sher@bbn.com (Lawrence D. Sher) (02/20/90)
I just had a Tandy 1100FD laptop out for a trial spin (they offer a full money
back within a week). This machine lists for just under $1k, has 1 720k floppy,
640k RAM, and DOS 3.3 in ROM (acting as drive c:). Deskmate software is
provided free, if you can stand it.
Good: Weight about 6.5 lb
Battery life about 3.5-4.5 hours
Screen is a good size, tall enough to not squash characters
Case is "Ford Taurus"
DOS 3.3 in ROM
AC Power adapter is very light weight (4 oz?)
Under good light the LCD screen contrast is very good
Geometry is perfect for airline tray use.
Keyboard tactile feel is OK.
Battery is lead-acid, so doesn't have NiCad's "memory" problem.
Service is "as close as your nearest Radio Shack"
Multiple levels of gray scale are supported (but see below).
Bad: The screen may be nearly impossible to read under some "reasonable"
lighting, like an incandescent lamp off to the side, and the cursor
then is truly invisible.
A bit bulky for its weight (the Compaq LTE is 58% of the volume and the
same weight--its NiCad battery is much heavier)
The keyboard's keypad is a masterpiece of hostility. Don't try to use
it or you'll lose your sanity.
No keyboard status lights. (It's called flying blind.)
No external monitor output.
No autoresume.
No changing batteries while still running.
Control and CapsLock keys are IBM-crazy-backwards
Multiple levels of gray scale may be impossible to see under any single
combination of external lighting and local contrast adjustment.
The documentation is the worst I have ever seen.
Performance: I don't have anything comparable to measure against. Once
running, PC-Write Version 3 was its usual blazing-fast self, but starting it,
which required reading the 250k program from the 720k floppy took 30 seconds
(!).
Overall: A very useable machine providing you can always be assured of
adequate lighting and you don't much need the keypad functionality. At $1k it
may be a bit overpriced--look for academic discounts and sales. I returned it
primarily because of marginal screen visibility and the ill-thought-out keypad.