NOW'S THE TIME TO BUY; SLOW SALES DROP PRICES ON HIGH-END PCS.Byline: Rachel Beck Rachel Beck is an American reporter for the Lebanon Express in Lebanon, Oregon. Born 5 April, 1982, she was raised in Sisters, Oregon. In 2000, she graduated from Sisters High School[1]. She graduated from Vassar College with the class of 2004. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Cheap computers stole sales away from more expensive PCs this Christmas, and now retailers are offering big discounts to clear out their higher-priced inventory. That means consumers can find a wide variety of powerful computers with lots of goodies attached for around $1,000, well below what they would have paid a year ago. ``If you want to buy a higher-end system, this is the time to buy,'' said Matt Sargent, an analyst at ZD Market Intelligence, a research firm based in La Jolla La Jolla (lə hoi`yə), on the Pacific Ocean, S Calif., an uninc. district within the confines of San Diego; founded 1869. The beautiful ocean beaches, in particular La Jolla shores and Black's Beach, and sea-washed caves attract visitors and . ``The stores are overstocked and they want to clear their shelves to make room for new inventory.'' It was a strong year for the computer industry, largely because prices dropped to levels affordable enough to appeal to the masses. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. new research from ZD Market Intelligence, the average retail selling price for a personal desktop computer was $983 in November, the first time it dropped below $1,000. A year ago, the average price was $1,329. In addition, market share increased sharply for cheap computers. In October, PCs under $600 accounted for 5.5 percent of retail sales. By November, they accounted for 16.6 percent. Realizing consumers' appetite for lower prices, retailers counted on the less-expensive computers to entice shoppers to their stores during the holidays. It was hard to miss the barrage of advertisements touting computers for as little as $400. ``There were a lot of promotions out there for the low-priced computers, but the more expensive ones they didn't promote as much and didn't sell as many,'' said David Goldstein David Goldstein is a radio talk show host and blogger in Seattle, Washington. He hosts "The David Goldstein Show" on Saturdays and Sundays on 710 KIRO. Goldstein first gained notoriety in 2003 for Initiative 831, which would have officially proclaimed Washington State political , president of Channel Marketing Corp. in Dallas. Now, retailers hope price cuts on higher-end models move products out of stores quickly. Manufacturers already are shipping new inventory, and the outdated computers have almost no shelf life. Thanks to the discounts, consumers can get more computing power for less money that ever before. Many of these PCs offer more fast processing and extensive memory than the cheaper variety. COMPUTER DEALS Among the deals being offered nationwide for high-end computers: Best Buy is offering this week a Packard Bell See Packard Bell NEC. 350 megahertz One million cycles per second. See MHz. MegaHertz - (MHz) Millions of cycles per second. The unit of frequency used to measure the clock rate of modern digital logic, including microprocessors. computer, with monitor and printer, for $999.70, down from $1,376.70. Radio Shack See RadioShack. is marking down its entire line of Compaq computers, including a 300 megahertz desktop computer, with monitor and printer, for $950, down from $1,500. Online retailer Cyberian Outpost has a deal on a Compaq notebook computer with 266 megahertz for $1,200, down from $1,400. CAPTION(S): Box BOX: COMPUTER DEALS (See text) |
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