Irvine’s Gateway Inc. is no design star in the computer world. Few companies are. But its latest computer, simply called “One,” is an all-in-one beauty that has folks talking it up on message boards. No wonder:
At a Digital Life press conference in New York this morning, the Irvine company will unveilOne, which has been in the works for months.
Gateway has long offered an all-in-one computer, which means all of the computer parts (hard drive, processor, memory, etc…) are fused to the back of the screen. The Gateway Profiles have been out for several years, with minimal success. Pictured on right is the Gateway Profile 6 and the Profile 4.Gateway’s Glenn Jystad answered a few questions ahead of time. Mainly, what’s so special about this new computer?
Jystad, Gateway’s senior manager in the consumer products division for consumer desktops, points to the power cable as a key difference from everything else out there:
The power pack includes ports typically found in the back of a computer. Trying to keep the clean aesthetic of all-in-ones is nearly impossible if you want the computer to function. Where can you hide those ugly cables connecting to a printer, external hard drive and the Internet?
Gateway’s answer is to put it all down below the desk. The innovative power pack is called the “Smart Power Module.” It includes an Ethernet port, USB ports and a printer port.
It’s about looking good not only in the store, but at home, Jystad said.
“None of those cables have to come up to the table top but you still get all the connections of a desktop,” he said. “This is the smart place to put permanent connections. Power is permanent. So is wired Ethernet.”
Design was done in Irvine and overseas at Gateway’s manufacturing plants. It wasn’t easy to development this new sort of input/output model.
“The guys in Irvine were really critical in making sure it turned out the way it needed to. Several of them in the last six months spent a chunk of time overseas working on this,” he said.
Other key details about the One:
- 19-inch wide screen
- NXT SoundVu speakers “hidden” in the screen
- Seven USB ports, one 1394 port, two memory slots, two desktop hard drive bays and more. **Clarification: **Most of these are built into the computer, so users can still plug in an iPod or other non-permanent gadget.
- No integrated web cam but an optional one is available to mount on the machine. Gateway didn’t build one in because the screen isn’t adjustable to get the perfect web cam shot.
Three configurations:
- The $1299.99 configuration includes an Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 dual-core processor; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100; 320GB SATA II hard drive and a 1.3 megapixel webcam.
- The $1,799.99 configuration includes an Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 dual-core processor; ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics; 500GB SATA II hard drive and a 1.3 megapixel webcam and an analog/digital TV tuner.
- The Gateway One model available direct from Gateway includes an Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 dual-core processor; ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics; 400GB Serial ATA II hard drive; and a 1.3 megapixel webcam for $1,499.99. **Also includes 2 GBs of RAM. More details HERE.
Pre-orders for the $1,500 model start today at Gateway’s site, although shipping date for online orders is Nov. 21. The other two models will be exclusively sold by Best Buy in late October or early November.