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Dell Trims Desktop, Notebook Prices

OptiPlex desktop PCs reduced as much as 17 percent; Latitude notebooks as much as 10 percent.

By Glenn McDonald, PCWorld   

Under the new price cuts, an OptiPlex GX1 with a 400-MHz Intel Pentium II processor, 256MB of RAM, a 6.4GB hard drive, a 19-inch monitor, and a 14-32X CD-ROM drive, was reduced 17 percent from $3518 to $2915.

A slightly different configuration of the OptiPlex GX1 that runs on 64MB of memory qualified as a PC World Best Buy in our September issue, ranking fifth overall on our Top 20 Power Desktops charts (see link to right). We particularly liked the GX1's modular case design: Usually hard-to-reach interior components swivel or swing out for easy access.

On the notebook side, the Latitude CPi M233ST configured with a 12.1 TFT display, 233-MHz Pentium MMX processor, 32MB of RAM, a 11-20X variable speed CD-ROM drive , and a 6.4GB hard drive was reduced 10 percent from $3198 to $2898.

The Latitude CPi line tends to fare well in our Top 10 Notebook charts as well, with the CPi D266XT, featuring a 266-MHz Pentium II processor, claiming the top spot in our September charts (see link to right).

In a separate announcement Thursday, Toshiba also announced price cuts among several competing notebook models. The Satellite 335/330CDT with a 266-MHz Pentium MMX processor, a 4GB hard drive, a 12.1-inch TFT display, and 32MB of memory was cut 20 percent from $2499 to $1999.