Compaq Changes Portable Computing Vista With New Armada 4100 Family of Flexible Notebook PCs; Ultra-Thin Portable Makes Direct Hit For Size and Weight-Sensitive Notebook PC Users.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 17, 1996--In a bold move to change the way customers approach portable computing, Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ) today announced the Armada 4100, a no-compromise, mid-range family of notebook PCs designed to meet the size and weight requirements of customers who want the flexibility to customize their notebooks to their specific needs. With its new innovative, flexible design, the Armada 4100 family easily transforms from a slimline notebook at 1.5 inches thin and weighing about five pounds, to a standard notebook configuration with an integrated diskette drive at about six pounds, to a multimedia powerhouse -- all with the same advanced mobile design.

"Today's announcement of the Armada 4100 is the launch pad for the reemergence of Compaq's business heritage -- portable PCs," said Michael Winkler, senior vice president and general manger, Portable PC Division, Compaq Computer Corporation. "We've listened closely to what our customers have told us they're looking for in notebook power and portability, and our engineering teams have extended those concepts into today's new product family. Armada 4100 notebooks will satisfy both value-conscious and performance-minded users, without compromising functionality or mobility. Our customers will find that these products offer useful innovation that speaks for itself."

"Compaq's engineers should be proud of the job they did on the new Armada 4100 family of slimline notebooks, and the company's customers who demand low weight and versatility in a notebook will be very pleased with the results," said Kimball Brown, vice president of international market research firm Dataquest. "The introduction of today's products broadens Compaq's notebook line-up to include not only premium and value notebooks, but slimline, full-featured notebooks as well, putting them squarely back as a solid player in the portables game."

"Xerox has been testing the Armada 4100 product for use by the mobile work force, and the feedback has been positive," said Joseph Grant, vice president, Global Technology Infrastructure, Xerox Corporation. "I believe the product meets the requirements of Xerox to utilize, in a concurrent mode, the integrated CD-ROM and floppy for special customer-tailored diagnostic applications, while the slimline and full multimedia configuration with three batteries meets the form factor requirements important to the mobile work force. The designers listened to their customers when they developed this product."

Armada 4100 "Morphs" to Meet Customers' Configuration Needs

Designed to be what customers want, when they need it, the Armada 4100 provides three-notebooks-in-one and a "no compromise" mobile design featuring fast Pentium processors, large hard drives and up to 16-MB of RAM as standard. The notebook easily transforms or "morphs" in just seconds into three different configurations to fulfill the varied needs of this customer group:

-- Slimline Mobility: In its 1.5-inch, five-pound configuration, the Armada 4100 notebook serves as a powerful tool for the mobile user whose primary requirement is computing in its most lightweight form. By removing the battery handle and the diskette drive from the modular Dual Bay, then inserting the long-lasting Lithium Ion battery in its place, customers gain the ultimate in portability when low carrying weight is the top priority.

-- Standard Configuration: When customers need a traditional notebook with an integrated diskette drive, the Armada 4100 standard configuration is the perfect choice at six pounds and only 1.5 inches thin. The innovative Armada 4100 battery handle also serves as a keyboard tilt foot with a comfortable ten-degree tilt. To extend computing battery time, users can swap the diskette drive for a second battery which provides up to twice the runtime.

-- Multimedia Configuration: When CD capability is a must, the Armada 4100 transforms into a phenomenal multimedia notebook geared for exceptional presentations, offering up to ten hours of battery life and providing outstanding audio quality. From the standard configuration, customers simply and quickly attach the Mobile CD Unit to the bottom of the notebook, and immediately they have at their fingertips CD-ROM capabilities, enhanced stereo sound, a MIDI/joystick port, wavetable support and the ability to add a third battery.

