News

Cool New Gateway E-Series Desktops Feature Dual Core CPUs, BTX

• By Stuart J. Johnston
• July 05, 2005

Gateway is shipping three new lines of 64-bit business desktops built around Intel’s BTX cooling technology, two of which can be ordered with Pentium D dual-core CPUs.

“All of these products are 64-bit enabled in anticipation of Microsoft’s Longhorn OS,” says a company spokesperson. Longhorn, the next major release of Windows is due out around the end of 2006.

Additionally, the introduction of these new lines means that all E series desktops are based on BTX technology.

The Balanced Technology Extended (BTX) initiative, an industry-wide effort led by Intel, is expected to replace Intel’s eight-year-old ATX motherboard technology. Due to its improved ability to enable air to move freely across components and thus keep boards and chips much cooler, BTX-based systems yield increased reliability over older designs, according to a whitepaper by researcher IDC.

At the high end of Gateway’s new line up, the E-6500 series is a seven-bay BTX tower design that’s available with either an Intel Pentium D 600 Series CPU or with an 800 Series dual-core processor. A sample configuration running a dual-core 2.8-GHz Pentium D model 821 with 2 MB of Level 2 cache, a 945G chipset and 512 MB of DDR2, dual-channel, 533-MHz SDRAM costs $1,059.

Next down the line, a sample configuration of the new E-4500 series features a 2.8-GHz Pentium 4 model 521 CPU with 1 MB of L-2 cache, a 945G chipset and 512 MB of DDR2, dual-channel, 533-MHz SDRAM for $889. It is also available with a dual-core CPU.

Meanwhile, a sample configuration of Gateway’s new entry-level E-2500 series comes with a 2.66-GHz Celeron D model 331 processor with 256 KB of L-2 cache, and 256 MB of DDR2, dual-channel, 400-MHz SDRAM for $659.

All three lines are built on BTX cooling technology and come with Windows XP Professional Edition. Both the E-2500 and E-4500 are available immediately in six-bay, mid-tower designs, or as three-bay, small-footprint units that will ship in the third quarter. The E-6500 is available in a seven-bay tower only.

Gateway also announced it will ship two new high performance LCD monitors in mid-July. The 17-inch Gateway FPD1775 and 19-inch Gateway FPD1975 monitors both feature 1280 by 1024 resolution and an 8ms response time for fast moving video and graphics.

Besides requiring 65 percent less desktop space than CRTs, both monitors have an improved contrast ratio of 700:1, and brightness up to 300 cd/m2 for improved color saturation. The 17-inch Gateway FPD1775 costs $329 and the 19-inch Gateway FPD1975 costs $399.99.