Olivetti tries to Echo success

Olivetti entered the American PC market with its Echos notebook.

June 18, 1996 1:30 p.m. PT

Italian PC and office product manufacturer Olivetti made its entrance into the American market today with the introduction of the Echos line of notebooks.

The new line, announced at the PC Expo trade show in New York, includes four models based on Olivetti's European notebook family of the same name. All four will come with Pentium processors, Super VGA color displays and 1.3GB hard drives and are expected to ship in July.

List prices will range from $2,499 for the Echos p100C with a 100-MHz Pentium processor, 8MB of memory and 11.3-inch dual-scan display to $4,999 for the Echos P133S with a 133-MHz Pentium, 16MB of memory and a 11.8-inch active matrix display.

The machines will also include a high-speed serial infrared port, the same kind of technology used by television remote controls, so that computers can exchange data over short distances with other computers or peripheral devices such as printers without having to connect any cables.

A multi-function bay lets users switch between a removable 6 percent CD-ROM or an optional second battery. All four notebooks will also have a touch pad for cursor control and a built-in wrist rest.