Gateway cuts target back to school

Gateway reduced prices on its consumer PCs as it readies for the "back to school" selling season.

The North Sioux City, South Dakota-based direct vendor will be facing myriad competitors for parents who are ready to drop money on new home systems. About 45 percent of U.S. households with children and also plans to buy a PC will purchase with educational assistance as the primary motivator, according to a recent International Data Corporation study.

Gateway is targeting these consumers with a $1,999 system that includes a 350-MHz Pentium II processor, 64MB of memory, a 17-inch monitor, and DVD-ROM. The multimedia G6-350 system was formerly priced at $2,299.

The G6-400 with a 400-MHz Pentium II processor, DVD-ROM, and 17-inch monitor remains priced at $2,479, but now comes with a larger hard drive and a hefty 128MB of memory.

The G6-300 drops to $1,568 from $1,749. The midrange system comes with a 300-MHz Pentium II, 17-inch monitor, a DVD-ROM drive, and color ink-jet printer.

Besides rival PC vendors like IBM, which is offering a $799 desktop sans monitor, Apple is banking on its all-in-one iMac, which will debut next month with a built-in 15-inch monitor for $1,299.