AceR News Release Acer America Corporation 2641 Orchard Parkway San Jose, California 95134 US.A.

Contacts: Gavin Bourne Tel: (408) 432-6200 Michelle Fitts Fax: (408) 922-2965

Kate Blocker Veronica Skelton Acer America Corp. Wilson McHenry Company 408/432-6200 415/592-7600

For Immediate Release

ACER ADDS NEW MODELS TO MULTIMEDIA FAMll,Y

Top-selling Microsoft Multimedia Suite, Large Capacity Hard Disk Drives

and Lots of Extras Make Acer Multimedia PCs Best Value in Industry

SAN JOSE, CA, February 7, 1994 -- Acer America Corporation today raised the

value bar for multimedia PCs with the addition offive multimedia models to its Acer

ACROS and AcerPower desktop families. Sporting a full suite of top-selling multimedia

software from Microsoft® Corporation, processors ranging from a 33MHz, 486SX to a

60MHz Pentium, accelerated local-bus video, double-speed CD-ROM drive, 16-bit stereo

sound, and hard drive capacities up to 540MB, the new PCs offer the best value in the

industry with estimated street prices starting as low as $1,199.

"In early 1993, the cost of adding multimedia to a PC was about $500. Today we

can offer this same multimedia bundle for approximately $300 above our already

competitively-priced systems. Delivering this value requires not only economies-of-scale

but strong strategic partnerships with leading sound card vendors, CD-ROM

manufacturers and the industry's #1 software company, Microsoft," said John Chang,

senior director ofproduct marketing for Acer America Corporation.

Acer ACROS Multimedia PCs - Cost-Effective "Edu-tainment" Systems

Acer based three of the new multimedia models on the energy-efficient Ace~

ACROS 4000 value line. The compact PCs are available with processors ranging from the

33MHz, 486SX to the 50MHz, 486DX2 and are targeted at the home "edu-tainment"

user requiring a cost-effective, tum-key system for education, entertainment and general

home office applications.

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New Multimedia Systems from Acer

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Acer ACROS multimedia systems also offer onboard, accelerated local-bus video,

4MB ofRAM, expandable to 36MB, double-speed CD-ROM drive, 16-bit Sound Blaster­

compatible sound card, 9600/4800 baud fax/modem, external speakers and a Pentium

OverDrive socket for upgradability to the future Pentium OverDrive CPU.

Pre-installed on Acer multimedia PCs is a full suite of top-selling Microsoft

applications satisfying each of the "edu-tainment" software categories -- education,

productivity and entertainment. The software suite includes:

o Microsoft Encarta, the best-selling interactive encyclopedia

o Microsoft CinemanialM, a movie reference package featuring real-time video clips

o Microsoft Works 3.0 Multimedia Edition, a leading integrated office productivity suite

o Microsoft Multimedia Golf, a game for the grown-ups

o Intuit® Quicken for WindowslM, the leading personal finance software for Windows.

o Microsoft SoundbitslM

o Microsoft EntertainmentlM and Productivity PackslM

o America On-LinelM and ProdigylM

o Phoenix MicroFaxlM

o . MS-DOSlM 6.2 and Microsoft®WindowslM 3.1

Pricing and Availability

In addition to the features listed above, the Acer ACROS 4221G adds a 33WIz,

486SX processor and 210MB hard disk drive for an expected street price as low as

$1,199. The Acer ACROS 4471G features a 33MHz, 486DX CPU and 340MB hard disk

drive for an expected street price as low as $1,499. Rounding out the Acer ACROS

multimedia line is the Acer ACROS 4581 G which offers a 50MHz, 486DX2 processor

and a 420MB hard disk drive for an expected street price as low as $1,699.

The new AcerACROS models are available now directly from Acer and from the

Acer network of retailers, distributors and value-added resellers.

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New Multimedia Systems from Acer

P3ge3

AcerPower Minitowers -- Pentium and 486DX2/66 Multimedia Powerhouses

Presented in an innovative, space-saving minitower chassis, the high-end

AcerPower 8681 TG and AcerPower 9697TG are designed for small business and home

office users who require high-performance graphic and processing power as well as

extensive expand ability. Typical applications included desktop publishing, real-time video

and multimedia presentations.

The AcerPower 8681 TG model is based on AcerPower 8000T platform and is

available with a 66:MHz, 486DX2 processor. The expansive minitower system features

two VESA local-bus expansion slots (one occupied with a VESA graphics accelerator

card), 4:MB ofRAM, expandable to 64:MB, double-speed CD-ROM drive, 16-bit Sound

Blaster-compatible sound card, 9600/4800 baud fmc/modem, external speakers, and a

Pentium OverDrive socket for upgradability to the future Pentium OverDrive CPU. In

addition, the model's 420l\tffi hard disk drive comes pre-loaded with the same software

suite offered with the Acer ACROS systems. The AcerPower 8681 TG is expected to sell

for an estimated street price as low as $1,999.

