mc4c+@andrew.cmu.edu (Mark Choi) (03/18/91)
I have a STacy, and believe me it's nice, but it ain't that great. Mac laptop? a bit of a pain in the ass with the cartridge and the GCR floppy wire hangin' off the sides. But this thing from CeBIT. I waannnnttttt it. I want it now. THIS is what the Stacy shoulda been. But from the decription it seem as if a few things may be lacking. External monitor support for one. So how do I do colour? Also, RF. What about cartidges? Would they have to be redesigned to be direct slot cards? That would not be so bad. Think, GCR as PDS card, faster, no need for goofy bankswitching to get more than 128k, and internal! Greyscale? will there finally be a hi-res greyscale, ore does grey-tone only man that the LCD will be grey, not blue? Why no floppy? other ntebooks got 'em? A back-light is a necessity. The STacy is unusable without it! All this aside, this baby sound great. If they allow it to access the full 4096 colours of the STe, then they can give the STacy a sex change operation, and call the new machine the STacey. WOW.
kawakami@bigbang.Berkeley.EDU (John Kawakami) (03/20/91)
In response to Mark Choi: I think the only thing an ST notebook would need is a backlit screen and a suite of software to transfer/convert files from PC and Mac programs to ST programs and vice versa. The essence of a portable computer is portability. Adding features like color monitor support seems extraneous. After all, how likely is it that one would carry the computer to an unoccupied (or occupied) SC1224 or SM124? A floppy is a thorny question. It's probably necessary because of market demands, but I'm sure many would do without. Perhaps one thing to consider is a space for two Mac ROMs. And a contract with Dave Small. Current PC notebooks are sold primarily to current computer owners. They run at $1500 up past $3000. If Atari wants to succeed, they will have to tap both the current Atari market and the PC market. John Kawakami kawakami@ocf.berkeley.edu Amateur Crank! ucbvax!ocf.berkeley.edu!kawakami
mc4c+@andrew.cmu.edu (Mark Choi) (03/20/91)
> Excerpts from netnews.comp.sys.atari.st: 19-Mar-91 Re: WOW!!!! John > Kawakami@bigbang.Be (965) > The essence of a portable computer is portability. Adding features like > color monitor support seems extraneous. After all, how likely is it that > one would carry the computer to an unoccupied (or occupied) SC1224 or > SM124? > A floppy is a thorny question. It's probably necessary because of market > demands, but I'm sure many would do without. The reason fo rht e external montior port is that at the price premuium on pays for a notebook, it may just become your only machine. In that case, it would be a benefit to be able to (ab)use all the software that was out there, including games and other colour only software. If it had an RF composite out, that would be o.k. too, but the monitor out would be better, so a multisync could be hooked up. Look at the PC notebook market. Most of them have 1.44 meg drives, 20-40meg hard drives, a VGA port, a huge software and installed user base, and an expansion slot. The atari would seem to have: no floppy drive, a 20 meg drive, no monitor port, a very small software base and an even smaller user base. The 512k ROM space is promising though. So is the PDS. > Excerpts from netnews.comp.sys.atari.st: 19-Mar-91 Re: WOW!!!! John > Kawakami@bigbang.Be (965) > If Atari wants to succeed, they will have to > tap both the current Atari market and the PC market. This is the case, not only for notebooks, but for all their machines, Lately, however, they only seem to be going after that small portion of the smaller atari market that even cares about buying a new machine, so there sales fall and fall. And the possibility of carrying the notebook to a colour monitor is great if you assume that most ST owners would sell their current set up to afford the new machine. I use my TV with my Stacy all the time. (by the way, it was very agravating that the STacy does not have the STe motherboard, or RF interface. This was just pure stupidity. Especially in light of the fact that not only does in to have a battery, but the circuit board responsible for power control was scrapped as well. Lets hope they do it right this time.) I still want one, though!