Affordable PCs from HP

A press release from Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) reveals that the company is introducing new Compaq PCs at an affordable price, targeted at domestic customers and small businesses. Compaq PCs come cheaper than the HP branded PCs, so they become the ideal choice for small and medium business customers, especially in emerging economies making their first PC purchases within a limited budget.

The company is launching the Compaq Presario CQ61z notebook PC. The model strikes a balance between mobility and performance and comes with a 15.6-inch diagonal high-definition screen, having a 16:9 ratio and six-cell lithium-ion battery. The starting price of this mobile PC is $399 and will be offered at an instant savings of $100, valid from Oct 18 till Dec 19.

HP's takeover of Compaq is by far its largest acquisition ever and is producing rich dividends for the company. The combined entity is going great guns, innovating and introducing new products at regular intervals and at affordable prices. Apart from the Compaq Presario CQ61z notebook PC, HP also offers Compaq Presario 4010f desktop PC, which has a sleek streamlined shape, comes with an AMD Sempron processor, NVIDIA GeForce integrated graphics card and 250 gigabyte hard disk. This PC comes at a reasonable price of $309.

Other than the products mentioned above, HP has also introduced budget PCs for small business customers − referred to as the Compaq 500B and 505B desktop PCs − equipped with Intel or AMD processors and running on Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows 7 operating systems. These PCs come with future expansion slots or bays and are priced at $359 and $409, respectively.

Besides promoting its reasonably priced Compaq brand, the company has also taken up the task of enhancing the HP branded notebook and printing product line. HP has recently come up with new and advanced gadgets in this segment. The most notable product was what it claims to be the world's slimmest full-performance notebook PC along with a slim consumer notebook, expected to strike an optimum balance between enhanced performance, mobility and price. The strategy adopted by HP is clear: while HP branded Products are targeted at high end customers, the Compaq brand will cater to the price sensitive customer group. This seems to be a good move by HP to reach out to all the customer segments and increase business volume.

Get real-time market insights and profitable stock recommendations from the team of analysts at Zacks Investment Research.See all today's Analyst Blog entries.

Related terms: acquisition, budget, business, consumer, dividends, expansion, investment, investment opinion, market, prices, products, research, small business, strike, takeover