THE sharp price cuts in the personal computer industry should result in a 30 per cent increase in shipments of Intel-architecture machines to about 64 million units in 1995, according to a report just released by US-based broking house Salomon Brothers.
The report offers nothing but good news for consumers with more and more powerful machines being offered at lower and lower prices.
Pentium-based machines sold for US$2,000 to $2,500 in the fourth quarter of last year may retail for under $1,500 by the fourth quarter this year.
Pentium-based computers will become the dominant computing platform, with the machines expected to account for some 25 to 30 million of all PCs shipped this year.
Despite Intel's Pentium flaw debacle of last year, Salomon Brothers expects demand for Pentium processors to increase during 1995.
Although growth will be spurred by the continuing PC price war, the adoption of multimedia and the launch of new operating platforms such as the much-anticipated Windows 95, the report says the primary driving force behind demand will be the availability of powerful machines at reasonable prices.
