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HP slashes notebook PC prices

Hewlett-Packard cuts prices on its notebook PCs as much as 25 percent as it makes way for new models.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
2 min read
Hewlett-Packard has cut prices on its notebook PCs as much as 25 percent as it makes way for new models.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) today dropped prices by as much as 25 percent on several feature-rich notebooks boasting large, 14-inch LCD screens and Pentium II processors.

The HP Omnibook 7100 received the largest price cut of 25 percent. This is a relatively hefty "desktop replacement" notebook that is now expected to sell for about $3,199. It comes with an Intel Pentium II 266-MHz processor, an 8.1GB hard drive, a 14.1 inch active-matrix LCD, and a module that combines a CD-ROM drive and a floppy drive.

HP will trim its notebook lines to three, according to Glenn Kuo, product manager for the HP mobile computing division, in a recent statement, and the 7100 will start to disappear, he said.

The slim-design, lightweight OmniBook 4150 was reduced in price by 17 percent. This will sell now for $3,399. It includes a Pentium II 300-MHz processor, a 6.4GB hard drive, 14.1-inch screen, and a CD-ROM drive.

HP recently introduced new notebooks based on the just-released 366-MHz Pentium II processor.

The company also cut prices on accessories. A DVD drive, for example, was slashed 60 percent and now sells for about $175. A port replicator was cut 44 percent and will now sell for an estimated $55. A port replicator is a type of docking device which is already connected to a company network and to devices like a mouse or monitor, thus allowing users to simply plug in their portable computers to start working.