Hewlett-Packard Co may be prepared to give Microsoft Corp’s Windows CE a chance, but it is furiously hedging its bets, and this week launched new models in its own highly successful handheld computers. It added a 4Mb version of its HP 200LX palmtop personal computer and a 2Mb version of the HP 1000CX. The HP 200LX, costing $600 and shipping later this month, includes spreadsheet and personal information management software, has a Type II PC Card expansion slot, can link to other machines via infra-red connection, runs a version of MS-DOS, and can exchange MS-DOS files with desktop machines. The company claims that more than 3,000 applications have been developed for the HP 200LX. The 2Mb version of the HP 1000CX is available now at $500 worldwide to software developers and value-added resellers. It comes with MS-DOS 5.0 and includes LapLink Remote. Meantime HP is expected to launch its first handheld running Windows next month at the Demo 97 show in Palm Springs, California, and welcomes it into the family by calling it the HP 300LX. It includes an 80 column liquid crystal display with 640 by 240 pixel resolution claimed to enable users to view entire electronic mail and facsimile messages, World Wide Web pages and other text. Existing Windows CE-based machines give only 480 by 240 pixel resolution.
