rapo@cs.cornell.edu (Andy Rapo) (06/19/91)
Hi, I just recently had the opportunity to spend a few days with a Macintosh Laptop made by Outbound. This machine, which weighs 9 lbs. (not much for a Mac), is a really excellent piece of work. It has a 40mb hard drive, 2mb (up to 4) fo RAM, and it runs a CMOS 68000 at 15MHz. It is noticably faster than a Plus or SE. The screen is a backlit supertwist with great resolution (640x4??) and is bigger than a Plus screen. The keyboard is detatch- able and needs no cable - it communicates via infrared. I could use it easily from 3ft. One feature that I've never seen anywhere else is the Isopoint "mouse". This is a roller-bar inlaid in a big mouse button. You roll the bar forward and back to get the cursor to move up and down the screen. Slide the bar left and right and the cursor will do the same. To Click, just push down on the bar. The Isopoint is positioned just under the space bar so you never have to lift your hands from the keyboard. After about a half hour I was hooked and didn't bother to hook up the Microsotft mouse that comes with the system. The Outbound Mac will run for 2-3 hours on a battery. Since it uses standard lead-acid camcorder batteries you can keep an extra one (or two) with you and just pop them in when the need arises. An external 1.44mb floppy drive, a carry- ing case, a 1 year warranty, and all the function- ality of a Macintosh make this an outstanding tool. At $3400 its a bit of an investment, but you get a very unobtrusive little machine that can run big software packages. Apple will most likely have a few similar models available in October. Until then, I'd suggest giving Outbound a call. 1-800-444-4607 A new fan, Andy Rapo Cornell University Modelling/Simulation