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SCMP Reporter

THE PC price war predicted in March does not appear to have had the impact in Hongkong that some may have expected.

  Instead, vendors are more concerned with offering improved features and user friendliness.

  ''The definition of value in the PC industry is changing: it is no longer strictly a price/performance issue,'' said Mr Lim Huat-seng, vice-president and managing director of Compaq North Asia.

  ''Today, companies must differentiate themselves based on technology expertise, quality and reliability, distribution mechanisms, service and support, as well as price.''   This sentiment was echoed by Mr Andrew Mak, of Hewlett-Packard.

  ''Our customers are looking for features and quality, not so much price,'' he said.

  The trend within the desktop PC industry towards networked systems is also diverting attention away from pricing strategies.

  HP predicts that, by 1995, the percentage of businesses operating networked PC systems will rise from its present level of 40 to 50 per cent to about 60 per cent.

  Therefore, the price of the server becomes of less relevance as the cost is effectively split among the clients using shared software and peripherals.

  This trend is illustrated by new models coming on to the market.

  Compaq's Deskpro I systems come with Ethernet and Dual Speed Tokenring built in and these are also options that can be added to Deskpro M models.

  A range of PCs to be announced by HP at the end of this month will all have networking capabilities based on a Network Interface built directly on to the mother board.

  Mr Mak listed the key attributes of a desktop PC as reliability, data security and speed, in that order.

  Reliability is obviously of paramount importance, since no user can afford to run the risk of costly systems failure.

  Vendors are quick to point out track records of reliability and improved warranties and service back-up.

  Compaq, for example, now offers three-year guarantees across its entire product range.

  Data security is also of vital importance and vendors are attempting to guarantee this through Disk Arraying.

  Disk Arraying, a technology that has been used in mainframes for some time, involves the simultaneous storing of information on independent drives.

  This offers continuous on-line back-up and removes the need for systems to be shut down to allow back-up copies to be made and means that, in the event of drive corruption, the other drive can be automatically used until the problem has been solved.

  Compaq was the first manufacturer to introduce Disk Arraying on PCs and was followed by AST last month, with HP to follow suit with the launch of its new PCs.

  This technology, however, does not come cheaply, though HP claims that its experience in mainframe computing will enable it to offer Disk Arraying at about 60 per cent of Compaq's list price.

  Data protection is also seen as vital, with vendors offering screen blanking while processing occurs and multi-level passwords - features that are becoming ever more important with the increased amount of networking that is being seen today.

  At the moment, vendors do not seem keen to stress the importance of speed, a fact that seems surprising with the arrival of the Pentium chip.

  Mr Mak played down the importance of processor speed, pointing out that disk speed and Input/Output connections were of greater significance in a networked system.

  Both Compaq and HP's new PCs have been designed to accommodate the Pentium chip.

  They expect to adopt Pentium on a wide scale as soon as Intel can ship the product in large enough volumes.

  Compaq announced last week that it had begun shipping two new Pentium-based PCs, the Deskpro 5/66M and 5/60M, with prices starting at about US$6,000.

  ''Through our technology expertise and close strategic relationship with Intel, Compaq is delivering new desktops that maximise the power of the Pentium and take Compaq even further ahead of the competition,'' Mr Lim said.

  However, the 486 is expected to remain the dominant chip in lower end models for at least the next few years.

  Manufacturers are also keen to point out how easily their systems can be upgraded as new technologies come on to the market.



PC battleground adopts new focus