11/17/97 THIS COMPUTER IS A LOOKER

THIS COMPUTER IS A LOOKER

IT'S ONE OF THE AGE-OLD questions of the personal-computer industry: Will geeks pay a premium for style? So far, the answer has been no, with hip PCs such as IBM's Aptiva getting a lukewarm market reception. Still, Hitachi Ltd. is betting that it can change PC buyers' minds.
Early next year, the Japanese electronics giant will bring out a sleek ''all-in-one'' PC that will retail for $3,500 to $4,000, about $1,000 more than standard PCs with similar features. By combining a thin liquid-crystal-display monitor and a compact central-processing unit (CPU), the VisionDesk will be about a third the size of a traditional desktop PC. ''This is for the high-end Bang & Olufsen consumer who cares a great deal about form as well as function,'' says Mark Yahiro, Hitachi's vice-president for marketing and business development. Despite its size, the PC won't skimp on features. It'll include a 233-megahertz MMX Pentium chip, a 20X CD-ROM, and a 4.3-gigabyte hard drive.
Still, Hitachi is keeping its expectations low. It'll make 10,000 units a month--a fraction of those for the U.S.
EDITED BY PETER ELSTROM