Coming: less expensive '386 machines. (Intel's hybrid 80386SX chip opens a new market)

COMING: LESS EXPENSIVE '386 MACHINES

Many personal-computer buyers are attracted by the promise of software written for the 80386 computer but cringe at the high prices of '386 machines. Now they have an alternative. Intel's recently announced 80386SX chip promises to spawn a new class of computers whose performance and price fall between those of the older 80286 systems and the top-of-the-line 80386 machines.

Within a week of Intel's mid-June introduction of the 80386SX, Compaq announced a computer based on the chip. AST Research, NEC Information Systems, and NCR Corp. have also announced 80386SX-based computers; Zenith Data Systems and IBM are rumored to be readying machines. Analysts were quick to predict that the 80386SX would replace the 80286 as the business workhorse.

Because the SX chip costs less to make, SX systems will be less expensive than '386 computers. "I expect the SX machines to cost $300 to …