PC vendors tighten belts even further

PC manufacturers look set to lose out further as pressure mounts on them to reduce prices even more.

Throughout the months of March and April, IDC's pricing index shows that prices began to rise. But in the last two months prices again have started to fall upping the pressure on PC makers.

The introduction of Intel's Pentium 4 during the first quarter of this year initially helped to push desktop and server prices up. But by June the squeeze set in again.

IDC also found that notebooks continue to suffer from a sharp decline because of increased competition in the market.