Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Night Writer who wrote (84631)	9/5/2000 4:50:07 PM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Respond to of 97611

Tuesday September 05 03:15 PM EDT Compaq offers 'have it your way' PCs By John G. Spooner, ZDNet News The PC maker christens a new line of made-to-order machines while retiring the Prosignia brand. Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ - news) is redeploying its alphabet, replacing its big Q with an E, an X and in some cases an S. The Houston, Texas PC maker on Tuesday announced a redesign of its DeskPro desktop aimed at corporations. The new PC will be called DeskPro EX. After CEO Michael Capellas took over the helm at Compaq, he restructured the company, with the aim of cutting costs and generating more innovative products. The EX launch, Compaq says, completes a redesign of its corporate PC lineup, aimed at bringing the company's commercial PC business back to profitability. PC lineup rounds out Compaq's DeskPro EX and EXS series join the low-cost iPAQ and the redesigned DeskPro EN series, re-introduced last June. Compaq will, however, retire its Prosignia line of PCs for small- and medium-size businesses. Prosignia will be replaced by the new DeskPro EXS-series of desktops. Prosignia notebooks will be rebranded at Armada S-series notebooks. The DeskPro EX and EXS serve to reduce Compaq's manufacturing costs as well as simplify the process by which a customer chooses a PC. Compaq cuts costs by standardizing on Intel Corp.'s (Nasdaq:INTC - news) 815 chip set for the new DeskPro. The chip set's flexibility allows Compaq to offer PC models ranging from an entry-level Celeron-based desktop to a high-end minitower with a beefy hard drive and Intel's 933MHz or 1GHz Pentium III chip. With the launch of the EX line, Compaq folds in configure-to-order capabilities that allow customers to choose processors and other features. The PCs are available now via its DirectPlus Web site and through resellers. The 566MHz machine, with a 10GB hard drive and 64MB of RAM, starts at about $750. A 15-inch monitor bumps the price to just over $1,000. Meanwhile, the 933MHz machine will start at about $2,200 with a 17-inch monitor, 128MB of RAM and an Nvidia graphics card. Compaq Computer Corp. Compaq will also offer Intel's 1GHz Pentium III later in the month. "We are getting a small number (of the chips), we are also forecasting a small number at this point," said Lisa Baker, director of North America desktop marketing for Compaq. The company is showing a non-configurable 1GHz system under its DeskPro EXS line. The model, in minitower form, was priced at $2,340. It is also offering a non-configurable, $699 DeskPro EX with a 566MHz Celeron chip. Prosignia logs off As part of its simplification plans, Compaq will phase out the Prosignia brand, replacing it with DeskPro EXS and Armada S-series models. These new models will be similar in configuration, but will offer additional services and different software including Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) Office productivity suite and Symantec Corp.'s (Nasdaq:SYMC - news) Norton AntiVirus that are aimed at small businesses. "By consolidating brands, we think it's going to be easier for customers to decide what to buy," Baker said. Compaq also goes from manufacturing five different PC chassis to two chassis, which saves the company on manufacturing costs. Compaq also introduced two notebooks under the new "S" brand. They are the Armada E500S and Armada 100S. The former Prosignia models aim to offer flexibility and low cost. The Armada 100S starts at $1,099 and offers Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s (NYSE:AMD - news) K6-2+ processor running at 533MHz. The Armada E500S starts at $2,099 and offers Intel mobile Pentium III chips, within an all-in-one design, meaning that it includes a floppy and CD-ROM drives inside the chassis. Email this story - (View most popular) \| Printer-friendly format Archived Stories by Date: Search News Advanced Sear