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From: holtz@netcord.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Holtz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.tandy,comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Tandy 1500 HD (WAIT! DON'T DO IT!)
Message-ID: <3358@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 25 Nov 90 06:22:36 GMT
References: <1990Nov24.223734.9245@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu> <4161@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>
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In article <4161@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> minsky@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky) writes:
>I have seen several comparisons in which computing power is considered
>important -- but the size/weight of the laptop is not mentioned.

Exactly. at just under 6 pounds, the 1500HD I'm typing on right now
is _almost_ big and heavy enough to keep me from curling up with it in
this, my favorite chair.  The Packard Bell somebody mentioned is a
hefty 15 lbs., over _3_ inches thick, and considerably wider and
deeper.

No, I was simply looking for the smallest, lightest machine with a
backlit vt100-sized display, a hard drive, an internal modem, and a
1.44 Mb floppy drive to trade data with my SPARCstation at work.
I came ever so close to getting the Sharp 6220, but I couldn't be sure
in advance that I wouldn't miss an internal floppy.

Sanyo has a new machine out, with 286/internal modem/1.44 Mb floppy/
hard drive/VGA/<= $2100, but it's at least 2 inches thick and weighs
seven or eight pounds.  So in the end, it was a tossup between the
1500HD and Toshiba's comparable new T1000LE.

>Sometimes I even use my z88,
>because it runs for 24+ hours and weighs less than 2 pounds.  Is there
>anything like this around yet, only with better than 8 x 80 characters
>on the screen?

Well, there's the Poquet PC, but I doubt if even the new keyboard for
it is good for extended typing.  It seems like you really have to push
each key twice or thrice as hard as you do a key on any normal keyboard.
--
Brian Holtz (holtz@netcord.Eng.Sun.COM)