Dropping PC Prices

In 2004, only 2 percent of notebook computers sold in the United States cost less than $800. In 2008, some 35 percent did, according to data collected by the NPD Group, another research firm.

Prices at the low end have tugged down those in every other segment. Even the computers that Mr. Cook calls “high end” now cost only $800 to $900.

The desktop units of H-P and eMachines are responding to a shared challenge: more shoppers who are looking for machines that provide only “good-enough computing,” according to Doug Bell and David Daoud, analysts at IDC.

I was amazed looking through a Dell catalog the other day that no laptop or desktop system base model was over $1,000. Unless you are buying a Mac, it is tough to go over a grand these days.

via NY Times