Consumers hope the news in a recent CNET article is true. CNET says a chip glut at Intel could bring down the prices on PCs and laptops which have been falling now for the past couple years. But these price drops could be even steeper.
Is the mainstream market going to see that $100 PC that everyone has been talking about? Not quite yet, said Current Analysis senior analyst Toni Duboise. "All I can say is, watch the promotions... what you will see are extremely aggressive prices."
Potentially, the situation could lead to promotional prices of $199 for entry-level desktops with an Intel Celeron or AMD Sempron processor, 256MB of RAM, a hard drive with at least 40GB, and Windows Home Edition in the package. The PC would also be bundled with a 17-inch CRT display and, possibly, a printer, Duboise said. Approximately 18 percent of the desktops selling at retail at this moment are priced at less than $500 after rebate, she added.
Desktops with more processing power could drop even more in price because there is more "wiggle room" in the pricing according to the CNET article.
Midrange and high-end desktops and notebook PCs would have even more wiggle room, according to Duboise, meaning that mainstream PCs with Intel's Pentium 4 or AMD's Athlon 64 chip, 512 RAM and 80GB or 100GB hard drive could see price drops of 10 percent to about $583. Entry-level Media Center PCs with integrated graphics cards from ATI Technologies could also see price reductions, from $599 to $539, the analyst said.
Laptops prices are also expected to fall. It sounds like great news but consumers but the prices will have to be seen to believed as always.
