Dell Computer Cuts Prices on Its Entire Line

Citing the continuing easing of the computer chip shortage that has plagued the industry for most of the last 18 months, one personal computer manufacturer Wednesday announced price cuts of $200 to $2,400 throughout its product line.

Dell Computer Corp., of Austin, Tex., said the price cuts on products ranging from its top-of-the-line personal computer to its memory upgrade kits stem from the company’s increased access to dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips. DRAM shortages throughout 1987 and the first half of 1988 had forced production slowdowns and price increases by several personal computer manufacturers.

Dell’s announcement lends support to projections that the shortage--which was at its peak about six months ago--could be over within the next six months.

According to Instat, a Scottsdale, Ariz., semiconductor market research firm, DRAM prices on the domestic spot market have dropped from a peak of nearly $40 for the popular 1-megabyte model to about $24.

Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive of Dell Computer, said the company previously couldn’t price some of its products competitively because of its high DRAM costs. “Now we have more DRAMs, so our pricing can be consistent with the rest of the market,” he said.

Other computer makers, which had raised prices earlier this year because of the chip shortage, said Wednesday that they did not expect to immediately announce price cuts of their own.