alt@ecsvax.UUCP (08/17/84)
Recently I accompanied a friend who is in the market for a PC clone to a local computer store. We saw the Zenith Z150 and were very impressed. The machine has guaranteed 100% PC compatibility and is built like a tank. Apparently one can purchase this same machine in kit form from Heath at a considerable savings. Does anyone on the net have any experience with putting the Heath kit version of the Z150 together. I've heard it is rather straight forward and can be done in a couple of evenings. Any information would be very welcome. Larry Taylor Duke Biophysipedic ecsvax!alt
CSTROM@SIMTEL20.ARPA (08/20/84)
My experience is that the discounted price on assembled Heath Computers is little more than the kit price of the unit. There are a number of dealers for the assembled units; Heath charges list while the others discount, so unless your friend feels that every cent is important, he can probably successfully purchase an assembled unit and not bother with building. I can suggest a dealer who mail orders and is quite reasonable. If you would like such information, let me know and I will send it in a private message, since I would like to avoid blatant advertising on the net. -Charlie
kfl@hoxna.UUCP (Kenton Lee) (08/20/84)
xxx The latest Heathkit catalog lists the Z150 and Z160 kits for about $1500 to $1600 each. That is a great price for a quality PC-compatible. I built a Z100 kit a couple of years ago. All of the critical boards came pre-assembled, so you just have to bolt them in. Fit and finish on the cabinet were excelent, so everything went together very easily. Almost all of the soldering was on the floppy controller card, which took a couple of evenings. I think the whole machine took me about 10 or 12 hours to build, and saved $1000 over the assembled price. I expect that the Z150 and Z160 are similar to the Z100. You can check out the kit at your local Heathkit store. Sales people there are usually very helpful and technically competent. -- Kenton Lee, Bell Labs - WB wb3g!kfl or hoxna!kfl
dave.e@proper.UUCP (Dave Edick ) (08/24/84)
There's a review in the latest issue of Computers and Electronics (formerly Popular Electronics) which also reviews the kit assembly. They found it to be more challenging than the Z-100, but not too hard. I just ordered a Z-150 from a mail order dealer for about the same price as Heath charges for the kit. /Dave Edick/