Gateway goes head-to-head with iMac

Gateway on Monday unleashed an aggressive ad campaign that directly targets the iMac and released six new Profile 4 PCs that closely match the pricing and configuration of Apple's trendy all-in-one PC.

Gateway's assault on iMac comes two days after Apple released a major upgrade to Mac OS X and amplified its "switchers" marketing campaign aimed at wooing PC users to the Mac.

But Gateway has an ad campaign of its own, which will pit Profile 4 against iMac in head-to-head comparisons--a rarity in the computer industry. Both companies target their all-in-one computers to consumers and use their own company stores to either promote or sell them.

The computers both incorporate liquid-crystal display (LCD) monitors, though the designs differ. The Profile 4 is built around the monitor, whereas the iMac suspends the display from a swinging arm attached to a half-dome base. Apple unveiled the flat-panel iMac in January and upgraded one model to a 17-inch monitor in July.

News source: ZDNet