Falling notebook prices...
techweb.com
Notebook Prices On The Decline
(01/24/98; 10:46 a.m. EST)
By Kimberly Caisse, Computer Reseller News
Predictions that prices on low-end notebook PCs will continue to drop have some industry analysts wondering exactly how the attractively priced consumer laptops will impact reseller sales of high-end notebook systems into businesses.
Nathan Nutall, an analyst with Sherwood Research, in Wellesley,Mass., said Toshiba America Information Systems may have started "an avalanche" in terms of price when earlier this week it debuted its Satellite 305CDS for $1,699.
Aimed at the retail and small business market, the notebook will not be sold through resellers right away.
But at least one Toshiba reseller isn't threatened by the offering.
Michael Mallory, government sales manager at Megabyte Business Solutions, an Ashland, Va.-based VAR, said though the Satellite 305CDS comes with a 166-MHz or 200-MHz Intel Pentium processor with MMX technology, and other up-to-date features offered by Toshiba in its mid- to high-end commercial models, the notebooks lack several features business users find compelling.
Business customers want Toshiba notebooks with the modular designs, which allow for hot-swapping of the storage drives or a second battery. They also want port replicators, according to Mallory.
The total solution he sells is also important to customers, he added.
But price cuts continued this week when AST Research slashed 11 percent on its Ascentia M notebooks. The base model with a 133-MHz Intel Pentium with MMX technology, 12.1-inch screen, 32 megabytes of RAM, 1.6-gigabyte hard drive, and 20-speed CD-ROM drive is now priced at $1,799.
Some industry watchers said Toshiba's introduction of a high-powered, low-priced system, along with an increase in the number of consumer notebooks in general, may be attractive enough to get corporate users to opt to place large orders with superstores.
If that happens it could eventually drive down prices in the commercial notebook space, analysts said.
But one OEM source, who asked to remain anonymous, expects bottom-line prices for commercial notebooks with fairly up-to-date features, to hover around $1,999 throughout the year.
Meanwhile, one analyst said several non-brand name vendors are bringing out $1,000 high-end notebooks powered by vanilla Pentium processors.
However, so far, there have been no top-tier vendors that have announced prices at that level, said Joe Ferlazzo, analyst with Technology Business Research, a market researcher in Hampton, N.H.
But these notebooks being sold through superstores to small businesses could present some challenges to vendors who sell similarly configured, higher-priced notebooks through resellers, Ferlazzo said.
"The pricing actions are going to be tricky, and [prices] are going to have to remain the same across the board," he added.
|
