Hewlett-Packard Co has expanded its personal computer line with a new, entry-level model Vectra 286/12 PC to replace the Vectra ES/12 PC: it is a 12MHz 80286-based box with 1Mb of zero wait-state memory and has 35% fewer components on the motherboard than its predecessor; the company also announced a MaxFlex pricing programme to give dealers greater flexibility to configure the biggest selling Vectras to suit customers’ needs; dealers can reduce inventory carrying costs by building systems from base models without hard disks and adding Hewlett mass-storage and video accessories; in order to ensure that dealer-configured systems cost no more than pre-configured ones, the company cut 42Mb disks 30% to $700 and 84Mbs by 21% to $1,120, and VGA boards by 20% to $400, while memory is cut 23% to $500 per megabyte; the Vectra 286/12 PC ships June 1 at from $2,400 to $3,100, UKP1,653 to UKP2,220 here in the UK.
