A $4,000 television set does not at first blush sound like a runaway winner, even if it does have a 31 screen – which in itself would be a bit big for many homes – but that is what Gateway 2000 Inc says it is planning. Actually a television-style personal computer, the Destination system is intended for watching television, surfing the Internet, playing games and running multimedia applications, the North Sioux City, South Dakota company says. The Destination system will move the home computer out of the home office and into the family room, reckons Ted Waitt, Gateway chairman and chief executive. It will bring people together by merging personal computer applications in a television environment. The company claims that it is the result of its research showing strong demand for a new kind of family-room computer system. The computer and television functions will be controllable through a touchpad-equipped wireless keyboard and a wireless remote control and mouse unit, so people can operate the system 10′ to 15′ from its screen. Multimedia applications run on a Destination system will be like nothing you’ve seen before – like the difference between watching a movie on television and seeing it in a movie theater, declared Waitt.
