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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hadrian who wrote (33158)	5/12/1998 2:01:00 PM
From: Stoctrash	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Sony's Godzilla-inspired PC proves size matters By Margaret Kane, ZDNet NEW YORK -- You may be sick of this phrase by now, but: Size does matter. The phrase appears to be a mantra for Sony Electronics Inc. (SNE), which plans a big product launch for next month's PC Expo show in New York. The product release will use advertising closely tied to Sony's other major second-quarter release: the movie "Godzilla." It appears that size is also relative. Sony's "Godzilla" is huge, but Sony's PC announcement will feature a notebook computer that weighs less than 3 pounds. Sony will also release its first sub-$1,000 PC, based on Intel Corp.'s (INTC) Celeron. Sony's two-year old PC division has had some success in the consumer market, and executives said today that their goal is not to corner the market on traditional PCs. "We're not aggressively pursuing market share for its own sake," said Wataru Ogawa, president of Sony Information Technology of America. "We're not concerned with the potential consolidation [of the PC market] which is based on standard PCs -- beige boxes." Instead, Sony aims to create "a very different market" with products that are "distinctively Sony," officials said. And the products are... Those "distinctively Sony" products include: * The 3 pound, 1-inch-thick VAIO 505G Super Slim notebook, which features a 200MHz MMX processor, 2.1GB hard drive, 32MB SDRAM, and a 10.4-inch screen. The notebook will ship in July starting at $1,999, and will include a movie trailer for "Godzilla." * The VAIO 808, Sony's first Pentium II notebook, which comes with a 13.3-inch screen, 4GB hard drive, 64MB SDRAM, and ships in July starting at $3,699. * The VAIO 731 and 735 notebooks, featuring 200MHz and 233MHz Pentium processors. The systems will ship in June at $1,799 and $2,199. * The PCV-E201 desktop microtower, with a 266MHz Intel Celeron processor. The system, which starts at $999, includes 32MB SDRAM, a 4.3GB hard drive and 2MB video RAM. * The PCV-E203 starts at $1,399, and runs on a 300MHz Celeron with SDRAM, a 6.4GB hard drive and 4MB video RAM. It also includes a 5x DVD-ROM drive. * The PCV-E205, which starts at $1,699 includes a 333MHz Pentium II, 64MB SDRAM, an 8GB hard drive and a 5x DVD-ROM drive Sony also unveiled a slew of new displays and storage devices, including a writable DVD drive that will ship by the end of the year. Pricing was not available. Coming later this year Sony also said it is developing some products that will not be ready for PC Expo, including a new type of monitor that can receive signals from televisions and PCs. The Intelligent Picture and Graphic Enhancement technology will be ready sometime before Comdex/Fall, executives said. The company is also developing a set of monitor glasses that are worn by the user. The glasses display the equivalent of a 30-inch screen sitting about 4 feet from the viewer. Sony officials said that the glasses are still being developed, and had no timeline for release.