COMPUTERS : Toshiba Cuts Notebook and Laptop Prices : Marketing: The company responds to moves by Compaq and IBM in making reductions of up to 33%.

Toshiba America, responding to increased competition and price-cutting by a major rival, said Thursday that it is slashing prices on its line of notebook and laptop computers from 19% to 33%.

Tom Martin, a Toshiba vice president in Irvine, said the move is partly a response to Compaq Computer Corp.’s recent sharp price cuts on its notebook and portable models and also the recent entry of International Business Machines Corp. into the notebook computer field.

“It’s more significant than our normal seasonal price changes,” Martin said. “This reflects competition as well as an easing of the supply of components for the notebook market.”

Notebook is a subcategory of personal computers that generally weigh from 5 to 8 pounds and are small enough to fit inside a briefcase.

Toshiba is the market leader in the portable computer field, which includes notebooks and the larger laptop computers, but it is facing increased competition from dozens of manufacturers.

That competition has taken a toll on Toshiba America Information Systems in Irvine, the U.S. arm of Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp. and parent firm of the division that manufactures portable computers primarily for sale in the United States.

Since January, the company has laid off more than 200 employees, and in April the president of Toshiba’s computer division, Bill Johnson, abruptly resigned. Then, two weeks ago, Compaq slashed its computer prices by up to 34%.

“Toshiba has not enjoyed a particularly good year, and this is something they have to do to maintain market share,” said Steve Lair, a vice president at market researcher Dataquest Inc. in San Jose. “The ultimate winner is the end-user.”

Toshiba has about 23% of the approximately $5-billion portable computer market, according to International Data Corp., a Framingham, Mass., market research company.

Bruce Stephen, an IDC analyst, said that even after the price cuts Toshiba’s lowest-priced models will cost more than the basic models of such other portable computer makers as Dell Computer Corp. in Austin and AST Research and Advanced Logic Research, both of Irvine.

After the reductions, Toshiba’s suggested retail prices for its portable computers range from $799 to $7,599, down from $999 to $9,499. Toshiba said the suggested price of its T1000 notebook model was reduced from $999 to $799, and from $4,999 to $3,399 for the T2000SX/20 model.