Digital sub-$900 PCs get cheaper

Digital Equipment (DEC) clipped prices by up to 20 percent on its line of business PCs, lowering the cost of sub-$900 and sub-$1,000 models as well as high-end machines.

Digital's lowest-priced desktop PC has been cut to $863. The PC 3010 comes with an Advanced Micro Devices' 166-MHz K6 processor, a chip Digital adopted in June of 1997, when it became the first major vendor to utilize the K6, introducing it in the since-renamed Venturis line.

Digital price cuts
Model	Processor	Old	New
PC 5510	300-MHz Pentium II	$2,567	$2,042
PC 5510	233-MHz Pentium II	$2,086	$1,769
PC 5100	200-MHz Pentium MMX	$1,507	$1,329
PC 3100	200-MHz Pentium MMX	$1,077	$999
PC 3010	166-MHz Pentium MMX	$969	$900
PC 3010	166-MHz MMX-enhanced K6	$899	$863

The price of a 3010 with a 166-MHz Intel Pentium MMX, meanwhile, has been reduced to $900. Also, a low-end 3100 with a 200-MHz Pentium MMX chip drops to $999 from $1,077.

The largest price cuts in the Digital PC 3000 and 5000 series come at the high end, where Intel's Pentium processor are used exclusively. The 5100 model with a 300-MHz Pentium II chip falls to $2,042 from $2,567, a 20 percent decrease.

The price cuts come in advance of next Monday's announcement by Intel of new Pentium II chips, code-named Deschutes, manufactured on an improved process. The announcement will include a upgrade to a new top speed of 333 MHz as well as chip price cuts. (See related story)

"It's a necessary step, but it's not earth shattering," said Roger Kay, computer analyst at International Data Corporation, of Digital's reductions.