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HP Announces PIII Systems, Cuts Prices

New PIII-550 PCs due later this month, prices on older models drop.

By Christian McIntosh, PCWorld   

HP will slash prices by as much as 21 percent on select Brio small-business PCs, Vectra corporate PCs, Kayak PC workstations, and NetServer LH 4 systems. The reduced prices are effective immediately.

Brio systems with 400-MHz Celeron processors will drop 9 percent to $849, while Vectra PCs powered by 450-MHz Pentium III chips will sell for $1119, a 15-percent reduction.

Server and workstation models have undergone the largest price cuts. HP reduced the price of a 450-MHz PIII Kayak workstation with AccelGALAXY graphics by 21 percent to $2709. And NetServer LH 4 systems now sell for $6299, 17 percent cheaper than previous models.

Do New Chips Equal Lower Prices?

HP's price reductions coincide with the company's announcement of PIII-550 support--and that's not a coincidence, according to Schelley Olhava, an analyst with International Data Corporation. "When new processors are brought into the fold, it usually triggers price drops with older models, even if those models are only two months old," Olhava says.

With that in mind, savvy consumers may want to wait before buying the newest and fastest systems, Olhava says.

But if you're after mind-numbing performance and speed, you may want to check out HP's 550-MHz Vectra, which comes with a 13.5GB hard drive, Matrox MGA graphics board, 128MB of memory, and a DVD-ROM drive. Estimated retail price is $3390.

HP's latest Pavilion consumer PC, also powered by a 550-MHz PIII chip, sells for $2499. Kayak workstations and NetServer systems will also ship with 550-MHz PIII processors.

HP plans to begin shipping the 550-MHz systems later this month.