Third-Generation Bravo PC Launched by AST Research

AST Research Inc., the Irvine personal-computer maker, launched its third generation of Bravo PCs for the general consumer market Tuesday. Prices range from $995 to $2,495. The five redesigned Bravo models feature a smaller motherboard--the circuit board that houses the primary functions of a computer--thus reducing the cost of manufacturing. AST introduced the first line in 1988. The machines also can be easily hooked up to computer networks. The low-cost AST computers are the latest in a series of products that the company has introduced this year. Others have been a new branch of its mainstay, corporate-oriented Premium line; and a multiprocessing computer, which uses more than one main computing brain to break the data-processing logjam. AST is also rumored to be one of the manufacturers of an upcoming line of three low-priced notebook computers for International Business Machines Corp. under a significant third-party manufacturing contract.

AST officials would not comment on the IBM deal.