Armada notebook slims down

Compaq Corp. is planning to ship a new model of the Armada portable notebook that will weigh under three pounds and be less than one inch thick.

Due in mid-July, the notebook is targeted at "road warrier" executives and is expected to have prices beginning below $2,000.

The new Armadas will have either a Pentium II or Celeron 333MHz processor, an 11.3" TFT display, 64MB of SDRAM, and up to 6.4GB of hard drive space, housed in a magnesium alloy case. The notebook will also come with a 95 percent full-size keyboard, an external floppy disk drive, and a choice of Windows 95, 98 or NT 4.0.

A Mobile Expansion Unit (MEU) is optional and can house other optional parts, such as a CD-ROM or DVD drive, SuperDisk LS-120 drive, second battery, or second hard drive.

Compaq's entire line of Armada notebooks can be found online at www.compaq.com .