RFFCC@CUNYVM (Ralph Frisch) (10/15/90)
I was just about ready to purchase the Toshiba T1200XE laptop, when I
noticed the availability of the Airis 'Notebook' VH-286 in the
October 16, 1990 PC Magazine on page 109, in its cover story
"PORTABLE PCs".
The Airis VH-286 has the most exciting specs: the price is
$1,895 for 6-pound 12-MHz 286 with 2MB RAM, a 20MB hard
disk (but no internal floppy disk drive), a backlit 11-inch
VGA display, and a 2,400-bps modem. You can use either line
current or a rechargeable battery, or you can drop in ten
standard C-cell batteries for a claimed 12-hour battery life.
Engineered in Chicago by a group of Zenith veterans, the
Airis is planned strictly as a mail-order machine. It was
to have shipped in spring, but financing problems (not
uncommon to start-ups) pushed the schedule back to late
summer or early fall.
In the October 1990 issue of PC Sources on page 31 the Airis VH-286 is
also highlighted. Here the specs are cited as follows:
The 6-pound Airis system costs $1,899 ($2,049 with an
optional 3.5-inch floppy drive) and is available from Airis
only. It ships with 2MB of RAM (expandable to 4MB) and is
based on a 12.5MHz 80C286 processor. Included in the base
price are a 20MB hard disk drive and a 2,400bps Hayes-
compatible modem. MS-DOS 4.01 and Traveling Software's
LapLink come already installed on the hard disk. Finally,
Airis guarantees parts and labor for two years on its sleek,
black system.
With the single drawback of not having an internal floppy drive, the
Airis machine seems to be a much better value when compared with the
Toshiba T1200XE's street price of $2,000.
Airis VH-286 Toshiba T1200XE
RAM 2MB (exp. to 5MB) 1M (exp. to 4MB)
3.5-inch 1.44MB floppy dr. optional, external standard
20MB hard disk standard standard
256K hardware disk cache standard not supplied
LCD display VGA Double Scan CGA
2,400bps internal modem standard optional
Rechargeable battery life 6 hours 3 hours
10 C-size alkaline batteries 12 hours not available
Weight, without batteries 6 pounds 8 pounds
mouse port standard not available
serial port standard standard
parallel port standard standard
DOS 4.01 on the hard disk in ROM
LapLink on the hard disk not supplied
Telerom, (BIOS upd. by modem) standard not available
(Some of the other specs not mentioned above are from the July 2,
1990 issue of INFOWORLD article on page 21.)
Has anyone out there purchased this machine, and if yes, please post
your experience with it.wherry@alazif.cxo.dec.com (bradley g wherry) (10/15/90)
In article <90287.140858RFFCC@CUNYVM.BITNET>, RFFCC@CUNYVM (Ralph Frisch) writes: <stuff deleted> |>Has anyone out there purchased this machine, and if yes, please post |>your experience with it. |> When I last talked to Airis (3 weeks ago). I was told that it still was not shipping (it was supposed to start shipping the first week in september). They also told me once it did start shipping that new orders would be delayed by at least 2 months due to the number of outstanding orders they have now. Does anybdoy actually have one or is it still vaporware. -- brad wherry | Ex ignorantia ad sapientiam; wherry@alazif.enet.dec.com | e luce ad tenebras.
steve@europa.esd.sgi.com (pal farmer) (10/16/90)
In article <90287.140858RFFCC@CUNYVM.BITNET>, RFFCC@CUNYVM (Ralph Frisch) writes: > Rechargeable battery life 6 hours 3 hours > 10 C-size alkaline batteries 12 hours not available > Weight, without batteries 6 pounds 8 pounds I was under the impression that the computer weighed 6 pounds with batteries Also, the battery life they quote was the theoretical maximum. Even they (Airis) don't believe the batteries will last quite that long (about 4-5 hrs on Ni-Cds). This extended battery life is the main reason the computer weighs 2 pounds more than the Sharp 6220/TI 2000/Compuadd etc..., which last 2 hours. > > Has anyone out there purchased this machine, and if yes, please post > your experience with it. I talked to one of the founders of the company (don't remember his name - but he was pretty much the marketing dept.) a few days ago and it sounds to me like they won't be shipping for a few months. He said they have the computer working, but they will have to spin the board. This typically takes about 3 weeks, not including any further debug that will have to be done. Final testing and FCC licensing will most likely take another 6-8 weeks. All in all, I was impressed with these guys. I hope they succeed. It's nice to see a small company go head to head with the big Japanese conglomerates. If they can convince me that they will last as long as their 2 year warranty, then I will try to convince my wife that we simply must have one! steve valin steve@europa.esd.sgi.com 4153351379 Sounds like hickwap, huh? Over, over... - the fall
jtduran@athena.mit.edu (Jason Tomas Duran) (10/22/90)
In article <90287.140858RFFCC@CUNYVM.BITNET> RFFCC@CUNYVM (Ralph Frisch) writes: >I was just about ready to purchase the Toshiba T1200XE laptop, when I >noticed the availability of the Airis 'Notebook' VH-286 in the >October 16, 1990 PC Magazine on page 109, in its cover story >[stuff deleted] >Has anyone out there purchased this machine, and if yes, please post >your experience with it. It's a very sexy machine, and had a great review in Byte(Jun or Jul, I forget). Unfortunately it's backordered through Feb 91 or so, and according to them if you want one then you'd better get your order in now. Personally I'm going to hang out til next year and see if it's still the best deal around, and if so make my order in late Jan or early Feb. -- _____________________________________________________________________________ Jason Tomas Duran Fiji MIT_Class_of_92++; 28 The Fenway jtduran@athena.mit.edu Boston Ma 02215