Irvine (CA) – Rock bottom memory prices enable PC makers to equip their latest systems with much more memory than before. Gateway’s most recent pre-configured desktops come with 6 GB and 8 GB by default – and sell from $780. There is also a new flashy notebook with LED illumination and 4 GB memory for less than $1000.

Gateway’s 8 GB PC is part of the multimedia-focused LX-series: The LX6200-01 includes AMD’s Phenom X4 9500 quad-core CPU, a 750 GB hard drive, a DVD burner and Windows Vista Premium 64-bit. The compromise is an ATI Radeon 3200 graphics card, which however, can be easily replaced with a more capable card and you still would keep your budget within $1000. The fact that 8 GB of memory can be had in an upper-mainstream PC, however is impressive.  The PC sells for $780.  

Gateway offers a more expensive PC with a Radeon 4850 / 512 MB graphics card as well. The FX6710-01 includes an Intel quad-core Q9400 processor, 6 GB memory, a Creative's X-Fi sound card, a 750 GB hard drive and Windows Vista Premium 64-bit for $1200.

The company also introduced spiced up 16” 16:9 notebooks. Available in black and red, the MC-series sells for $950 for the red model and comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5800, 4 GB memory, Intel’s GMA4500 IGC and a DVD burner. The black version offers an upgrade to ATI’s HD 3650 graphics chip and costs $1000.

The MC-series is fancied up with a leather stripe on the notebook lid, which differentiates the device from other notebooks.