Micron 400-MHz system to $2,199
The direct seller makes modest price cuts on higher-end consumer desktops and PC servers as it strives to be an industry price leader.
Micron cut the price of its 400-MHz Millenia 400 desktop to $2,199 from $2,499, a 12 percent reduction that makes the small-business/home-use PC one of the market's lowest name-brand systems with Intel's fastest Pentium II chip. The Millenia 400 also comes with 64MB of memory, a 6.4GB hard drive, a CD-ROM, and a 17-inch monitor.
Rival direct marketer Dell sells its XPS R400 model with a slightly larger 8.4GB hard drive for the same price. Micron, however, includes Microsoft's Office software suite.
The similarly configured NEC Direction SP B400 currently lists at an estimated retail price of $2,299. Compaq and Gateway both offer 400-MHz systems for about $2,500, though Gateway says its G6 system comes with more features, such as DVD-ROM.
The Millenia 350, with the same specifications but a 350-MHz Pentium II chip, falls to $2,099 from $2,299. Micron introduced both models in April, at the time that Intel rolled out its high-end processors.
On the server end, Micron trimmed server prices in advance of the Xeon chip's debut later this month. The introduction of Intel's high-end processor for servers is expected to be accompanied by a host of new products.
The Micron Netframe 3100 server, with a 350-MHz Pentium II chip, 64MB of memory, a 4GB hard drive, and Microsoft's Windows NT operating system now costs $4,199, down modestly from $4,299.