Power jumps right in
Less than ten days after its surprising deal with Apple, Power Computing announces a notebook that uses Intel's new Tillamook chip--available before month's end.
The PowerTrip series, comprising the PowerTrip 200 with a 200-MHz
Tillamook processor and the PowerTrip 233 with a 233-MHz Tillamook processor, is aimed at small to medium-size businesses. The direct-order manufacturer has begun taking orders and expects to beginning shipping in two weeks.
The announcement was expected, as reported by NEWS.COM on September 3.
Power Computing made a big impact on the Mac market, but the direct vendor will likely have a considerably harder time in the much larger PC-compatible market, where the company will square off against other direct vendors such as Dell and Gateway 2000, not to mention industry leaders Toshiba, IBM, and Compaq.
On September 2, Power sold Apple its "key assets"--essentially its Mac license, a list of 200,000 customers, and the right to openly negotiate with some Power employees--in exchange for $100 million in common stock. Power will no longer sell Mac systems after December 31, 1997.
The deal was precipitated by Apple's refusal to grant Power a license for Mac OS 8, the latest upgrade. Apple said that Power was not helping to expand the Macintosh market.
PowerTrip models come with either 12.1- or 13.3-inch screens, hard drives of either 2.1GB or 4GB, and Windows 95 or NT operating systems. Base memory configuration is 16MB. In addition to the usual ports, the PowerTrip comes with a NTSC/PAL output for displaying information on a television screen.
The PowerTrip 200 with a 200-MHz MMX Pentium proccessor and 12.1-inch display is priced starting at $3,299, while a model with a 13.3-inch display and 32MB of memory is priced starting at $3,999. The PowerTrip 233 with a 233-MHz MMX Pentium processor and 12.1-inch display is priced starting at $3,599, while a configuration with a 13.3-inch display and 64MB of memory is priced starting at $4,999.