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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Meathead who wrote (36821)	4/6/1998 5:55:00 PM
From: Fangorn	Respond to of 176387

Meathead, There you go again, abusing the poor bears with facts. Thanks!!!

To: Meathead who wrote (36821)	4/6/1998 8:23:00 PM
From: Jim Patterson	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 176387

RE: Where was the market for WinTel workstations 18 months ago??? Meathead, I am going to address this in parts. Not where, Why was there no market for WinTel Workstations 18 months ago? The WinTel Platform was not powerful enough to perform at this level. Because of Moor's law and a few Billion in R&D @ INTC, WinTel can now do what is needed at the workstation level. This is my understanding, If I am wrong, Please explain. <<ASPs continue to decline at a relatively steady rate as they have been for years>> Actually, from 1992 to 1995, ASPs rose a bit. Since then, they have been declining. BTW, 1995 was the Peak in PC growth @ about 24% Every year since then has seen slower and slower PC Growth. As that growth has slowed, the rate of decline in PC prices has accelerated. For the last 6 quarters, Growth @ most PC and PC relates companies has been slowing MSFT included. <<<So you think it's only a matter of time before companies wise up and buy these less costly machines? Why now? Why haven't they been buying them over the years to satisfy most of their needs? The idea of a cheap PC is not new; they've always been with us... only the price is relative. The only way to design a cheap PC today, just like yesterday, is to de-feature it. Features are time relative as well.>>> 3 years ago, a cheep PC made with an AMD processor was a great deal, but there were compatibility problems. Plus even buying a top of the line PC for much more $$$ still left a user wanting more Power only days after buying it. This is the number one reason not to buy low end PC's. I currently have 3 machines, An HP 3000 notebook, P 200 MMX w/48MB, and a 13.3 screen, A GTW P-II 266 w/96 MB and a GTW PPro 200 w 96mb running NT. Guess which is the fastest? The NT machine. Guess what the difference is between the notebook and the P II 266. Unless I am playing Apache Longbow, Nothing. For some strange reason, I would expect a desktop P200 MMX to be about the same as my notebook, Better Video and that is about it. Now I have two machines that are faster than the notebook, but in the real world, there ain't any difference. Meathead, you know this. You ask, "Why now?" The answer is that for $1000 or less; CPQ and IBM are selling Business PCs that meet all of the stringent demands of Businesses for basic computing over a network. The difference is that today, buying a p-200 MMX does not leave a buyer wanting more power when he/she gets home, unless he wants to play demanding games. Even then, A mear $100 more will get a 233 with a good Video card and away you go. MYST, the best selling game ever will not play any faster on a P 200 than it will on a P 90. Hardware got over the hump of software. You know this. Yes there is greater demand at the high end, but the number of units needed at that level is limited. And with the drop off in the low end, the competition for these Workstation dollars will become intense quickly. As for defeaturing, Most of the $1000 machines have just about everything you could want, X the modem/NIC. Look at HP Brio line. As for you, You are the target market for the New PC100s about to be released. There should be a huge performance gap between these and the Old outdated stuff. The problem is that only 20-30% of the market will need these. Everybody will be marketing aggressively there as that is expected to be an area of profitability with huge premiums at this level. DELL is running out of mature segments to avoid with out getting into another business. 2) Does DELL have the Support capability to handle these much more sophisticated machines? I know IBM and CPQ do. DELL is partnering with other companies to provide these services. That in and of itself should be telling you that they know they are going to be hurting for support resources. Which deal do you like better, IBM boxes and support CPQ boxes and support DELL Boxes and somebody else's support like Wang. IBM may choose to sell the machines for low profit margins and hope to make the margin on the support side. I think this is the reason CPQ bought DEC, support. <<<The needs of the market don't suddenly change just because there is a new low cost offering>>> The needs of the market haven't changed. The prices on the hardware that can meet these needs has changed. Jim