by Leonard Wiener, Rita Rubin, Andrea R. Wright

        Racing to profit from hoopla over Apple Computer's muscular new Power Macintosh line unveiled last week -- the first personal computers equipped with Power PC chips -- many retailers are already cutting prices. Entry-level Power Macs, with 8 megabytes of RAM and 160 megabyte hard drives, are being sold at some dealers for $1,600 to $1,700, compared with Apple's advertised but unofficial price of $1,819. A faster model with a 250-megabyte hard drive is being sold for about $2,700, $200 below Apple's $2,899. As has traditionally been true with most Macs, however, the price tags don't always tell the whole story. Prices on the Power Macs do not include a keyboard, mouse or monitor. Figure on an additional $85 to $175 for a keyboard -- Apple itself offers three. Apple's mouse costs about $79. And a decent color monitor runs $300 to $500, or more for extreme clarity or an extra-large screen. Upgrading can be tricky, too. Bigger hard drives are sold only in packages, which might also include a CD-ROM drive.

        The price of IBM-compatible PCs using Intel's powerful Pentium chip is also dropping, with many systems -- including monitor, mouse and keyboard as standard equipment -- now selling for $2,500 to $3,000. This month, Intel introduced ultraspeedy Pentium chips and faster older-style 486 chips, adding to the competitive climate. Anyone willing to give up some performance can get bargains on older Macintoshes. Apple last month cut prices 7 to 18 percent. And non-Pentium IBM-style machines are selling below $2,000.