At the same time as Apple Computer Inc appears to be steering away from the low-end, Mac cloner Power Computing Corp is set to ship its first entry-level PC line. Apple unveiled its Performa 6400 desktops last Friday, which – with a starting price of $2,500 – are more expensive than Power Computing’s most expensive entry level machine which costs $2,200. The new machines from both companies use the 603e RISC chip, but Power Computing is offering up a faster line, with a 240MHz machine. Apple has denied it’s abandoning the low-end market. Power Computing calls its new line the PowerBase series. The Round Rock, Texas-based company has also cut prices on selected machines in its PowerCenter and PowerTower lines by 31% to 75%. The PowerBase machines will ship in mid-September and mark the first time the firm has offered input ports which allow users to plug in less expensive PS/2 keyboards and mice.
The PowerBase models come with from 16Mb RAM, 1.2 Gb IDE internal hard drive, a 256Kb upgradeable level 2 cache, an internal eight speed CD-ROM drive and three PCI slots. The PowerBase 240, at 240MHz costs $2,200; the PowerBase 200, at 200MHz is $1,800; and the PowerBase 180, at 180MHz is $1,500. All Power Computing models may be individually configured through mail order.
