DALLAS – The laptop computer has come of age.
Once the more expensive, less powerful cousin of the desktop computer, the notebook PC has surged in popularity with lower prices and increasingly attractive features.
In the week of Aug. 6, U.S. retailers sold 54 percent more notebook PCs than they did during the comparable week last year, according to research firm Current Analysis.
The computer industry has generally embraced the move to laptops, since they’re usually more profitable than desktops. A 47 percent jump in notebook shipments, including 67 percent growth in the United States, helped Dell Inc. meet its second-quarter profit goal despite lower-than-expected sales.
But notebook prices are dropping quickly, giving consumers better bargains and even leading to price cuts in desktops. Analysts credit those prices, along with wireless Internet technology, lighter weights and longer battery lives, for the public’s embrace of the mobile computer.
Cost same as desktop
By this year’s holiday season, prices for notebook computers could be virtually the same as prices for desktops sold with flat-panel monitors, said Roger Kay, president of analysis firm Endpoint Technologies Associates.
“The revenues and the profits are basically going out of the notebook market,” Kay said.
Earlier this year, Dell executives pointed to climbing laptop computer sales to show that the company was growing less dependent on the desktop, which has long ceased to be a very profitable product.
Laptops for $499
The average selling price for laptops in the U.S. retail market fell to $1,141 in the second quarter, down from $1,391 a year ago. That’s a drop of nearly 18 percent, and it’s showing no sign of stopping, said Current Analysis principal analyst Sam Bhavnani.
“We’re in the back-to-school season,” he said. “You’re seeing four-ninety-nines everywhere” – laptops for $499.
The average price for laptops was still about 40 percent higher than the desktop price in the second quarter.
“The biggest differentiator a desktop has to offer over a notebook is price,” said Toni Duboise, a senior analyst at Current Analysis. “As notebooks come down in price, so have desktops.”
But the gap is closing. PC prices depend largely on what manufacturers pay for components – memory, display technology, processor chips and other parts. As demand for laptops increases, the prices of their components will probably fall, further narrowing the gap between notebooks and desktops, Kay said.
Comments are no longer available on this story