Dell to sell notebook PCs at U.S. Sam's Club stores

By Philipp Gollner

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dell Inc. (DELL.O) said on Friday it would sell notebook computers at more than 580 of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s (WMT.N) Sam's Club outlets for $899 each starting next week, its latest move to sell computers in retail chains.

Dell said last month it would start selling desktop computers for less than $700 apiece in more than 3,000 Wal-Mart stores in North America, breaking from its 23-year-old direct- to-consumer sales model as it tries to rekindle growth.

Friday's announcement extends Dell's retail push to consumer notebook computers, which are typically more expensive and more profitable than low-end desktops. Round Rock, Texas- based Dell is the world's second-largest PC maker by unit shipments, after Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ.N).

The Dell Inspiron 1501 notebooks sold at Sam's Club will have dual-core processors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD.N), two gigabytes of memory and 120-gigabyte hard-disk drives, Dell spokesman David Frink said. They will feature Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT.O) Vista Home Premium operating system.

Dell also will start selling notebooks at an unspecified number of Wal-Mart stores later in the summer, Dell spokesman Bob Kaufman said. Kaufman said he did not have details on which models would be offered.

Dell shares closed up 35 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $27.34. Wal-Mart closed up 0.6 percent at $50.08, and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD.N) added 2.9 percent to close at $14.07.

The move into retail stores is part of founder Michael Dell's strategy to turn the company around after growth slowed under former Chief Executive Kevin Rollins, whom Michael Dell replaced in January. Dell last year lost the top-selling PC spot to HP, which sold more notebook computers in stores and expanded in consumer PCs, markets in which Dell has lagged.

Wal-Mart said separately it will begin selling Dell E521 Dimension desktops with 19-inch flat-panel displays on June 10 for $698 each at all its U.S. stores. It also will offer the same computer without the display for $498 at 3,000 stores.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, and Dell announced last month the sale of the desktops, which will have a gigabyte of memory and Windows Vista Home Premium operating systems. Wal-Mart also will sell a Dimension E521 multimedia desktop with two gigabytes of memory, a 320-gigabyte disk drive and a graphics chip from Nvidia Corp. (NVDA.O)

RETHINKING TELEVISIONS

As Dell branches out in PCs, it is rethinking its strategy for other consumer devices such as Dell-branded liquid-crystal display televisions, which it began selling in 2003. The company in February said it would begin selling Sony Corp. (6758.T) TVs alongside its own models and planned to offer other manufacturers' TVs soon.

Michael Dell, in an interview to be published on Saturday in Switzerland's Neue Zuercher Zeitung, said the company had decided to stop making its own televisions.

"But that doesn't mean that we won't later get back in" to making TVs, he said, according to a preprint of the article. He added that, in the long term, the company would consider selling additional consumer electronics gadgets, including "anything that involves pictures, music, video, or games."

Dell spokesman Frink declined to comment on the interview or on Dell's TV plans.