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March 21, 1998
News
- Lots of price cuts again this week. Intel announced that they would chop the price of
their new 333 MHz Pentium II by nearly 20% in an effort to spur demand for higher-end
computers. Normally Intel cuts prices every quarter and computer systems go down
accordingly, but this cut is happening sooner because of an apparent glut of computers on
the market. That may be bad news for computer manufacturers, but it’s definitely good
news for all of us. Of course, what we all really want is the 700 MHz Pentium II—yes,
you heard right—that Intel previewed at the CeBIT computer show in Germany this week.
Unfortunately it was only a technology display, not a real product, but it gives you a
good idea of what we can expect in the next year or two.
- Lots of companies also announced major computer system price cuts this week. IBM, for
example, is now offering a 233 MHz Pentium II system, the 300 GL —which is geared
towards the business market primarily—for only $1,099. It includes a 2.5 GB drive and
16 MB of RAM. Compaq has also announced more price cuts and will now throw in a free
monitor with the purchase of many of their business-oriented systems. To find out more
about some of these deals, check out some of the online computer retailers such as
Computer Discount Warehouse at www.cdw.com and Insight Direct at www.insight.com.
- In other Intel news, look for Pentium II-based notebooks on April 2nd—that’s
the official launch date of the mobile version of the Pentium II processor. Initial
versions will run at 233 and 266 MHz and are expected to appear in the high-end line of
notebooks from all the major vendors including Compaq, IBM, Toshiba, Dell and more.
Don’t look for sub-$2,000 notebooks with the Pentium II, however—they’ll
probably be closer to $3,500 or $4,000.
- Not to be left out, Apple also introduced some new PowerMac systems this week. Based on
the latest 300 MHz version of the G3, or PowerPC 750 chip, these systems are available in
minitower formats with either IDE or superfast UltraWide SCSI hard drives. Prices range
from $2,499 for a basic system with 32 MB of RAM and 512K of L2 cache to $4,899 for a
system with two 4 GB drives, 128 MB of RAM and 1 MB of L2 cache. Apple also debuted their
entry into the fledgeling but soon to be hot flat-panel display market. Apple’s
Studio Series Display features a 15.1 active matrix LCD and support for resolutions up to
1,024 x 768 with 24-bit color. The display, which is expected to be available in May, will
retail for $1,999.
- Looking for a slick PC with a built-in LCD screen? Then check out Hitachi’s new
VisionDesk 1120. The all-in-one computer/monitor combo features a 13.3" active matrix
screen, 233 MHz Pentium MMX, 32 MB of RAM, a 4 GB drive and a 20X CD-ROM. It’s a bit
pricey at $2,999, but definitely very cool. In other Hitachi news, the company recently
announced price cuts on several of their VisionBook line of notebooks. The 266-MHz Pentium
MMX-equipped VisionBook Pro 7590, with a 4GB hard drive, and 13.3-inch active matrix
display, was reduced in price from $4,799 to $4,199. In addition, their mini-subnotebook,
the VisionBook Traveler, which features a 133-MHz Pentium, 1GB drive, and 8.4" active
matrix display, was chopped from $2,499 to $1,999.
- Speaking of notebooks, Sony will apparently be introducing an ultrathin (less than
1" thick), light (just over 3 lbs.) Vaio notebook called the PCG-505 around July.
Best of all, the machine, which will offer a 200 MHz Pentium MMX, 32 MB of RAM, 1-2 GB
hard drive, 33.6 modem, a 10.4" active matrix display and a USB port, will be priced
just under $2,000. HP’s new Omnibook Sojourn and the Mitsubishi Pedion (which are
essentially identical) have also announced thin systems, but theirs are expected to retail
for around $6,000. Watch for these type of ultrathin notebooks to be the notebook form
factor of the future.
- While PC prices continue to come down to under $1,000, even that is too much for some
people, particularly students or others who might be looking for an inexpensive entre into
the world of computers. If you’re in that category, you may want to look into
remanufactured PCs. A company called Recompute is now offering a Compaq Prolinea with a 90
MHz Pentium with 16 MB of RAM and a 720 MB hard disk for $299. These computers are used
machines from Compaq and other major vendors that have been reconditioned and tested by
the company and come with a one-year warranty. They don’t include any
software—not even Windows 95—but they do come with a mouse and keyboard
(monitors, of course, are extra). The company also has a Dell system 133 MHz Pentium with
a 1.2 GB drive and 16 MB of RAM for just $379. Check it out at www.re-compute.com.
- HP has introduced a new line of multi-function devices that combine printing, scanning
and copying into a single unit. Their new low-end 300 Series is targeted towards the home
market. With a suggested retail of $399, the model 370 offers a 300 dpi color inkjet-based
printing and scanning, as well as color scanning. It does not, however, include faxing
capability. The new LaserJet 3100P, which retails for $699, incorporates printing,
copying, scanning and faxing with a 600 dpi black and white laser print engine and a 300
dpi optical resolution scanner. The $799 OfficeJet Pro 1170C offers 600 dpi color printing
as well as a 300 dpi scanner.
- Ever wanted to send several linked HTML pages or even an entire Web site to someone
else? Well, there hasn’t really been an easy way to do it—that is, until now. A
company called Trellix, which also makes an HTML authoring program of the same name, has
released a free beta version of a utility they’re calling Trelligram that lets you
send an entire web site, complete with all the graphics and HTML files as a single object.
It even includes a tiny web server so that when you detach the files, you can browse them
in your browser just as if you were viewing it on the web. Now, obviously, there are
practical limits to what you can do—I don’t think you’d want to e-mail
Yahoo to anyone for example, but it is an interesting concept. Check it out at
www.trellix.com.
- So, do you have a child with a Game Boy (or do you secretly own one yourself?) Well, how
would like to add a digital camera to your Game Boy for less than $50? Coming in June from
Nintendo (the product’s already available in Japan) is a little camera cartridge that
plugs into your Game Boy and turns it into the world’s cheapest digital camera. The
camera, which features zoom and panoramic modes can take several black and white digital
pictures which you can display and edit on the screen, transfer over to a friend’s
Game Boy, or best of all, incorporate into several games that are included with camera
cartridge. Sounds cool.
- If you’re looking for much higher picture quality, you can look forward to a new
digital camera from Olympus. The new D-340L, which offers a maximum resolution of 1,280 x
960 or 1.3 million pixels, will debut in April for $799. The price includes a 4 MB flash
memory card which can store between 9 and 60 pictures, depending on the resolution and
compression settings you select. Along with the introduction, Olympus is cutting the
prices of all its existing digital cameras. To find out more, check out their web site at
www.olympus.com.
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