Gateway's sleek new Solo

Gateway today introduced a new Pentium II notebook with an integrated DVD-ROM drive for less than $3,000, becoming one of the first vendors to offer a DVD drive at this price point and in such a compact design.

Gateway solo 3100

The new Solo 3100 laptop emphasizes style and form, following in the wake of sleek notebooks such as IBM's popular 560 ThinkPad and Toshiba's recently-introduced Portege notebook.

The product, code-named FireAnt, boasts President Clinton among its first users, Robert Chu, managing director of Gateway South Asia, told a news conference.

"When President Bill Clinton visited Dublin [this month], he had a chance to tour the Gateway factory," he said.

"He was one of the first users of FireAnt," he added, noting that the president signed the document with a digital signature using the FireAnt.

The Solo 3100 is the company's first entry into the ultraportable market, Gateway representatives said.

The Solo 3100 is two-tone silver and jet-black, with a new briefcase-style carrying case, Gateway said. It weighs around 5 pounds and measures about an inch and a half thick. (Click here for detailed specifications.)

The new notebooks include a 12.1-inch active matrix LCD screen and an integrated V.90 56-kbps modem. Top-of-the-line models include Intel's fastest notebook chip, the 300-MHz Pentium II.

At the high end, the $2,999 3100XL features a 300-MHz Pentium II processor, 64MB of memory, an integrated DVD-ROM drive, and a 4GB hard drive, Gateway said.

At the entry level, the 3100SE includes a 233-MHz Pentium MMX processor, 32MB of memory, CD-ROM, and a 2GB hard drive, for $2,099, Gateway said.