sje@bubba.ma30.bull.com (Steven J. Edwards) (02/27/91)
I would be interested in hearing about others' experiences
with third party hardware suppliers for portable computers.
Specifically, I think there would be considerable interest among the
portable user community for lists of reliable aftermarket suppliers
for proprietary options and expansions. The idea is to be able to
purchase a lower cost, sparingly outfitted machine and then use one's
own expertise to install enhancements at considerable savings.
At the moment, it seems that most such suppliers exist only
for the widely distributed machines (Toshiba and Tandy) without much
for the newer, more powerful units (like the new crop of 386 SX
notebooks).
The two big areas are memory add-ons and hard drive upgrades.
For example, Zeos International charges US$649 for a 4 Meg RAM upgrade
on its notebook machine (from 1 Meg to 5 Meg total), a price that is
about four times the SIMM price for the same amount of memory.
Notebooks also require 6.35 cm (2.5 inch) hard drives, most of which
are only available in the 20 Meg size. When I checked some local
computer shops, I was told that most 6.35 cm sales were restricted to
OEMs. I have been unable to obtain firm pricing and availability
information for larger capacity HDs.
== Steven J. Edwards Bull HN Information Systems Inc. ==
== (508) 294-3484 300 Concord Road MS 820A ==
== sje@bubba.ma30.bull.com Billerica, MA 01821 USA ==
"That Government which Governs the Least, Governs Best." -- Thomas Jefferson