Gateway returns to Singapore after leaving almost eight years ago with the launch of four new laptops today (Dec 10). The US PC maker was acquired by Taiwan's Acer last year and Singapore is the first country that the new Gateway is expanding to since the acquisition. Singapore is also the third country in Asia-Pacific where Gateway has launched its products after Japan in 2004 and in China last year.

"Singapore is the first country in Asia pacific to expand Gateway's presence after the acquisition. Our next move is to expand its presence into countries like Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand." said Mr Steve Lin, president of Acer Asia Pacific.

Top on the list of the new laptops is the P7804G FX-series ($2,888) gaming laptop with top-of-the-line specs:

Display: 17-inch, 1920 x 1200 pixels
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit operating system
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4GHz, 3MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz) running on Intel Centrino 2 platform
Graphics: 1 GB Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTS graphics card
RAM: 4 GB
Storage: 2 x 320 GB hard disk drive
Optical: Dual-layer DVDRW recorder drive
Network: Gigabit Ethernet port, draft-N Wi-Fi adapter
Ports: 1 HDMI 1.3 port, 3 USB ports, 1 Firewire port, 1 eSATA port, 5-in-1 card reader

With the exception of the processor, the rest of the components are souped up for gamers. The 1GB 9800 GTS graphics card combined with 4 GB RAM are fantastic. On the Windows Performance meter, all the components tipped the scale at the maximum 5.9 mark except for the processor which hit the 5.3 number. I ran a benchmark on 3DMark Vantage and hit 3507 in the laptop's default settings. The Gateway FX laptop series has received much accolades in game reviews around the world for its high performance at a competitive price point. Read Digital Life next week (Dec 17) for a complete review of this laptop.

Another interesting option is the Gateway MC 7800 series which is a mainstream multimedia laptop with a 16-inch 1336 x 768 screen, an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P7350 (2.0Gz), illuminated keyboard and multimedia controls, HDMI-out port, dual-layer DVDRW burner and 320GB hard disk drive. Available in two colors, burgundy and black, the new notebook line features a streamlined design that blends materials and edges for a cohesive look and feel. It's a very stylish mainstream laptop and at $1,688 I was impressed.

Third on the list is a new netbook from Gateway. The LT1001G looks remarkably similar to the Acer Aspire One and comes with 1.6 GHz Atom processor, 1 GB RAM and 160 GB hard disk drive. At $688 and 1kg light, this is great for users who just want to carry around a no-frills laptop for e-mail and Web.

The fourth product is a light 13.3-inch laptop for more performance than the netbook but still light enough (about 2 kg) to be lugged around without breaking a sweat. What makes it unique is it comes with a discrete ATI Mobility Radeon HD3470 graphics card (unusual for a 13.3 inch laptop) which lets you run some pretty decent games too.

For more information, go to http://sg.gateway.com