Local PC assembler gets into notebooks

by PETER GRIFFIN

The PC Company is making a bid to do what other local PC assemblers have failed to do in the past - break into the competitive notebook PC market.

The company which has made significant inroads into the desktop PC market selling more than 20,000 PCs last year, will debut a notebook model at $2999 plus GST, the traditional price point for a bundled desktop package.

A more powerful system complete with more memory, software and a DVD drive will sell for around $4000 plus GST, while a stripped-down model, the DeskNote A900, will sell for $1999 plus GST.

The new range will come from two Taiwan-based suppliers with the notebooks being assembled at The PC Company's plant in Hamilton. Marketing director Kerry Mancer said The PC Company had successfully tried its hand in the notebook market in a limited capacity last year, selling around 200

notebooks per quarter.

A shipment of 200 notebooks had already arrived with another shipment scheduled for the end of the week. Some of the models would come equipped with Celeron desktop processors which Mr Mancer said provided better power effeciency than similar mobile processors.

"There's been a huge swing in Asia and Europe towards desktop processors because their heat dissipation is technically perfect."

He would not say what share of the notebook market The PC Company hoped to secure with its new range.

"You don't expect to enter a market and starting writing business tomorrow, but it will contribute significantly to revenues and the company's bottom line over time."

Traditionally, Toshiba has been the dominant player in the notebook market locally, followed by Compaq and IBM.

But The PC Company's foray into notebooks has not rattled supporters of multinational vendors.

Bryan Tantrum, Auckland branch manager at Portables Plus, said The PC Company would compete on price, not quality.

"It's when something goes wrong that you learn the difference between a clone and a branded machine," he said, adding that Portable Plus sold Toshiba and Compaq models that roughly matched The PC Company's prices.

But at the $1999 level The PC Company would stand alone, however Mr Tantrum questioned the quality of the attractively priced DeskNote A900.

"We were looking to stock something cheap like that, but we looked at the quality of it and decided we wouldn't touch it."

Despite 2001 being remembered as an unispiring year for PC manufacturers, The PC Company recorded its best ever year of business and "double digit growth" according to Mr Mancer.

In the third quarter of 2001 the company's sales of desktop PC's grew by nine per cent.