IBM Corp looks to have given a savage new twist to the personal computer price wars ratchet with its new ValuePoints (CI No 2,222): the company is offering a 25MHz 80486SX machine with 4Mb, 120Mb disk (its minimum on the 80486 models although you can have the thing for $900 without the disk), 1Mb video memory, 3.5 floppy, mouse and Windows for $1,200 – but irritatingly for the customer, no display, although it appears that the same machine with colour monitor is $1,550; the new Si machines include VESA local bus graphics, which indicates that these days, you can’t charge a premium for any advance in functionality; the announcement is the best indication yet that IBM really is finally ready to mix it in the gutter with the no-name clonemakers and it seems likely that a new round of price cuts will follow, with the weakest having to totter to the bankruptcy courts for protection.
