mphw (03/12/83)
I've seen both the Epson and the HP portable micros: The HP is probably better design, faster, better basic, etc; however, the Epson has a Full-sized ASCII(almost) keyboard. The only missing characters are the ~ and ` (which you can get by pushing two keys at the same time. The HP has a small keyboard more like a calculator than a terminal and has fewer keys. The HP is smaller, with most of the stuff optional on interfaces. The Epson in larger (a full-sized keyboard with nothing else is almost as big as the HP) but includes a printer. The big difference between the two is price: the HP lists for $995 and can be found for $795, the Epson lists for $795 and can be found for $745. The Epson price includes the printer but not the micro tape (about $160). The Epson also has a portable 300 baud modem about the size of a shoe for about $150. Software available is minimal. If I was given my choice of the two I'd get the Epson because of the keyboard and built in printer. The microcassette is an inexpensive option and is *small* fitting into a slot on the base unit (uses battery power from the base, too). Of course, I have access to large, fast systems (like this UNIX(tm) system), so my main use for *any* small computer would be as a portable terminal that can up/down load text for editing outside, on a trip, at the beach, or anywhere phone/power lines are unavailable. Pat Wood mhuxv!mphw