Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!mcnc!thorin!jackson!lewis From: lewis@jackson.cs.unc.edu (jeff lewis) Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops Subject: Re: Bondwell 286 laptop from DAK Industries Message-ID: <15412@thorin.cs.unc.edu> Date: 28 Jul 90 22:52:14 GMT References: <1163@s5.Morgan.COM> <4701@infmx.UUCP> <474@roo.UUCP> <25083@bellcore.bellcore.com> <59@towernet.UUCP> <4885@infmx.UUCP> <31589@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> Sender: news@thorin.cs.unc.edu Reply-To: lewis@cs.unc.edu (jeff lewis) Distribution: na Organization: University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Lines: 50 Just to add in my $1299 worth, I'd also like to say it's a pretty nice machine. I ordered on May 16th (the 20mb model) and it showed up on July 26 (10 weeks). It's fairly sturdy and the fit and finish are good. The keyboard is very usable and relatively clicky. Speedwise it seems a bit faster than my CompuAdd 12mhz desktop, which is probably because the hard disk is a bit faster (25 ms vs 40 ms). The hard disk is also nice and quiet. I spent the last few days running various things on it and have had only one compatibility problem with a game called Welltris. I'm not sure that it had anything to do with the computer, though, because I believe the version I was trying to run on it was looking for an EGA and there's only a CGA. Other than that I've been running various text and graphics based programs with no problems, such as XTreePro, WordPerfect 5.1, Tetris, PC-Cache, Turbo Pascal 5.0, and a couple of TSR's. I've been running PC-Cache with the 384k of Extended memory and it works great. Turbo Pascal built a 7k line program I have faster than it does on my desktop. On the down side, the screen is mediocre and needs fairly strong, even lighting to be reasonable. If I was planning on my laptop being my main machine, I would definitely want a better screen. The other down side is the battery life. So far the best I've gotten out of a full charge (which takes 8-10 hours with the machine off) is about 75 minutes, and this is with the power saving features on and relatively light hard disk usage. Without any power saving features running I didn't even get an hour out of it. If your purpose is extended unplugged computing, I wouldn't think this is the machine for you. As far as the software goes, FastLynx, the file transfer program, is very useful, and I imagine I'll look at Quattro at some point, but the rest is pretty much going to sit around until I end up with a week to kill to see if any of it is worthwhile enough to supplant the programs I'm already using. Or to occupy any of my precious hard disk space. One nice little surprise was the inclusion by DAK of a several hundred page manual which describes basic computer setup and operation, as well as how to get started with each of the freebie programs they've included. Just for some perspective, the best price I've seen on a Bondwell anywhere else was $1695 (40mb version), which DAK sells (along with all the marginally useful goodies) for $1450. And PC Magazine has a review of it in their March 13 issue, pg. 197. I'll be happy to answer any other questions anyone might have. At least about the Bondwell . . . - -- ---- -------- ---------------- -------------------------------- jeff lewis@cs.unc.edu - -- ---- -------- ---------------- --------------------------------