A New Line of Low-Cost PCs From Compaq : Technology: The computer maker hopes to regain market share from aggressive vendors of IBM-compatible machines.
Compaq Computer on Monday rolled out an array of low-cost personal computers designed to help the firm steal sales back from a host of aggressive vendors of low-cost, IBM-compatible PCs.
As expected, the new Compaq line-up includes the Prolinea line of desktop computers--starting at about $900--as well as the Contura line of notebooks, new mid-range PCs and an advanced color notebook.
Compaq, long known for quality, premium-priced PCs, compared several of its new offerings to machines from Dell and AST, claiming that they were better and cheaper than the competition. Officials at Austin, Tex.-based Dell and AST, of Irvine, said the Compaq announcement lends support to their own strategies and they vowed to remain price-competitive.
Compaq Chief Executive Eckhard Pfeiffer, who has spearheaded the company’s shift toward low-priced machines after the sudden ouster of company co-founder Rod Canion late last year, called the new PCs “technologically superior products that will put extreme pressure on simple clone manufacturers.”
The new products include:
* The Prolinea line of desktop PCs, priced from $899 to $1,899. The entry-level model contains a 25 Mhz 386 SX microprocessor, or computer-on-a-chip, and 2 megabytes of RAM, but no hard disk. With an 84 Mb hard disk, the price is $999. High-end Prolinea models use a 486 DX microprocessor.
* The Contura line of notebook PCs, priced from $1,699 to $2,499. The cheapest Contura has a 20 Mhz version of the 386 SL computer-on-a-chip, 2 Mb of RAM and a 40 Mb hard disk.
* The Deskpro/i line of mid-range business PCs, priced from $1,779 to $2,549 and featuring new graphics technology that speeds Microsoft’s popular Windows program. They also boast audio features that make it easy to attach voice annotations to documents, and they can be upgraded to accommodate more powerful microprocessors.
* The Compaq LTE Lite color notebook, with two models priced at $4,999 and $5,399.
Giancarlo Bisone, Compaq’s marketing vice president, acknowledged that competitors are likely to respond with price cuts of their own. Compaq also said it will cut prices on existing PCs by up to 32%.
“Our overall objective is that if we are going to be 5% or 6% or 7% more expensive (than the competition), the buyer will see what he is getting for that,” Bisone said, contending that Compaq could continue to offer superior features and reliability at a lower price.
The company’s stock closed off 25 cents a share at $27.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.
