Profile of a computer.

• Position: What's New?

* Beginning with their shipping cartons emblazoned with random black spots on a white background to resemble the hide of a cow, the people from Gateway, Inc., North Sioux City, S.D., have marched to the beat of a different drummer. Many companies have used a symbol on their logos, advertising, promotional material, etc. that has carried through their entire line. With Gateway, however, the cow symbolism begins and ends with the box, with no further explanation to the public as to what it signifies. Having cleared that up, let's move on to the modus operandi of the company--designing computers to fit a customer's specific wants and needs. So, when a consumer opens his or her cow-like box, the components form a customized unit, rather than the one-size-fits-all mentality that predominates throughout the field. This is not to say that Gateway does not start with certain parameters to begin building the customization upon. With that in mind, we set out to assemble exactly the unit we wanted within its Profile 4X line.

In keeping with the mania for thinness sweeping America, the Profile has eliminated the bulky cathode ray tube that traditionally ran the monitor and replaced it with a 17" flat screen. Even with the built-in Intel Pentium processor, you've already saved about a foot of desk space, and cleared a large amount of floor space as well. The processor is cantilevered over the multifunction keyboard that, along with the sleek Logitech USB Optical Wheel Mouse, constitutes the rest of your visible components, the entire setup measuring an economical 16.59" wide x 18.2" high x 7.87" deep and weighing just 23 pounds. In short, the Profile profile is slim, not bulky. Would that be but so for its operator.

In keeping with the Gateway scheme of things, we explained to the sales representative who walked us through the ordering process exactly what we wanted the computer for. (In our case, it was a confirmed 20th-century Luddite reluctantly conceding the point and accepting 21st-century technology, admitting that computers are here to stay. Having mastered the VCR and then the DVD, we figured that we no longer could use the Blanche du Bois technique of depending on the kindness of strangers, or family members, every time we wanted to go online, send email, or utilize any of the other services a computer offered.) So, we explained, we were seeking simplicity and really didn't need all the bells and whistles electronics store salesmen insisted we...