.

The new E-series desktop PCs extends the BTX form factor across Gateway's entire business desktop line, said Marc Demars, senior director of product marketing for desktop PCs.

The BTX form factor, based on a standard developed by Intel, improves the layout of a PC motherboard and case. That, in turn, offers better cooling by improving airflow across components, especially the processor and memory.

The new Gateway PCs include two large system fans, circulating about three times the amount of air that is moved in the Irvine, Calif., vendor's older ATX PCs, said Demars. The design also lowers fan noise, he said.

The entry-level E-2500 comes with an Intel Celeron D or Pentium 4 processor, SATA hard drives, DDR2 memory, gigabit LAN, and a six-bay micro BTX case. Listing at $659, it includes a Celeron D 331 processor, 256 Mbytes of memory, a 40-Gbyte hard drive, a CD-ROM drive and Windows XP. A three-bay version is expected to ship in the third quarter.

The midrange E-4500 can be configured with single-core or dual-core Pentium processors on a motherboard based on the Intel 945G chipset. It comes with the six-bay case. Pricing starts at about $889 for a model with a Pentium 4 model 521 processor and 512 Mbytes of RAM. The three-bay case is expected next quarter.

Similar to the E-4500, the high-end E-6500 adds an extra expansion bay, an extra PCI slot, a 1394 FireWire port and on-board SATA RAID controller. It lists at $1,059 when configured with a Pentium D 820 dual-core processor, 512 Mbytes of memory, an 80-Gbyte SATA hard drive and a combination CD-RW/DVD drive.

Tiffani Bova, director of channels at Gateway, said between 20 percent and 30 percent of the company's Professional Group sales, which are aimed at businesses, now come through the channel. That's more than twice the figure from 15 months ago.