Taipei Show Exhibits Core 2 Duo Desktops

A Taipei trade show aimed at users opened Thursday highlighting Intel’s latest dual-core microprocessor, the Core 2 Duo, with desktop computers priced as low as 19,990 new Taiwan dollars (US$606).

Companies at the Taipei Computer Applications Show, which runs through Aug. 7, offered several desktop systems with the new chips, from high-end PCs for gamers down to lower-end systems with price tags that meet family budgets. The prices are only for attendees of the show, which is open to all.

Genuine C&C, a local company that takes orders and ships PCs within a day to users, may be selling the most and least expensive Core 2 Duo desktop PCs at the show.

The first system, priced at NT$33,900 (US$1,032) and aimed at gamers, comes with the Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz processor, 1024MB of double data rate, second generation (DDR2) RAM running at 667MHz, a 250GB hard drive, a high-end Nvidia 7600GS graphics card and super multi-DVD recordable drive. It comes with the Microsoft Windows XP Home OS, but the price does not include a monitor, keyboard or mouse. The company added a handle on top so users could carry it around; the computer is about the size of a suitcase.

The company’s low-cost model, at NT$19,990, comes with the same microprocessor, OS and DVD drive, but a 160GB hard drive and half the amount of RAM.

Synnex Technology International came closest to beating Genuine’s low price with its NT$20,900 (US$636) Lemel brand PC. The system includes a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo, 512MB of DDR2 RAM running at 667MHz, a 160GB hard drive, Windows XP Home and a super multi-DVD recordable drive.

The company also offered a higher-end model at NT$24,900 (US$746) with the same microprocessor, RAM, hard drive and DVD drive, but a superior graphics card, an Nvidia GeForce 7300GS card.

HannStar Union was showing off a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo system, with 250GB of hard drive space and 1024MB of DDR2 RAM running at 667MHz for NT$22,900 (US$697).

Intel was even selling boxed versions of the 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo for NT$7,350 (US$224), including tax. The company was limiting sales to one per person.

Most of Taiwan’s bigger companies, such as Acer, Asustek Computer and Micro-Star International were concentrating on selling laptop models at the user show.

Acer did come with bargains on Pentium D desktops. Instead of drastically marking down the machines after Intel’s latest price cuts, it bundled its AcerPower S285 desktop PCs with 19-inch liquid crystal display monitors. The 2.66GHz Pentium D system, which runs Windows XP and carries 512MB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive, costs NT$24,500 at the trade show.

By Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service (Taipei Bureau)

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