AST to Introduce New Notebook Computer : Technology: The lightweight model is aimed at corporate buyers who hunger for power and portability.

AST Research Inc. will introduce a fully upgradeable notebook computer next week targeted at corporate buyers hungry for lightweight, portable computers with added power and desktop-like features.

AST’s PowerExec notebook computer, which weighs 5.9 pounds and can be upgraded from a black-and-white screen to a color screen, will hit the market next week.

Analysts say the second-generation machine comes just in time to compete against other newly introduced models from rivals and it has unique features that are attractive enough to keep AST’s sales from sagging.

“It’s a forward-thinking machine that comes at the right time,” said Janet Cole, an analyst at Dataquest Inc., a market research firm in San Jose. “Their first machine was starting to become obsolete.”

The key to the new features is the concept of upgradeability, which the company pioneered in its desktop computer offering, said Marcy Puhnaty, AST product marketing manager.

Customers can upgrade the computer to a more powerful microprocessor, or main computing brain, or upgrade the screen from black-and-white to a passive matrix color screen or to higher-quality active matrix screens.

The machine also includes slots for the latest add-on technology: credit-card size computer modems for data transfer or memory modules to expand the machine’s ability to run software applications.

The machine contains a hard disk drive which can be removed from the computer for security reasons, and its battery can last for up to 6 1/2 hours.

The notebook product introduction completes AST’s push in the past six months to revamp its entire offering of computers. Safi Qureshey, chief executive, has said the revamping was necessary to keep AST’s product line fresh in the midst of a devastating price war in the industry.

The new notebook is also the first time the company has launched a portable line since it debuted its first notebook computer in the winter of 1990.

That line sold more than 74,000 machines and captured 6.5% of the $2.3-billion notebook computer market in 1991, Cole said.

By targeting corporate computer buyers traditionally held by Compaq Computer Corp. or Toshiba Corp., AST hopes to sell more than double the number of machines that it sold in the first four months of its first notebook computer’s debut, Puhnaty said.

Cole said the features of the notebook make it stand out, but she said AST may have trouble meeting its sales goals because most notebook computer buyers are more concerned about price.

AST’s black-and-white machine sells for $2,395 for a 60-megabyte model to $2,795 for a 120-megabyte model.

The equivalent of 500 typewritten pages can be stored in a megabyte. Color models sell from $3,495 for an 80-megabyte version to $3,895 for 160-megabytes.

Competitors downplayed the AST move.

“It’s about time they upgraded their line,” said Grant Johnson, director of product marketing at Toshiba America’s computer systems division in Irvine. “But most users we talk to say they don’t need upgradeability.”