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Gateway unveiled a new laptop family Monday featuring an Intel Pentium 4 desktop processor and free versions of Microsoft's Office XP for students, teachers, and small businesses.

The Poway, California, company will target the 400 series at the back-to-school market, offering students and teachers free versions of Microsoft's Office XP Standard for Students and Teachers valued at $149, or a $100 mail-in rebate. Small businesses can choose between Office XP Small Business edition or the $100 rebate.

PC makers are counting on the second half of the year, hoping that students and holiday gift-givers revive a flat PC marketplace. Corporations are not buying PCs in the quantities of a few years ago, requiring manufacturers to seek more profits from other markets.

Desktops Go Mobile

Gateway becomes the latest manufacturer to marry notebooks with desktop processors, with all three 400 series notebooks featuring a 2-GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor.

Dell Computer recently upgraded its SmartStep notebook line with 2-GHz and 2.2-GHz desktop Pentium 4 chips, and Hewlett-Packard in June released the HP Pavilion ze5170 notebook with a 2-GHz desktop Pentium 4, and the Compaq Presario 1500 with up to a 2.2-GHz Pentium 4.

MicronPC also joined the group Monday with the release of the TransPort V1000, a notebook that comes with either Intel's Pentium 4 or Celeron processors. A sample configuration with a 1.7-GHz Intel Celeron processor, 128MB of PC2100 DDR RAM, and a 10GB hard drive sells for $1,199.

On the Inside

All of the Gateway notebooks feature 256MB of DDR synchronous dynamic RAM, upgradeable to 512MB, two USB ports, and an IEEE 1394 port for connecting peripherals. Users can add 802.11b wireless technology for an extra $99. For graphics, the 400 series uses ATI Technologies' Mobility RadeonT Graphics processor with 16MB of DDR video memory.

The Gateway 400L comes with a 14.1-inch XGA TFT display, a 20GB Ultra ATA hard drive, and a 8X DVD-ROM drive for $1,499.

The 400X costs $1,599 with a 14.1-inch XGA TFT display, a 40GB Ultra ATA hard drive, and a 8X/8X/24X CD-RW/8X DVD combination drive.

The 400XL costs $1,799 with a 15-inch XGA TFT display, a 40GB hard drive, and a 8X/8X/24X CD-RW/8X DVD drive.

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