Compaq Brings The Arcade and Hi-Fi Stereo To The Home PC

POWERVR 3D GRAPHICS, JBL PRO HIGH PERFORMANCE SPEAKER TECHNOLOGY TO BE
DEMONSTRATED AT E3

HOUSTON, May 9, 1996 -- In a major technological leap forward, Compaq
Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) today announced two key strategic
partnerships that for the first time will bring arcade graphics and true
high fidelity stereo to the home personal computer.

Compaq announced that it will include the world's most advanced 3-D
graphics technology available, PowerVR, in its new Presario products due
out later this year. PowerVR is up to four times faster than today's most
powerful dedicated game systems, with the ability to process up to one
million polygons per second. It will enable consumers to enjoy real
arcade-quality 3D graphics on their home PC with lifelike and vivid
graphics, smooth animation and rich colors which dramatically improve the
game play and multimedia experience. Power VR is supported by the world's
leading arcade and PC game developers who are currently working on a wide
variety of titles to take full advantage of PowerVR's advanced features.
These titles are expected to be announced shortly.

"This is a defining moment for the home PC," said Rod Schrock, vice
president, Presario Business Unit, Compaq. "Consumers today view the home
PC as a powerful productivity and education tool. Compaq is taking giant
steps forward to broaden the home PC appeal to consumers as the ultimate
gaming and entertainment device. This demonstrates Compaq's commitment to
lead the industry in bringing ground-breaking multimedia technologies to
the consumer marketplace."

COMPAQ AND HARMAN PARTNER TO DELIVER WORLD CLASS AUDIO

To further advance the multimedia experience, Compaq announced that it has
partnered with Harman International Industries, Inc., the worldwide audio
leader, to co-develop exclusive new JBL Pro audio speakers for the new
Presario line up due out later this year. The new JBL Pro audio system
will for the first time provide consumers with PC audio performance that
rivals the sound quality of today's home hi-fi stereo systems. This new
level of audio performance for the home PC will significantly enhance game
and multimedia titles, as well as music CDs.

Compaq and Harman are collaborating on the design of the audio systems
which will result in custom designed speakers carefully tuned for each new
Presario model. By working together at the system design level -
mechanical, acoustical, electrical, and industrial design - the companies
have eliminated many of the compromises inherent in other multimedia PC
sound products.

"This collaboration between Compaq, the world's leading PC manufacturer and
Harman International, the worldwide audio leader, will result in a
dramatic leap forward in sound quality and computer entertainment
delivered to consumers today. Our partnership will provide, through Compaq
computers and JBL speakers, a world class PC audio and multimedia
experience," said Dr. Sidney Harman, Chairman and CEO, Harman
International Industries, Inc.

ADVANCED ARCADE-QUALITY 3D GRAPHICS

The PowerVR Arcade 3D graphics super-accelerator is the most powerful 3D
acceleration technology available for the PC. PowerVR runs up to four
times faster than competing 3D accelerators and dedicated game systems
with the capability of processing up to 1 million large polygons per
second, with full texturing, shading, and mip-mapping. PowerVR is a
scalable architecture for both arcade and PC products. It is the future of
high quality 3D graphics for the next generation of interactive
entertainment. Its revolutionary techniques create the ultimate in
realistic, real-time 3D rendering.

PowerVR is the first and only 3D acceleration technology which allows the
latest arcade hits to be flawlessly converted to the PC. Arcade titles
converted to PowerVR not only retain their full visual quality, but can
actually look better than the original arcade version. Leading arcade
developers are converting their most popular games to run on PowerVR,
while top PC game developers are taking advantage of its power to bring
arcade-quality 3D realism to their newest titles.

PowerVR was developed jointly by VideoLogic and NEC Semi-Conductor
Division, with the design team drawing on years of experience in flight
simulators, ray tracing and other advanced 3D fields to produce a system
that breaks conventional performance barriers by eliminating bandwidth
bottlenecks.

PowerVR is supported by several APIs, each targeting different
requirements. These include Microsoft's Direct3D, Microsoft's RealityLab
and the VideoLogic/NEC PowerVR SGL. Support for Microsoft's Direct3D will
allow standard Windows 95 titles to exploit PowerVR's capabilities.
PowerVR SGL takes full advantage of PowerVR's features, such as shadows
and searchlights, and also provides a unified programming environment,
allowing the same code to be used for console, PC and arcade development.

COMPANY BACKGROUND

Compaq Computer Corporation is the world's largest supplier of personal
computers, offering desktop PCs, portable PCs, servers and options. The
company reported 1995 worldwide sales of $14.8 billion. Compaq products
are sold and supported in more than 100 countries through Compaq marketing
partners and sold directly to customers through Compaq Direct Plus at
1-800-888-5858. Compaq provides 24-hour customer support and can be
reached through the Compaq forums on America Online, CompuServe, Internet
(http://www.compaq.com), and Prodigy, or by calling 1-800-OK-COMPAQ.
Product information and reseller locations can be obtained by calling
1-800-345-1518.
 
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