COMPUTER CHARACTERISTICS AND PRICE PERFORMANCE OF MICROCOMPUTERS IN UNITED-STATES TECHNOLOGY

To measure the power of microcomputers, consideration of both hardware features and level of performance with respect to expenditure, or price/performance ratio, is important. Hardware features can be determined from vendors, while various publications provide performance measurement benchmarks. Using a combination of hardware features and benchmarks, the present study successfully identifies the most significant determinants of price. Unlike previous studies, which made exclusive use of statistical procedures in deriving models, the present study initially incorporates a systematic (a priori) approach to establish a conceptual model combining both hardware characteristics and performance measurements. Statistical methods are employed to create a model containing the most parsimonious combination of hardware features and performance benchmarks. The derived model is validated through different diagnostics (e.g. normality, heteroscedasticity, multi-collinearity, etc.). The results of this analysis show that a similar methodology can serve to enhance the decision making process regarding microcomputer system pricing through a better understanding of the relationship between system characteristics and an appropriate price. Furthermore, since both hardware characteristics and benchmarks are the same for any given monetary unit, the systematic methodology described in this paper can be applied to computer technology in any country.