Gateway Intros New M-Series Notebooks

Gateway has refreshed its M-series notebook line, adding ATI Radeon HD2400 XT graphics, HDMI out, and (at the high end) Penryn CPUs.

Although the company is still integrating itself with new parent Acer, Gateway has quietly updated its M-seriies notebook computers to include the new M-151X and M-151XL models, offering improved graphic performance, HDMI output, and (in the case of the XL) new 45nm “Penryn” CPUs from Intel.

The M-151X series features a 1,280 by 800-pixel 15.4-inch LCD display driven by an ATI Mobility Radeon 2400 XT graphics controller with 256 MB of dedicated video memory. The 151X also sports a 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 processor, 2 GB of RAM, an 8× dual-layer DVD burner, 802.11.a..g.n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 wireless networking, a 5,400 rpm 250 GB hard drive, along with a fingerprint reader, 5-in-1 media card reader, 100Base-T Ethernet, and an integrated 1.3 megapixel Web cam. The 151X also comes with a plethora of ports, including 3 USB 2.0 ports, an ExpressCard/54 slot, plus both VGA and HDMI output. The units ship with Windows Vista Home Premium and are available in red, silver, blue, and “arctic bloom” designs; prices start at $999 with an instant discount, and the systems should start shipping next week.

The M-151XL takes things up a notch, adding an 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 processor and shipping with a defaults 3 GB of RAM. Prices for the 151Xl start at $1,299 with a $100 instant discount, and the systems also start shipping next week.