AST to Debut Premmia Line of PCs Monday : Computers: The replacement for Power Premium models could be the bulk of corporate sales. The company will revamp its entire product line.

AST Research Inc. on Monday will introduce a new generation of personal computers that could account for the bulk of its corporate sales this year.

The new Premmia line of PCs is expected to replace the Power Premium line, which is loaded with business-oriented features such as ease of use in a network of PCs. The Power Premium line accounts for 30% to 35% of AST’s estimated $1 billion in annual sales.

“In the desktop market, it’s our most important product introduction,” said Larry Fortmuller, director of high-performance systems.

Fortmuller said the Premmia line has more horsepower to run sound and video applications than the current generation of PCs, which is about a year old. AST’s Premium line was introduced in 1988; the company has periodically updated the technology.

The Premmia line will be the first that does not use AST’s standard, 1980s-era Cupid-32 upgradeable architecture, which helped catapult AST to the Fortune 500 list. Instead, the Premmia is designed to accommodate Intel Corp.’s planned improvements in microprocessor architectures. For instance, the PC has a special slot to snap in a new generation of microprocessors known as Pentium, which Intel expects to ship in March.

Safi Qureshey, AST’s chief executive, said the company plans to revamp its entire product line in 1993, mainly because product life cycles in the fast-changing computer business have become shorter and shorter.

Fortmuller said the Premmia is available now for prices ranging from $2,095 to $4,195, depending on the speed, storage capacities and options chosen.