Texas Instruments Launches Extensa Series In Europe 09/20/95 SUNBURY ON THAMES, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1995 SEP 20 (NB) -- Texas Instruments (TI) has announced the Extensa series of Pentium-based notebooks in Europe. At the same time, the company has launched the TravelMate 5100 into the UK market. According to TI, the Extensa range signals a move away from targeting high-end corporate users to focus on a wider market that includes small businesses and consumers. The Extensa range consists of three families of notebooks, ranging from the 450 series, based on DX4/75 processor technology, and pricing in at UKP1,299, through the Extensa 550, a 75 megahertz (MHz) Pentium- based notebook with PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) at a claimed 486-based notebook price-point, and up to the 550CD, a 75MHz Pentium color notebook that is billed as "offering multimedia performance, without sacrificing portability." Announcing the Extensa series, Walter Deppler, TI's European marketing manager for mobile computing, said that the machines will appeal to a much broader base of customers than TI's notebook offerings to date. John Klinker, TI's general manager for the UK and Nordic region, echoed Deppler's comments, claiming that the company has grown its sales in the UK by more than 90 percent over the last year or so. With the introduction of the Extensa range of notebooks, he claims that this growth pattern can be maintained over the next few years, despite the increasing price competition in the notebook business. The entry-level Extensa range is expected to ship in the UK and Europe immediately, while the higher machines, including the 550 Pentium systems, will ship from next month (October) onwards. According to officials with TI, the company's strategy behind the Extensa series is to offer desktop performance in a notebook system. Using this strategy, the company claims, allows the premium price of a notebook over a desktop system to be justified on the basis that the notebook will double up as a desktop machine while in the office. The Travelmate 5100, meanwhile, is launched into Europe following a claimed success in the US, thanks to the inclusion of a 90MHz Pentium chipset, PCI bus, and what is claimed to be the "industry's most advanced battery system." The intelligent battery system in the TravelMate 5100 is Lithium Ion- based which means, TI claims, that the battery life on the machine is one of the most impressive in the business. Despite the use of Pentium technology on the TravelMate 5100, the UKP3,399 (and pricing upwards) machine tips the scales at just 6.7 pounds. (Steve Gold/19950920/Press Contact: Nick Hewer, Michael Joyce, +44-171-836-6801; Reader Contact: Texas Instruments, +44-1784-212746) UK - Logitech Intros PageScan PC Color Scanning System 09/20/94 BRACKNELL, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1995 SEP 20 (NB) -- Logitech has unveiled the PageScan Color, a full-page, boardless 24-bit color scanning system for PCs. The system will ship from October with an estimated street price (ESP) of UKP299. The unit comes with a motorized, detachable scanning head, a feature which Logitech claims enables users to scan bound or loose pages. The integrated software supplied with the unit can be activated from within any Windows application by simply inserting a page. Officials with Logitech claims that the unit works equally as well in color, greyscale or monochrome image scanning, and can be used for copying, faxing and filing purposes. The scanner has a degree of automated intelligence built in, a feature that Logitech claims allows the unit to determine the most appropriate settings and resolution for each task selected. The scanner supports Microsoft OLE (object linking and embedding) placement functions, as well as the placing of images among different Windows applications. "PageScan Color is the result of extensive customer studies," explained Martin Pickering, Logitech's general manager. "Again and again, we heard the request for a powerful, complete text and imaging solution that was simple to use -- with no need to open up the PC and install a board, no complex imaging technology or resolution formulas to understand. And, of course, with the price of color printers in today's market, they wanted color. To meet these needs, we combined our expertise in scanning hardware with that of industry leaders in image management, OCR and electronic filing," he said. Bundled with the scanner is a parallel port adapter that supports Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) facilities. Using this approach, Logitech claims that the scanner can be used with any PC with a parallel printer port, and avoids the need for a dedicated interface board, yet still functions as well as more expensive units with such boards. (Steve Gold/19950920/Press Contact: Louise Smart, Bogard Communications, +44-1753-654333, Internet e-mail bogard@cix.compulink.co.uk; Reader Contact: Logitech, +44-1344-894300)