Powered by a 60MHz, Pentium processor, the AcerPower 9697TG makes its

debut as a member of Acer's new Pentium-based PC family, the AcerPower 9000T. The

system features the highest-performance local bus expansion standard on the market today

-- PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) and an AT! PCI graphics card pre-installed.

In addition, it ships with 256KB cache, 8:MB ofRAM, expandable to 96:MB, double-speed

CD-ROM drive, 16-bit Sound Blaster-compatible sound card, external speakers and a

large 540:MB hard disk drive pre-loaded with all of the Acer multimedia software, except

Phoenix MicroFax, Prodigy and America On-Line. The AcerPower 9697TG is expected

to sell for estimated street price as low as $2,799.

The new AcerPower models are available now directiy from Acer and from the

Acer network of retailers, distributors and value-added resellers.

-more­

New Multimedia Systems from Acer

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Round-the-Clock Service and Support

Acer desktop PCs are backed by a one-year on-site warranty, a free year of Acer

premium care toll-free telephone support, plus lifetime technical support via phone and

on-line bulletin board. The Acer technical support hotIine is in operation 24-hours a day,

7 days a week.

Acer America Corporation

Acer America Corporation designs and manufactures a broad range of computer

systems. Offerings include AcerNote™ notebooks, Acer ACROSTM and AcerPower™

desktop PCs, AcerFax™ facsimile machines, AcerFormula™ 64-bit RISC-based

workstations, AcerView™ monitors and the Acer AltosTM line of servers. Acer America is

a subsidiary of The Acer Group, a worldwide organization that has 50 offices in 14

countries, with a network of more than 100 distributors and 10,000 dealers in 70

countries. Acer advanced, automated manufacturing operations are capable of producing

two million premium-quality computers and 2.5 million monitors in a year. The Acer

Group recorded approximately US $1.9 billion in consolidated sales in 1993.

### Acer is a registered trademark and AcerFormula, AcerPower, AcerView and AcerFax are trademarks of The Acer Group. All other products, brand names or companies are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

ACER MULTIMEDIA LINE-UP

PROCESSOR MEMORY HDD VIDEO RAM LOCAL BUS VIDEO LOCAL BUS SLOTS ISA SLOTS FDD DOUBLE-SPEED CD-ROM FAXIMODEM SOUND CARD MM SIW & SPEAKERS POWER SUPPL Y KEYBOARD MOUSE

EST. STREET PRICE

AcerACROS 4221G

486SXl33 4MB

210MB 512KB YES N/A

4 3.5" YES

9600/4800 16-Bit YES 145W 101

PS/2

$1,199-$1,299

AcerACROS 4471G

486DXl33 4MB

340MB 1MB YES N/A

4 3.5" YES

9600/4800 16-Bit YES 145W 101

PS/2

$1,499-$1,599

AcerACROS 4581G

486DX2I50 4MB

420MB 1MB YES N/A

4 3.5" YES

9600/4800 16-Bit YES 145W 101

PS/2

$1,699-$1,799

AcerPower 8681TG

486DX2I66 4MB

420MB 1MB YES

2(VESA) 6

3.5" YES

9600/4800 16-Bit YES

200W 101

PS/2

$1,999-$2,099

AcerPower 9697TG

Pentium/60 8MB

540MB 1MB YES

3(pel) 5* 3.5" YES NO

16-Bit YES

200W 101 PS/2

$2,799-$2,999

SIW SUITE INCLUDES: MS DOSMli"ndows MS DOSMli"ndows MS DOSMli"ndows MS DOSMli"ndows MS OOSMli"ndows MS Multimedia Works MS Multimedia Works MS Multimedia Works MS Multimedia Works MS Multimedia Works

MS Entertainment Pack MS Entertainment Pack MS Entertainment Pack MS Entertainment Pack MS Entertainment Pack MS Productivity Pack MS Productivity Pack MS Productivity Pack MS Productivity Pack MS Productivity Pack

MS Encarta Encyclopedia MS Encarta Encyclopedia MS Encarta Encyclopedia MS Encarta Encyclopedia MS Encarta Encyclopedia MS Cinemania MS Cinemania MS Cinemania MS Cinemania MS Cinemania MS Sound Bits MS Sound Bits MS Sound Bits MS Sound Bits MS Sound Bits

MS Multimedia Golf MS Multimedia Golf MS Multimedia Golf MS Multimedia Golf MS Multimedia Golf Intuit Quicken Intuit Quicken Intuit Quicken Intuit Quicken Intuit Quicken

Prodigy Prodigy Prodigy Prodigy America-On-Une America-On-Une America-On-Une America-On-Une Phoenix MicroFax Phoenix MicroFax Phoenix MicroFax Phoenix MicroFax

February, 1994 * One slot shared by PCI. (ACERACPO.XLS)