NEC Corp has launched three additions to its Versa group of notebooks, including one that can display 16m colours, and pledged to continue its work on thin film transistor liquid crystal display screens. The new additions are in the same modular form as the UltraLite Versa and Versa E, launched last year, and all bits ad pieces and peripherals are interchangable between models. The Versa S has either an Intel Corp 33MHz 80486SL or 50MHz 80486DX2 SL processor; 4Mb RAM as standard which is expandable to 12Mb; 210Mb or 250Mb hard disk drive; an external 3.5 1.44Mb floppy drive; and a choice of screen, mono, colour DualScan or active matrix thin film transistor. It runs on Nickel metal batteries, as does all the Versa family.
Small Office, Home Office Users
The Versa S is targetted at the mid to upper range of the small office, home office user group. It is priced at UKP1,635. The Versa V, the next step up has a 50MHz 80486DX2 SL processor; 4Mb RAM as standard, expandable to 20Mb; 250Mb or 340Mb removable hard disk drive; a removable 3.5, 1.44Mb floppy drive; 1Mb of video RAM; and a choice of screen, either colour Dual Scan or colour active matrix thin film transitor. This notebook is aimed at corporate users who may be looking for a desktop replacement and NEC believes for these users performance is a bigger concern than cost. Prices for the Versa V starts at UKP2,600 for the Dual Scan Model. Top of the range is the Versa M, a product that uses either the 75MHz or 100MHz 80486DX4 SL; NEC claims the 100MHz notebook is the first of its kind. The Versa M comes with 8Mb of RAM, expandable to 40Mb, when the 32Mb RAM card is introduced, but currently just to 24Mb; a 340Mb or 540Mb removable hard disk; a 3.5 removable floppy drive; 1Mb video RAM; built-in 16-bit sound capability; and two screen options: colour active matrix thin film transistor or True Color version that can display photo-realistic images. It also has a port termed the VersaBay that can take either a floppy drive, a second battery, two additional PCMCIA Type II slots, a 3 CD-ROM drive, or a television tuner. The Versa M is also pen upgradable and prices start at UKP3,415. The Versa S and V are available now and the M will ship in September. In keeping with NEC’s attempt to keep a family feel about its collection of notebooks, both the Versa M and V have plug in and play docking stations which are compatible with the the Versa E and UltraLite’s docking station. NEC’s plans appear to be to create demand for its thin film transistor screens outside the computer market. At the moment it is only producing screens for itself, but it envisages potential use in car navigation systems, in-flight entertainment, televisions and automatic teller machines. It is in discussions with potential customers like the military and banks to provide screens without the back lights so that more powerful lights can be added. By increasing the power of the light source, which means a far higher power source, liquid crystal diode screens could be used in environments where currently they cannot be used. At the moment, NEC is concentrating on expanding its production of 9.4 screens – the Akita plant in Japan will come on line soon – and developing 10.4, 12 and 13 flat panel displays. NEC believes that there is a need to bring screen prices down and it is predicting a price war in 1995 as supply catches up with demand.
