Orange County Business : AST, Firm Join Up to Launch Easy-to-Use PCs : Agreement: Companies’ multimedia technology will provide almost cinema-quality visuals.

AST Research Inc. said Thursday that it has joined with Creative Technology Ltd. to launch easy-to-use computers aimed at consumers who want dazzling sight and sound features known as multimedia.

AST said the joint development and marketing agreement means the companies will produce multimedia computers that combine sound, graphics, video and text to provide almost cinema-quality visuals on the personal computer.

Singapore-based Creative Technology, which owns Creative Labs in Milpitas in Northern California, is known for its popular line of Sound Blaster sound cards--plug-in components that give a PC compact-disc-quality sound. Steffanee Foster, a spokeswoman for Creative Labs, said she expects the first products from the alliance to be announced in the fall.

“In desktops, about 30% to 50% of all computers sold now have multimedia features,” said Ian Gilson, analyst at Irvine-based investment bank L.H. Friend, Weinress & Frankson. “The desktop computer market is a replacement market. To get more sales, computer companies have to package things like multimedia equipment with their computers.”

Irvine-based AST, the nation’s fifth-largest computer maker, markets a line of multimedia computers dubbed AST Advantage! in consumer-oriented outlets such as Circuit City and Silo electronics stores.

Earlier this year, AST launched AST Works, a program that uses pictures, voices and talking characters to make personal computers easier to use. AST also said Thursday it has launched a new line of PCs for offices, which can use two Pentium processors from chip maker Intel Corp.

Normally, computers come with a single microprocessor, or computer chip that serves as a computer’s brain. The AST Pentium Premmia GX will use two of Intel’s fastest chips for even faster performance.