Useful Innovation, Thoughtful Design and Uncompromised Features

The Armada 4100 family, each magnesium-encased to offer rugged durability to withstand the rigors of life-on-the-road, provides customers with rich feature choices:

-- Powerful 133 MHz, 120 MHz and 100 MHz Mobile Pentium processors; -- Easily upgradeable hard drives in 1 GB and 810 MB; -- 8 and 16 MB standard RAM, expandable to 40 or 48 MB, depending on the model; -- 11.3-inch color STN or 11.8-inch color TFT displays support up to 64,000 colors, with 800X600 resolution; -- Four user-programmable keys provide easy-touch, immediate access to the most used applications; -- Up to three long-lasting Lithium-Ion batteries, one of which serves as a convenient battery handle that doubles as a comfortable, ten-degree keyboard tilt and a port cover. Additional batteries slide easily into the notebook's Dual Bay and Mobile CD Unit; -- Touchpad pointing device, easily interchangeable with an optional optical trackball; -- Two Type II or one Type III PC card slots; -- Standard ports include parallel, serial, video, infrared, keyboard/mouse, as well as NTSC/PAL, which allows customers to display presentations directly from their notebooks to a TV screen.

Simply the Works in Multimedia

Compaq's "Premier Sound" audio system, designed in-house by Compaq engineers, provides exceptional audio and sets the Armada 4100 apart from virtually every other notebook in its class. Most notebooks today only feature one-quarter watt per channel, but the Armada 4100 offers customers fully integrated audio technology delivering uncompromised quality with full one-watt-per-channel 16-bit stereo and Sound Blaster Pro compatibility and high-quality speakers for a rich, multimedia sound.

Two high-performance speakers are standard on all models, while the Mobile CD-ROM base provides two additional enhanced speakers, along with an extra battery slot, a MIDI/joystick game port and wavetable support.

The Armada 4100 family also features standard NTSC/PAL video output and software MPEG so that customers can easily deliver high-quality presentations. Zoomed Video, which provides for a full frame-rate video display for applications like hardware MPEG decoders for movies and games, video capture and teleconferencing, further extends the multimedia value equation.

A Personal Communications Headquarters

Away from the office, communications are a critical part of the mobile professional's needs, and the Armada 4100's design offers customers easy-to-use telephony solutions. JustConnect communications software, included with every model, combined with Compaq's new optional SpeedPaq 288 Telephony Modem PC card, brings customers full office communications capabilities virtually anywhere. With its full-duplex speakerphone and digital answering machine functions, mobile professionals will find using these important communications links a simple-to-manage reality.

Customers can easily manage their virtual office on the road with the SpeedPaq 288 modem's broad cellular phone support for the industry's most popular brands, including Motorola and Nokia.

Whether it's a personal communications tool for surfing the Internet, with pre-installed browsers from Netscape or Microsoft's Internet Explorer, connecting to e-mail or simply returning phone calls, customers will find communications tasks simple to perform. With Windows 95, the Armada 4100 notebook family provides switched voice and data transmission so that customers can easily communicate by phone and transmit data with one-call efficiency.

Priced at $249, the 288 SpeedPaq modem begins shipping in late summer.

Handy Convenience Base Connections

The Armada 4100 family's flexibility extends back to a customer's desk with its optional convenience base. With or without the Mobile CD Unit attached, users will have full port replication, an external speaker jack and the option of integrated Ethernet. So whether customers are connecting to their home office or to their corporation's distributed enterprise network, the convenience base makes those connections simple.

Availability and Pricing

The Armada 4100 family of notebooks, manufactured by Compaq in its Singapore factory, will begin shipping in volume in July at prices ranging from $2,599 (a) to $4,599 (b).

Compaq Background

Compaq Computer Corporation is the world's largest supplier of personal computers, offering desktop PCs, portable PCs, servers and options. Founded in 1982, the company reported 1995 worldwide sales of $14.8 billion. Compaq products are sold and supported in more than 100 countries through Compaq marketing partners and sold directly to customers through Compaq DirectPlus at 1-800- 888-5858. Compaq provides 24-hour customer support and can be reached through the Compaq forums on America Online, CompuServe, Internet (http://www.compaq.com) and Prodigy, or by calling 1-800-OK-COMPAQ. Product information and reseller locations can be obtained by calling 1-800-345-1518. -0-

Compaq, Registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

(a, b) All prices mentioned herein are estimated U.S. selling prices; reseller prices may vary.

CONTACT: Compaq Computer Corporation

Yvonne Donaldson

713-514-0484

[e-mail]

Miller/Shandwick Technologies

Lisa Gilbert

617-536-0470

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