1 Texas Instruments Inc., once a pioneer in portable computer technology, today will make a bid to reassert itself in that business by unveiling three small personal computers.
2 The announcements are scheduled to be made in Temple, Texas, and include a so-called 'notebook' PC that weighs less than seven pounds, has a built-in hard disk drive and is powered by Intel Corp. 's 286 microprocessor.
3 That introduction comes only two weeks after Compaq Computer Corp., believing it had a lead of three to six months on competitors, introduced the first U.S. notebook computer with such features.
4 Despite the inevitable comparison with Compaq, however, Texas Instruments' new notebook won't be a direct competitor.
5 While Compaq sells its machines to businesses through computer retailers, Texas Instruments will be selling most of its machines to the industrial market and to value-added resellers and original-equipment manufacturers.
6 The introductions also mark Texas Instruments' plunge back into a technology it has all but ignored for the past several years.
7 Although the Dallas-based computer giant introduced the first portable data terminal in 1971 -- a 38-pound monster -- and the world's first microprocessor-based portable in 1976, the only portable machines it has introduced since the first part of the decade have been 'dumb' terminals with limited on-board processing ability.
8 It stopped selling a standard personal computer a while ago.
9 Now that is about to change, as Texas Instruments begins marketing two 14-pound laptop PCs with 20 megabyte and 40 megabyte hard drives.
10 The laptops are not revolutionary and, indeed, are tardy in a market first opened by GRiD Systems Corp., now a unit of Tandy Corp., almost two years ago.
11 But the notebook, with the more advanced microprocessor and hard disk, is more innovative.
12 Weighing 6.7 pounds with battery, the notebook measures 8.2 by 11.7 inches, has a 20-megabyte hard disk drive and boasts a backlit screen that is 22% larger than Compaq's.
13 Its keyboard, according to industry consultants, is better than Compaq's, but its battery life of two to three hours is shorter.
14 It doesn't have an internal floppy disk drive, although a snap-on drive can be purchased separately.
15 Its greatest drawback may be its 3-inch thickness, big enough for one consultant to describe it as 'clunky.'
16 List prices on the heavier Texas Instrument laptops will be $4,999 for the TI Model 25, with a 20 megabyte disk drive, and $5,599 for the 40-megabyte Model 45.
17 The notebook, the TI Model 12, will be priced at $4,199.

Despite the inevitable comparison with Compaq , however , Texas Instruments ' new notebook won ' t be a direct competitor .
won ' t be a direct competitor
Why will it not be a direct competitor?