Sale of notebook PC on the increase at Dhaka

The sale of notebook personal computer is on the rise although computer hardware is seeing a dull business in local market at the beginning of this year, said traders at BCS Computer City, the largest computer market in the country.  Students are the main buyers of notebook PCs these days besides increasing number of corporate users in the country.

   Computer traders said the people are turning their eyes to notebook PC as it is more

   user-friendly than desktop computer. According to information of different ICT professional trade bodies, at present there are about five million PC users and three million internet users in the country and the number of users is gradually increasing.

   Some large computer shops at the BCS computer market said they are selling, on an average, 5-8 personal computers per day and 80 per cent of them are notebook PCs.

   Momenoor Rashid, marketing officer of Computer Source Limited, said they are selling different configuration notebook PC of HP brand at prices ranging between Tk 48,750 and Tk 1,20,000.

   HP Compaq Presario, model C702TU notebook PC, is priced at Tk 48,750, HP model V6602TU at Tk 68,900 and HP 520 at Tk 56,200, he said, adding that these are selling well.

   ‘Our company is selling some HP business series laptops like HP Compaq nx8420, at Tk 1,03,000, HP Compaq nc6400 at Tk 1,03,500 and HP Compaq nx6310 at Tk 81,500.’

   Other brand laptops also selling well are Asus, Accer, Dell and Toshiba.

   Daffodil Computer has also started selling Daffodil brand laptops recently.

   Mohammad Ferdous, assistant manager (sales) of Flora Limited, said the trend of

   using computer has been changed these days; people are not using computer for multimedia purposes like playing games or watching movies at home.

   Many students particularly at graduate level are using computer for study purposes, said, adding that the number of users is also increasing in business sector like short and medium enterprises as well as in the government body at union and upazila levels.

   Ferdous said that they are getting more order from the government bodies at union and upazila levels, LGRD ministry, different UN offices, NGOs and short and medium enterprises apart from large corporate users.

   Users prefer clone PC to brand PC because they can change different hardware according to their demand in the clone PC, said the computer traders.

   Desktop computer mainly clone PC is selling at prices ranging Tk 25,000 and Tk 35,000 while the prices of brand desktop computer vary from Tk 35,000 and above.

   The prices of different computer hardware like hard disk, processor, RAM, AGP card, DVD writer, monitor, key board, mouse and other accessories fluctuate from Tk 100-Tk 500, said the traders.

   Ferdous said computer business was dull at the beginning of the year but the traders hoped that it would get momentum from the next month as the computer fair is going to take place in the 3rd week of February.

   Mofizur Rahman of Dolphin Computers said, ‘We make a good sale every year during the fair season as people wait for the computer fair to get discounts and offers.’

   Computer traders said

   there is growing demand for scanner, printer, digital camera, photocopier, MP3 and MP4 players and pen drives both from businesspeople and individuals.

Source: Newage