TECH WATCH: Aug. 11, 1997

WE TRY HARDER: NEC GETS SMARTER

NEC had an image problem. Its computers, monitors and CD-ROM drives had long been regarded as top-drawer offerings, but they had all the excitement of dinner and a movie on a first date. Not content with its puny 3% share of the U.S. desktop market, the company has jazzed things up with stylish designs and a new approach to building PCs.

NEC's line of Ready consumer PCs ($1,999 to $2,999, plus monitor), making its debut in August, breaks from the gray-box approach to PC design by placing the CD-ROM and floppy drives in a shoe...

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