Multimedia notebook computer

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- Nec Technologies Canada has reaffirmed its commitment to the multimedia marketplace with the introduction of two products specifically for the corporate environment.

The first offering, the Multimedia PC (MPC) Upgrade Kit, provides all the necessary hardware components to give existing 386SX PCs and up, multimedia capabilities.

Included in the kit is: Multimedia Toolbook 1.5, a multimedia authoring system for Microsoft Windows multimedia applications developed by Bellevue, Wash.-based Asymetrix Corp.; an NEC M series CD-ROM reader; an audio board that is both Ad Lib-and Sound Blaster-compatible; speakers; a microphone; headphones; and Microsoft Windows with Multimedia Extensions 1.0.

(Microsoft's Multimedia Extensions 1.0 provides device drivers and libraries that serve as the interface between applications and multimedia hardware.)

The suggested retail price of the upgrade kit is $1,679 with an Intersect CDR-73M external CD-ROM reader, $1,579 with a CDR-38M internal CD-ROM reader, and $1,329 with a CDR-36M portable CD-ROM reader.

NEC also introduced an external readerless upgrade kit for a suggested retail price of $599 and an internal readerless upgrade kit for $569.

For users who wish to upgrade their existing Intersect readers, the CDR-73/83 and CDR-36 upgrades list for $170 and $99 respectively. The kit was slated for delivery last month.

The second product announced by NEC consists of an UltraLite SL/25C notebook with thin film transistor active matrix color display, a portable docking station unit, and NEC's Multimedia Upgrade Kit.

The system -- slated to ship last month -- offers a 25 MHz i386SL microprocessor, 64K of cache memory and a display capable of showing over 225,000 colors.

According to NEC, it is the first MPC Marketing Council member of make such a product available.

(The council, a subsidiary of the Washington-based Software Publishers Association, offers a trademark to those hardware vendors whose multimedia products are standards-compliant.)

The product was reportedly a hit with attendees at the Media '92 multimedia conference held in Los Angeles in February.

To explain its multimedia push, the company cited projected figures which place the U.S. market alone being worth $13.6 billion (U.S.) by 1994.

NEC recently also announced a new line of MultiSync FG color monitors with the AccuColor Control System, an MPC-compliant line of Intersect CD-ROM readers, and a series of multimedia-ready Image desktop computers optimized for high-performance graphics.