RDI Computer Corp is going to incorporate Fujitsu Microelectronics Inc’s 170MHz microSparc II-compatible TurboSparc processor in a new model of its PowerLite notebook. It comes with up to 256Mb memory, 512Kb Level 2 cache, 12.1 screen, and 3.6Gb disk. Prices go from $16,500. Rated at 3.08 SPECint95 and 2.74 SPECfp95, TurboSparc almost doubles the performance of the existing microSparc II+, which Fujitsu itself fabricates. It seems likely Fujitsu is getting TurboSparc on to the market ahead of Sun’s own UltraSparc 2i, formerly the microSparc III, the manufacture of which Sun has handed to Fujitsu rival, R-series fabricator and Hewlett-Packard Co buddy NEC Corp. Fujitsu says TurboSparc is an ideal replacement for the 110MHz microSparc II+ that Sparcstation 5 users are struggling with, especially in computer-aided design, manufacturing and software engineering markets. The module costs $1,500.
