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 : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (11267)	1/5/1998 9:42:00 AM
From: Moonray	Respond to of 22053

Hewlett-Packard to debut low-cost PCs SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co. will unveil Monday an even lower-priced entry in the sub-$1,000 PC category with an Intel-based multimedia PC for the home market, starting at $799. ''This is the lowest price point we have ever hit at introduction,'' said Webb McKinney, general manager of H-P's Home Products Division. ''We are getting more aggressive at the low end of the market. The sub-$1,000 PC category is quickly becoming the fastest-growing area in the home computer market. In the fourth quarter, according to preliminary data, 38 to 39 percent of all consumer PC sales were in the sub $1,000 arena, according to Computer Intelligence, a La Jolla, Calif.-based research firm. ''It's an important trend,'' said Aaron Goldberg, an analyst at Computer Intelligence. ''It helps the penetration of (PCs in) all households. The important thing to remember is that prices are not going to go back up.'' H-P's $799 model, the Pavilion 3260, is designed around a 200-megahertz Intel Corp. Pentium Processor with Intel's multimedia technology, MMX, and 32 megabytes of memory. ''That's a pretty decent computer. It doesn't do everything the high-end system does...but if what you want is something for the kid's room to plug into the Internet, it's a nice product for $799,'' said H-P's McKinney. ''Prices will continue to edge downward as long as the entry-level model does what people want.'' H-P will also introduce morew powerful models in its Pavilion home PC family, including a $1,099 model with a 233 megahertz Pentium, the Pavilion model 8240. H-P will also unveil a PC designed around the 266 megahertz Pentium II for an estimated retail price of $1,699. Other features of the some of the new PCs include software that lets users e-mail photographs, create personalized greeting cards and produce home videos. ''This is a heck of a nice machine for $800,'' said Goldberg, adding that the low prices were consistent with H-P's aggressive stance in the PC market and that Intel is also helping PC makers offer lower prices by cutting chips price. Just two weeks ago, Intel cut the price on its entry-level Pentium II 233 megahertz chip by 33 percent, to fuel more sales of PCs in the seasonally sluggish post-holiday period. o~~~ O