Gateway announced its updated retail notebook and desktop PC offering for the back-to-school season with prices ranging from $549.99 to $1,149.99 MSRP. The notebooks cover screen sizes of 14.1”, 15.4” and 17” and come in various colors such as red, blue, silver and grey, depending on the retailer. Prices are hovering around the $800 mark for mainstream models.

Desktops are starting at $550, but it is the high-end FX4710 that comes with a few noteworthy features. Next to its Core 2 Quad Q9300 processor and an Nvidia GeForce 9800GT graphics card and a 640 GB hard drive, the PC comes with 6 GB of system memory. At a suggested retail price of $1150, (some retailers are offering the PC for $1100) we would have expected a Blu-ray drive to be part of the package, but it seems such an offering is delayed at least until the Christmas season.