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Compaq PC goes sleek
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November 12, 2001: 6:05 p.m. ET
New desktop tries to boost demand with wireless networking features.
By Staff Writer Richard Richtmyer
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Hewletts hire proxy firm - Nov. 11, 2001
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LAS VEGAS (CNN/Money) - Hoping to reinvigorate sluggish sales with a sleek new design and enhanced wireless networking features, Compaq on Monday unveiled its newest desktop PC at the Comdex technology conference.
Called the Evo D500 Ultra Slim Desktop, the new system is Compaq's first attempt to integrate wireless networking capabilities that support both the Bluetooth and 802.11 wireless standards.
The system weighs in at just over 11 pounds and is about 75 percent smaller than the average desktop PC. Its 2.72-inch thin and just over one-foot-square package makes it only slightly larger than some notebook computers.
It also sports some of the features found in some notebooks, including those marketed under Compaq's Evo brand, such as swappable floppy, DVD and CD-RW drives.
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The new Evo D500 features advanced wireless networking features and is 75% smaller than the average desktop PC. | |
Compaq (CPQ: Research, Estimates) plans to market the new system, scheduled to begin shipping in the first half of 2002, exclusively to corporate customers, many of which already have purchased Evo brand notebooks.
Evo D500, which is scheduled to begin shipping in the first half of 2002, at first will be available with a Celeron processor from Intel. Shortly after its initial introduction, Compaq will begin offering a version sporting a Pentium 4 processor, the company said.
Compaq's announcement was one of the few PC-specific items on the agenda at this year's Comdex, which in recent years has shifted its focus beyond the PC into networking, wireless and portable computing devices and solutions.
And executives of Compaq and Intel revisited what has become a frequent topic of debate at the Las Vegas event: the fate of the PC.
"We're here to kill an ugly rumor, one that's been circulating throughout the technology industry for the last year -- the rumor that the PC is dead," Jeri
Callaway, vice president and general manager of Compaq's PC unit, told reporters at a press conference.
"Today will be no somber memorial service," she added. "Today we will celebrate a new beginning, because we're here to argue that the PC is not dead, but indeed taking on a new life," she added.
While she acknowledged that the traditional "beige box" of yesterday may be a dying breed, Callaway said desktop PCs with enhanced features that support the needs of an increasingly mobile work force will still have a place at the center of its computing experience.
She said Compaq also built into the Evo D500 the ability to customize it for specific workspace requirements as well as ergonomic design elements.
Pointing to the difficulties that the entire information technology industry has been suffering through over the past year, Michael Splinter, executive vice president and director of Intel's sales and marketing group, said the Evo D500 and other products like it are what's needed to give it a boost.
"The way we get out of the computer doldrums is by coming up with products that people use and want and can see the differentiation in," Splinter said. "The Evo D500 is one of those products. It really can allow
a new way for you to work in your office."
However, it remains unclear if Compaq's idea to leverage the Devo name recognition from its notebook sales will work out over the longer term.
Should the proposed union of Hewlett-Packard (HWP: Research, Estimates) and Compaq be consummated, there is a chance that the Evo brand, like some others, could be stricken from the combined entity's product line.
Of course, there's no guarantee that the deal will be completed. There has been rising dissent for the proposal among several key shareholders, including the descendants of HP's founders.
Callaway said that executives from both companies already have been meeting to discuss the branding issues they would face in the event the merger is completed. However, no decisions on which brands to keep and which to scrap have yet been made. 
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