mto@GTE.COM (Tamer Ozsu) (12/20/90)
A while ago I had requested suggestions in choosing a notebook size
286 laptop that can support Windows, among other things. I had also
promised to summarize the responses that I got. Well, I did not get
many, but the following summarizes what I've received.
1. I seem not to be alone in waiting for Airis for a long time. There
were others who had ordered the machine, but haven't received it yet.
They, like me, have given up on waiting.
2. One person indicated that he is using Sharp PC-6220 with a 20Mb
hard drive, VGA mono screen and a 2400 baud modem. No internal floppy,
uses laplink for connection. He seems to be very happy with it.
3. In the same class of machines, others have suggested that
TI/Sharp/Compuadd and Zeos would be alternatives.
4. A number of people recommended that if I want to run Windows with
Powerpoint, I should go for a 40M disk (windows wants 5M and
powerpoint wants 8M with its templates) and at least 2 MB of memory.
Preferably, a 386SX machine is recommended for Windows.
At the end of all of this, I did some checking of 386SX notebooks.
There seem to be two alternatives: TI Travelmate 3000 or Zeos 386SX.
TI has the advantage of being smaller, lighter and coming with a 40MB
drive. However, it does not have an internal floppy and is EXPENSIVE:
$5500. Zeos 386SX, on the other hand, comes in the same case as their
286, has an internal floppy, but comes with only 1MB memory and a 20MB
drive. I talked to Zeos and they indicated that they are waiting for
FCC approval which should be coming in two weeks (?!?!...). The cost
is
Basic unit $2295
1MB memory
20MB hard drive
internal floopy
2MB additional memory $ 349
2400 bps internal model $ 210
--------
$2854
First of all, I want to check if the requirement for a 386SX for
Windows/powerpoint is essential. If so, I think I'll wait for the FCC
approval. I don't want the Airis experience all over again. Secondly,
I wonder if there are cheaper sources of additional memory?
Thanks for everyone who sent information.
==Tamer
--
M. Tamer Ozsu mto@gte.com
GTE Laboratories
40 Sylvan Road
Waltham, MA 02254golden@frith.uucp (James M Golden) (12/22/90)
To those who are looking for '386 notebooks, there is a new '386 version of the TI/Sharp PC-6220 (8.5x11") that should be shipping soon. It is only slightly heavier (5.7 lbs as opposed to 4.4 lbs) and slightly thicker (1.8 in as opposed to 1.4) but includes a 1.44 MB 3.5" disk drive and a 20 or 40 MB Hard-Disk drive. It's called the TI TravelMate 3000 and runs off a 20MHz '386SX. It has the same 10" diagonal supertwist liquid-crystal, edge-lit black-on-white VGA display as it predecessor and comes with 2MB ram standard, upgradeable to 6MB. List price (street prices will cheaper) is US$5499 for the 20MB version and US$5999 for the 40MB version. There will also be the Compaq LTE 3286s/20, an 8.5x11x(2?)" notebook with an edge-lit VGA display, 20MHz '386SX microprocessor, a 1.44MB 3.5" disk drive and a 30 or 60 MB Hard-disk drive. The list prices (which, again will be cheaper on the street, but Compaq's distibution network is tighter and more limited than the TI/Sharp/CompuAdd distrib- ution, which means that prices won't go down as quickly or as much as the TI's prices will) are US$6499 for the 30MB model and US$6999 for the 60MB model. The reason for the high prices on notebook sized 40 and 60MB Hard-disk drives is the fact that 30MB drives are/were state-of-the-art and anything above 30 is hot off the R&D shelves and pushing the limits of the technology. Mike Golden (golden@frith.msu.edu) Electrical Engineering Undergrad. Michigan State University