Aberdeen Group Launches PC Deals, a Free Consumer Guide to the Latest and Best PC Prices.

Business/Technology Editors

Aberdeen's weekly price research and expert analysis of retail trends helps consumers navigate the confusing market and find the best possible deal on a desktop PC.

Aberdeen Group, a leading provider of technology market research and consulting, has launched PC Deals, a free weekly consumer guide to the latest and best deals on desktop PCs.

"For many consumers, determining what PC to buy is like walking across a minefield. All they want to do is buy the most computing power for the best price, but changing prices, confusing rebates, and variable configurations make it difficult to find the best deal," says Peter Kastner, Aberdeen executive vice president and chief research officer. "Until today, there has been no place for consumers to get this kind of independent research. PC Deals enables consumers to find, in one place and free of charge, current information and analysis on the PC market to help them make the best possible purchase decision."

Aberdeen's PC Deals is accessible online at www.aberdeen.com and is updated with the latest data each Tuesday. PC Deals provides comparative pricing data and analysis for models from the six major Intel-architecture consumer PC brands (Compaq, Dell, eMachines, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, and Sony) sold through major U.S. retail and online channels.

PC Deals consists of two segments designed to help consumers get the most from their PC dollars:

-- Price and specification comparisons (rebates included) of PCs in nine price categories, from $550 basic machines to powerful PCs priced above $1,550. We then apply a price-value methodology to the data, comparing variables like processor speed, memory size/speed, and hard-disk specs to come up with what we believe to be the best value in each category. We also provide links to where consumers can buy these PCs.

-- Analysis of each week's PC market, including price changes, configuration changes, incentives, rebates and other sales strategies being used to entice consumers to buy PCs. (Example: The price on that PC you saw in Sunday's retail sales flyer isn't the same price you'll see online.)

PC Deals is an outgrowth of Aberdeen's Digital Consumer Technology practice, which examines market trends and dynamics in consumer and small office/home office electronic technology. Because the consumer PC industry is a proxy for semiconductor, software, and other markets, Aberdeen tracks a number of research issues related to the consumer PC market on behalf of our industry-supplier clients.

"In better understanding the silicon-to-final-sale life cycle of the PC industry, we realized we had done the hard research work we believe will be useful to consumers contemplating a PC purchase," Kastner says. "Our research is independent. There are no sponsors."

About Aberdeen

Since 1988, Aberdeen has been a leader in providing market analysis and positioning services that help business technology suppliers meet the challenge of establishing leadership in fast-changing markets. Aberdeen is headquartered in Boston, MA, and has research divisions in Palo Alto, CA; Fort Collins, CO; and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Aberdeen is accessible via the Web at www.aberdeen.com.