eMachines launched the T2824, the T2958, and the T3092, all priced at less than $600. All three machines are designed for consumers wishing to purchase a cheaper alternative than higher-priced, more powerful PCs, such as a computer for the den, or a new PC for a student heading off to college.

All of the new eMachines PCs offer either CD or DVD burners plus a 8-in-1 card reader.

At $399.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate, the eMachines T2824 ships with an Intel Celeron D 325 processors, 256 Mbytes of RAM, a 40-Gbyte hard drive, a combo CD/DVD burner, and the memory-card reader.

The $499.99 T2958 includes the Intel Celeron D 330 processor, a 80GB hard drive, plus 512 MB of DDR SDRAM expandable to 1GB. The T2958 also includes a dedicated DVD-ROM drive and a CD burner, along with Intel Extreme Graphics and the 8-in-1 memory card reader. The price includes a $50 mail-in rebate.

Finally, the higher-end T3092 turns to the AMD Athlon XP 3000+ processor to drive the system, which includes 512 Mbytes of DDR-1 mwmory, a 160-Gbyte hard drive, and a CD-ROm and DVD+/-RW drive. The T3092 is priced at $599.99, after the $50 mail-in rebate.

All of the PCs ship with a one-year warranty, Gateway said.