Dell releases pair of low-cost notebooks

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By Tom Krazit

(IDG) -- Budget-conscious consumers who want the convenience of a laptop computer will have two new options from Dell Computer: the SmartStep 100N and the Inspiron 2600.

These machines, announced Monday, are targeted at first-time notebook purchasers and entry-level users, says Anne Camden, a spokesperson for Round Rock, Texas-based Dell. One target group is "a parent looking for a second PC for the children," she says.

The SmartStep, equivalent to Dell's desktop SmartStep D100 (see "A PC for bargain hunters", link below), comes in only one configuration and is priced at $899 on Dell's Web site, including a $50 discount exclusive to Web purchases. The Inspiron 2600 comes in a variety of configurations, says Camden, and is priced at $949 with the $50 online purchase discount from Dell. The notebooks are available only through Dell's Web site or by calling Dell.

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Both notebooks "are good buys," says Rob Enderle, research fellow at Giga Information Group in Santa Clara, California. "[The notebooks] offer decent performance, and have scored well in benchmarking tests," he says.

Making a Sale

However, Dell will probably attempt to sell consumers on notebooks with more functionality and options, after having attracted them to Dell through low prices, he says.

"This seems like more of a marketing initiative," he says, predicting that consumers would likely be pitched the Inspiron 2600 with one of its higher-performance configurations after inquiring about the SmartStep 100N. Dell's margins on a machine like the SmartStep 100N are probably minimal, he says.

The SmartStep 100N comes with a 14.1 inch XGA display, a 1.06-GHz Celeron processor from Intel, 128MB of shared synchronous dynamic RAM, a 20GB hard drive, and an internal 24X speed CD-ROM drive. It weighs 6.8 pounds and measures 12.9 inches by 10.8 inches by 1.45 inches.

The Inspiron 2600 is the lowest-priced model in Dell's Inspiron notebook line. The base configuration comes with a 1.06-GHz Celeron processor, but users can upgrade to Intel's Mobile Pentium III processors at either 1 GHz or 1.13 GHz. The machine also features expandable memory up to 512MB and as much as 40GB of hard disk storage. It weighs 6.8 pounds with a 14.1-inch display, or 7.6 pounds with a 15 inch-display.

The Smartstep notebook is available only in the U.S. and Canada as of Monday, but it will be rolled out in China and the U.K. within 60 days, Camden says. The Inspiron 2600 is available now globally.