Prime Computer Inc, which needs to keep interest in its 50 Series minis high and customers loyal for as long as possible, is scrambling to bring new models to market, and this week launched two entry-level systems in its new 5000 Series. The 5310 and 5330 are self-contained, desk-side models that are claimed to deliver 47% better price-performance than the 2850 and 2950 they replace, and support up to 64 and 128 directly-connected users respectively. The machines use the same single-board CMOS CPU – replacing up to five boards in the previous generation – as the 5320 and 5340 announced last month (CI No 1,504). The 5310 and 5330 are available immediately and support up to 960 active processes for independent or multi-user applications. The 5310 has from 8Mb to 64Mb, the 5330, 24Mb to 128Mb, and users can upgrade up the line by swapping processor boards. They support up to four of the new 273Mb 3.5 disk drives, and packag ed 5310s cost from $36,858 to $65,305, 5330 from $85,247, rising to $100,492.
