07/14/97 HOW TO REV UP THAT NOTEBOOK TO PENTIUM SPEED

HOW TO REV UP THAT NOTEBOOK TO PENTIUM SPEED

IS YOUR TRUSTY 486 NOTEBOOK PC too slow for Windows 95? If you dread the thought of retiring ol' Betsy, Evergreen Technologies Inc., which sells microchip upgrades for desktop PCs, has devised the first upgrade service for portables.
The company, based in Corvallis, Ore., revitalizes most 486DX, 486DX/2, or 486SX notebooks with a new Pentium-class chip. That's not an easy task, considering that upgrading processors sometimes involves removing as many as 83 screws. The $399 microchip-only upgrade is able to deliver performance equivalent to a new 75-Mhz Pentium. For an additional $170, Evergreen will add 16 megabytes of memory. A complete overhaul--processor, memory, and new one-gigabyte hard drive--costs $869.
The upgrades, which are handled by Evergreen's own technicians, come with a one-year parts-and-labor warranty and can be completed in as little as three days. And for those already equipped with Pentium portables, Evergreen says it will begin selling chip upgrades next year with the new MMX technology.
EDITED BY PAUL M. ENG
Gary McWilliams