Dave Andrews and Jon Pepper
Pentium-based systems sporting high-capacity enhanced IDE hard drives, fast graphics, and integrated CD-ROM drives will highlight PC announcements this fall. PC vendors like AST Research, DEC, Dell Computer, Gateway 2000, and IBM are targeting value-conscious PC buyers with 90-MHz Pentium-based systems that sell for about $2500 and 60-MHz Pentium-based systems for under $2000. In July, Intel reduced the price of its 90-MHz Pentium chips from $849 to $707 (in quantities of 1000), and that's just the beginning. Like clockwork, Intel reduces the prices on its Pentium chips about every three months. The next price reduction should come in early October.
``If Intel can quickly move the [x86] world over to the Pentium, that means the company won't have any competition for a lo
ng time,'' explains Dan Sheppard, director of marketing for business desktop systems at AST Research. AMD, Cyrix, and NexGen are all working on Pentium-class processors, but only NexGen should have its processor available in volume before mid-1995. Thus, for the near future, Intel has the market to itself.
The latest round of PCs that target the value-conscious business buyer (e.g., DEC's 486- and Pentium-based Celebris line, AST's Bravo MS series, and Dell's OptiPlex series of Pentiums) offer more than just fast processors. Expect to see enhanced IDE hard drives; high-speed serial ports with a 16550 buffered UART (universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter); ECP/EPP (Extended Capabilities Port/Enhanced Parallel Port) ports; Plug and Play-compliant, upgradable flash BIOS; and 64-bit graphics acceleration offered as standard features. Also, the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus will be a common architecture on these desktop systems. Less expensive Pentium-based PCs will eschew state-of-the-ar
t components.
Despite the inexorable march toward Pentium, the 486 is by no means dead. Indeed, officials at Gateway 2000 say that Pentium sales in the second quarter accounted for only 26 percent of the company's total. ``I think it will be three or four more quarters before the Pentium is entrenched as the desktop PC standard,'' says Jesse Parker, director of product management for DEC's PC business unit. ``But the momentum for Pentium is increasing. Neither the home nor the business purchaser wants to buy a [486 or lower] system that will be obsolete in 12 to 18 months.''
Pentium Pricing Scorecard
Intel generally reduces the pricing on its processors approximately every three months. PC vendors say the 100-MHz Pentium is not yet available in large quantities, which would explain the minimal price decrease for that chip. An asterisk indicates the price as of August 1. Pricing is given in quantities of 1000.
Processor April 1994 Price July 1994 Price P
rice Decrease (%)
100-MHz Pentium $995 $964 3.1
90-MHz Pentium $849 $707 16.7
66-MHz Pentium $750 $525* 30.0
60-MHz Pentium $675 $418* 38.1
The Pentium Goes Mainstream
