New desktops sporting Celeron processors start at $399 Gateway Inc. introduced a new series of inexpensive eMachines desktops Monday based on new Celeron processors from Intel Corp. and older Athlon XP processors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD).The three new PCs are the second major eMachines product launch since Gateway finalized its acquisition of eMachines in March. Gateway’s recent embrace of the consumer electronics market had taken its attention away from its PC business, and the company hopes the low-cost eMachines PCs can help it regain some PC market share.The eMachines T2824, T2958 and T3092 are available Monday through U.S. retail outlets as part of Gateway’s back-to-school push. The PC industry considers the U.S. back-to-school shopping period in July and August as the second-most important season behind the fourth quarter holiday shopping season. Two of the new PCs use Intel’s new Celeron D processors. Celeron chips are virtually the same as Pentium 4 chips, but Intel disables a portion of the chip’s Level 2 cache and reduces the clock speed to create a low-cost processor brand.The new Celeron D chips are based on Intel’s 90-nanometer process technology, and come with 256KB of Level 2 cache. Cache is used to store frequently accessed data close to the CPU (central processing unit), so that data can be accessed more quickly than if it was stored in the main memory.The new eMachines T2824 is one of the cheaper PCs on the market, at $399 after a $50 mail-in rebate. It comes with an Intel Celeron D 325 processor running at 2.53GHz, 256MB of DDR (double data rate) SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM), a 40GB hard drive, a DVD-ROM/CD-RW (CD-rewritable) drive and an 8-in-1 memory card reader. The T2958 comes with the Intel Celeron D 330 processor at 2.66GHz, 512MB of DDR SDRAM, a 80GB hard drive, a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive and an 8-in-1 memory card reader for $499 after a $50 mail-in rebate.EMachines chose the Athlon XP 3000+ from AMD for the T3092 PC, which costs $599 after a $50 mail-in rebate. This PC offers a number of features that are usually found in more expensive desktops, such as a GeForce4 MX graphics card from Nvidia Corp. and a DVD burner that supports both DVD-RW and DVD+RW formats. It also comes with 512MB of DDR SDRAM, a 160GB hard drive, a separate CD-ROM drive and the 8-in-1 memory card reader. Technology Industry