Gateway's iMac look-alike!

[rhale1]

Gateway is planing an iMac copy:

From Chicago Tribune Online



iMac look-alike may be Gateway to lawsuits

James Coates

August 5, 2002

Look for a marketing blitz in late August as PC-maker Gateway Inc. launches the Profile 4 PC, a look-alike competitor to Apple Computer Inc.'s incredibly successful new iMac.

Sleek and ultramodern, the new Gateway is designed to incorporate the entire computer, monitor and sound system in a chunk of space no bigger than a 15-inch monitor.

The would-be iMac killer, which is still under wraps, will come with a choice of 15- or 17-inch LCD flat-panel screens attached to a small base station holding the Pentium 4 or Celeron chips inside. Users can add peripherals by way of FireWire-type high-speed ports, USB plugs and a laptop-style PC Card connection, all designed to handle printers, video cameras, digital cameras, MP3 players and such.

This marks the first time in a long while that PC buyers could pick a product with all those one-box iMac features at prices expected to run between just less than $1,000 to about $1,700. Now we will wait to see if Apple's lawyers will sue Gateway as they sued eMachines Inc. three years ago when that far-smaller company offered an all-in-one competitor to the early iMacs.

DAZZLE 6 IN 1

Dazzling digital docking station eases memory card chaos

As more American families add digital cameras, MP3 players and other gadgets for various members of the family, chaos can ensue.

Each person wants to plug his or her device into the shared PC to download photos, to pick up some more music files, etc.

For $50 at www.dazzle.com, SCM Microsystems of Fremont, Calif., offers the Dazzle 6 in 1, a small lump of plastic that connects to a single USB port and allows users to insert any one of six different memory cards.

Covered are the CompactFlash, IBM Microdrive, SmartMedia, MultiMediaCard, SD Card and Sony Memory Stick. There is a slot on the small gadget for each format.

TV SETS

Consumers caught in broadcast battle

Watchers of Washington's regulators are buzzing with predictions the Federal Communications Commission staff will advise this week that the panel force all buyers of TV sets starting in 2006 to buy ones with digital tuners, capable of receiving the HDTV broadcasts that are supposed to replace analog signals.

Lobbyists for makers of TV sets warn that if they are forced to meet a 2006 deadline, the digital boxes will add $200 to the cost of every set, a figure that is disputed by broadcasters, who put the added cost at between $15 and $100.

For consumers the issue becomes cost and confusion while the bureaucrats press hard seeking big bucks for the government. Once 85 percent of Americans are within reach of digital broadcasts, the law says that the FCC can sell the analog bandwidth to wireless carriers for billions of dollars.


Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune

Send in the lawyers!

[TheBattman]

Anyone seen a picture, or have one to post?

[rhale1]

I don't think any pictures are publicly available.

[deagle five o]

gateway has been copying iMacs since the first one. I think they called it an "Astro", it bombed cause it sucked. I guess they expected to fool the consumer but when you have to sell something by saying that it "looks like something else", it probably wont do much flying.

[Gatorzx2]

I can't imagine this looking anywhere near as good as the sexy iMac. But it will be funny to see what they come up with.

[Koelling]

The description sounds a lot like the pictures we saw a couple weeks ago and that didn't look anything like the new iMac. it looked more like an old iMac with lcd screen ore one of those outlandish fake prototypes that went around before it was announced. If it is like that, then it will fail for the same reasons that apple decided not to tack the computer on the back of the screen.

[BlingBling 3k12]

Originally posted by deagle five o
gateway has been copying iMacs since the first one. I think they called it an "Astro", it bombed cause it sucked.

We bought one of those for my grandma (she knew little about computers since she only had used one at work) and believe me, it did suck...

[karavite]

Could it be any uglier than a Compaq - square oz with added flares and fins... Yikes, it is hard to believe the people who designed these things actualy went to school as designers.