Gateway yesterday promised to give UK high street king Dixons a run for its money over price and performance. The US home PC giant said Dixons had got away with selling what it called high cost, low performance PCs for too long, according to yesterday’s Mail on Sunday. Goran Mannerstrale, Gateway retail director for Europe, said: "Off-the-shelf computers are usually not the most up-to-date. Dixons is dear and customers can buy 25 per cent more performance from Gateway for ten per cent less. "I don't know why Dixons have been getting away with it, but this will change soon." Gateway's threat followed plans to increase the six shops it currently has in the UK to 60 by the end of 1999. This is expected to lead to cheaper PCs and threaten Dixon’s stranglehold. Gateway, which last year claimed the title of the US' biggest consumer PC seller, hopes to eventually have around 100 shops in this country. Dixons has around 350 shops in the UK. ®