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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Maverick who wrote (38508)10/7/1998 1:25:00 AM
From: Paul Engel  Respond to of 1577883
 
Maverick -

On the strength of demand for K6, total third quarter company bookings
achieved a record level
techweb.com

Paul



To: Maverick who wrote (38508)10/8/1998 3:10:00 AM
From: Paul Engel  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1577883
 
Maverick - You'll want to know all about the new Sony PCs heading to America.

Laptops are included !

You can even go out and buy one.

If you can still afford one.

Paul

{================================}
news.com

Sony announces new PCs, laptops
By Jim Davis
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
October 7, 1998, 5:30 p.m. PT

Sony announced new PCs and notebooks
that can edit video using advanced digital
interconnect technology, as well as a storage
device the company hopes will replace the
floppy drive.

Sony is touting the new systems' ability to
edit videos from cameras by using a
high-speed digital interconnect technology
known as FireWire, or IEEE 1394 as it is
formally known.

Bundled software allows users to add
special effects and soundtracks to movies,
which can then be output back to video
format for playback. The same software also
enables the PC to record custom "MiniDisc"
CDs and control Sony audio CD changers.

"Sony is
orchestrating the
convergence of
audio-video and
information
technology to a new
crescendo," said Dr.
Teruaki Aoki,
president and COO of Sony Electronics, in a
statement.

The PCV-E308DS with 400-MHz Pentium II,
128MB of memory, and 13.6GB hard disk
drive is priced at $2,299. The PCV-E302DS
with 350-MHz Pentium II, 64MB of memory,
and 10.2GB hard disk drive is priced at
$1,499. Both systems include a DVD-ROM
player and will be available next month, the
company said.

Sony did adopt the K6-2 processor from
Advanced Micro Devices for a new line of
consumer PCs for the Japanese market, but
the systems introduced today stick with Intel
Pentium II and Pentium procesors.


Sony also revealed that it would offer a PC
with the 333-MHz Pentium II processor, a
5.1GB hard disk drive, 64MB of memory,
and DVD-ROM drive for $1,199.

The new desktop PCs represent an
embellishment on a heretofore ineffectual
strategy to sell systems that integrate well
with other Sony audio/visual entertainment
products. The company's notebooks,
however, have fared significantly better in
part due to their thin and lightweight designs.

Sony's fall notebook offerings include 300-
and 266-MHz Pentium II-based notebooks
with 13.3-inch active matrix displays.
FireWire ports for connecting high-speed
digital peripherals such as video cameras
are available in docking stations, sold
separately. The systems are priced starting
at $2,799.

Among the company's entry-level offerings,
the PCG-812 with 13.3-inch active-matrix
display, 233-MHz Pentium II, 4GB hard disk
drive, and 64MB of memory is priced at
$2,199. A system with 266-MHz Pentium
MMX, 32MB of memory, and 13-inch dual
scan display is priced at $1,599.

Meanwhile, Sony's Electronics Component
Company said it would start selling a new
floppy disk drive that can store up to 200MB
of data while retaining the ability to read
current 3.5-inch floppy disks.

Sony is positioning the new drives as
possible replacements for the standard
1.44MB floppy drives and also as products
that will offer higher performance and
storage capacity than either Zip drives from
Iomega or LS-120 drives from companies
such as O.R. Technology, which also covet
the slot reserved for today's floppy drives.

HiFD drives, as Sony is calling them, would
store 200MB of information, compared to
100MB for Zip drives and 120MB for LS-120
drives. The drives would also permit faster
data transfer rates than competing products,
meaning that files get copied from one
source to another more quickly.

The drives, originally slated to be available in
the spring of this year, are expected to be
available on store shelves by November,
according to the company.

Related news stories
• Sony deal boosts AMD October 6, 1998
• Sony basing AV line on Vaio PCs July 1, 1998
• New floppy drive announced October 14, 1997

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