marshall@wind55.seri.gov (Marshall L. Buhl) (10/30/90)
medin@cod.NOSC.MIL (Ted Medin) writes: > I see dak is advertising a 286 laptop by bondell (sp?) anyone have >info on this machine? Is it reliable, compatable ... My Dad bought one of these. He brought it by my house and asked me to set it up for him. He got a lot of software with it (GEM, WordStar, Quattro Pro, etc.). We got GEM and Quattro working. We couldn't get WordStar to work though. I finally gave up and gave him my old PC Word 4 (I also own Word for Windows). WordStar is passe anyway. This was the first time I've used a laptop extensively (about 15 hours over one weekend). LCD screens really suck. My eyes hurt for days after this. The mouse cursor would disappear whenever it was moved and was just plain difficult to find when still. I found that if I pulled down and left, stopped, then I could find it in the corner of the screen. This really slowed me down. I've used the Compaq LTE 286 (double scan CGA) a little at work and it is just as bad. This machine is only for those who absolutely must compute on the road. DO NOT BUY THIS FOR A DESKTOP PC! Other than the terrible screen, it seemed to work OK (considering it uses a braindead 286). My Dad made the serious mistake of buying only the 20 MB drive (40 MB was an option). I was going to give him a spare copy of Win3, but he didn't have enough room. 40 MB is the absolute minimum for a general purpose computer system. Even 40 MB is too small if you're going to get into Windows and WinApps. I sure wish my Dad had talked to me first... Oh, well. Next year I'll give him my old Compaq 386/16 when I get a serious machine. I hate to see him ruining his eyes on the horrible screen. -- Marshall L. Buhl, Jr. EMAIL: marshall@seri.gov Senior Computer Missionary VOICE: (303)231-1014 Wind Research Branch 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3393 Solar Energy Research Institute Solar - safe energy for a healthy future