nancyb@dcl.enet.dec.com (nancy b.) (10/24/90)
George Wang @ University of Illinois requested input
from other Zeos laptop users. Here's my story.
After following the technical progress and price/performance
of laptops for the past 5 years or so, and never being
satisfied with the compromises and the relative high cost
compared for what it would take me to put together a full-
size PC, I finally took the plunge. While half-asleep
reading my October PC-Magazine with the cover story about
the TI Travelmate/CompuAdd at 10pm one night when I saw
the fold-out ad for the ZEOS Notebook 286. I said, "this is
it", called their sales line (yes someone answered at 10pm),
and ordered one.
What is it? (I think someone here posted this a while before too)
For $1,995, I received a (from their documentation):
------
"PC/AT compatible book-sized portable computer":
- Dual speed 12 and 8 MHz 80C286 CPU
- 10-inch CFL-backlight LCD screen with
VGA resolution and _32_ grey scales.
- 1MB of system RAM (exp to 5MB)
- 20MB 20ms access hard drive
* a _built-in_ 1.44 MB floppy drive
- 6.5 lbs with batter pack
- (subjective) a nice keyboard!
(but someone told me ZEOS is known for their keyboards)
- Clock/calendar
- some VGA utility programs and a couple other utility
programs (setup, etc.)
- battery life of 2 hours (my experience has been
slightly more)
I love it! Don't know how I survived this long without it ;-).
Having the floppy drive built in is especially nice, as I take
it places where I'm continually winging data in and out of it
to different systems. Not having to mess with the cables and
LapLink is a luxury.
IMO, this laptop is a much better value than the TI Travelmate/
Compuadd Companion, etc..
Also, I recently read where Ogivar was introducing it's
"Internote" notebook. It has the exact same specs as the
ZEOS, but it was listing for $2995 ($1000 more)!
nancy b.john@pyrnj.uucp (John Kurzman) (10/25/90)
I also bought my Zeos 286 Notebook the same weekend as seeing it in the magazine (even though they weren't in the charts). I too am very pleased that I could get so much for $1999. Also notable versus many of the older laptops out there, it runs for 2+ hours on one charge, but quick charges in less than one hour (when not using the unit), and trickle charges when fully charged or when the unit is on. There is also a new Sanyo unit that seems to have identical specs to the Zeos. Sanyo also is asking for $2999. I like the idea of several companies selling the same basic unit: it creates even more of a market for third party vendor memory cards etc. People are saying that the Compuadd/Sharp/TI unit creates a 'standard' (for 4 lb no-internal-floppy) systems (at $2999 street price). The Zeos/Internote/Sanyo team seem to be creating a standard for 6lb units with internal floppy, more grey scales, and a standard built-in VGA adapter. BTW, Airis has now added a built-in VGA adapter as part of their standard $1999 unit, but with Austin Computer and others already announcing $2700 386SX units, waiting till February for an Airis is like buying today's technology tomorrow (IMO). I bought the Zeos because they could deliver the same week I ordered it. (This evening's technology this morning). -----My opinions only. No reflection on my employer please.-----