Dec 95 New Products

The Compaq Presario 7100, 5500 and 9500 series offers Pentium processors, Windows 95, quad-speed CD-ROM drives and hard disks with capacities from 840MB to 1.6GB. They include CD-ROM software titles, MPEG video (on the 5500 and 9500 models) and modems, and offer easy access to online services.

The high-end Presario 9500 and the midrange 5500 models feature 3-D Surround Sound with high-fidelity speakers and SpeechMail voice recognition. The Presario 9500 is available with up to 133MHz Pentiums and a 1.6GB hard disk. It comes in a mini-tower design with five drive bays and five expansion slots. The 5500 comes standard with a built-in Super VGA monitor, a 75MHz Pentium, 16-bit stereo and a 1GB hard disk. The low-end 7100 series includes stereo, up to 100MHz Pentiums and 8MB of RAM.

From $1,699 to $2,999.
Compaq Computer Corp.
800-345-1518, 713-378-8820.

One day, writing data to CDs might be as easy as writing to diskettes. But it's not all that hard to do today with the Hewlett-Packard SureStore CD-Writer 4020i. The CD reader-recorder is easy to configure and includes software to support CD recording. The drive, which fits in your PC's 5.25-inch bay, reads quad-speed and records dual-speed CDs. It includes two blank CD-R discs, a SCSI-2 interface card and cables.

You can record up to 650MB of data or 74 minutes of audio on one disc. It's good for large file transfers, archiving or creating multimedia presentations.

The software includes a File Manager extension and Alchemy Personal for creating and searching custom databases. It also provides Magic Lantern for Photo CD viewing.

$1,249.
Hewlett-Packard Co.
800-810-0134, 970-635-1500.

Combine the fastest CD-ROM technology and some of the most popular software titles, and you have the Diamond Ultra Kit 8000. The eight-speed CD-ROM transfers data at 1200KBps with an access time of 230ms. It comes with five entertainment and reference titles.

The hardware includes a Plug-and-Play, 16-bit wavetable Diamond sound card with 3-D sound support and deluxe stereo speakers. It is MPC 2 and MPC 3 compliant. The drive supports Photo CD, and is multisession and XA compatible.

$649.
Diamond Multimedia Systems
800-468-5846, 408-325-7000.

The NEC MultiSpin 4Xc CD-ROM Changer is a quad-speed, seven-disc changer that lets you play CD audio while running software applications. It transfers data at 600KBps (150KBps in audio mode) with an access time of 350ms. It comes with Simple Start installation software and features front-panel controls for disc selection. The MultiSpin 4Xc works with PCs and Macintosh systems, and supports CD-ROM industry standard formats, including Photo CD and multisession.

$349 (street).
NEC Technologies
800-NEC-INFO, 508-264-8000.

The MDI SCSI Express CD6X six-speed CD-ROM drive transfers data at 900Kbps, and has 145ms random access and 115ms random seek speeds. It comes in internal and external configurations and towers that hold seven drives. With MDI's CD-ROM Extenders, you can connect either 28- or 49-drive cabinets to a host adapter. Internal, $695; external, $875; seven-high tower,

$5,595.
Micro Design International
800-228-0891, 407-677-8333.

You'll never have to wait for a CD-ROM drive to become available or for a disc to load with the Stac CD-QuickShare software CD-ROM server. QuickShare uses just one drive to build a library of compressed CD-ROM images on the server so everybody on the network can access the same data simultaneously.

Five-user license, $500 (street).
Stac Electronics
800-522-STAC, 619-794-4300.