HP And Rivals Get Schooled

HP also rolled out new products for the education market, including several Advanced Micro Devices-based notebooks.

The 15 percent discount to teachers and students will be available directly to buyers who pre-register at the HP Home and Home Office Store's Academic Purchase Program on the HP Web site, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company said.

The new notebooks, which start at a street price of $929, include the HP Pavilion dv6000 Entertainment Notebook PC with a 15.4-inch display and an AMD Turion 64X2 chip; the Compaq Presario V6000, with an AMD dual-core processor and 15.4-inch screen; and the HP Pavilion dv9000 Entertainment Notebook, with a 17-inch widescreen display. HP also said its HP Pavilion Slimline s7500 lineup will include the option for a TV tuner and carry a starting price of $449.

HP also rolled out a $79 all-in-one printer, the HP Deskjet F380, and said the company will offer remote control for its PC Tune Up service.

The HP education discounts and new notebooks come a week after Apple unveiled a sub-$900 iMac for the education space. In addition, rival Dell earlier this month planned to announce major pricing actions in the consumer and small-business segments.

HP and competitors such as Dell and Lenovo have vowed to stay aggressive on pricing in the desktop and notebook space, as a market share free-for-all has emerged in recent months.

HP unveiled its back-to-school lineup after rival Apple, Cuper-tino, Calif., announced a new, 17-inch, $899 iMac system for teachers and students. However, within a week Apple stopped selling the systems to individuals, and began offering the systems over its Web site for group purchases only.

With many seeing a slight slowdown in corporate IT spending, government and education customers—who are working with established budgets that aren't ratcheted down, for the most part—provide a measure of stability for solution providers, some channel executives say.

"The education market is probably one of the biggest notebook users right now because of space issues, and they are easier to use," said David Chang, president of Agama Systems, a Houston-based system builder and solution provider. "I see a lot of bids for notebooks in the educational markets. And HP seems to be catching up on market share there."