Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!sun!aeras!andrew
From: andrew@aeras.uucp (Andrew Ward)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Dataworld LP-320 analysis
Message-ID: <1990Dec4.223137.23174@aeras.uucp>
Date: 4 Dec 90 22:31:37 GMT
Organization: Arix Corporation
Lines: 73

In response to the inquiries on the Dataworld LP-320 laptop, I have
the  following comments:

I bought an LP-320 from DW (salesman Bob Chang, nice guy). I
couldn't refuse the 30 day money back guarantee. It arrived in an
appropriate amount  of time.

It does not run Windows 3.0 exactly properly.  For one, it absolutely
does NOT run any background processes. Data World confirms this,
and blames it on the VGA bios they used a consultant to develop. 
They say they may try to fix it in the future, but not in the near future. 
It also seems to lock up occasionally when running other applications
in the foreground 

The battery life seems to be about 1 hour with the drive running 85%
of the time.  They (one of their sr. test engineers) recommends fully
discharging the built-in nicads (not changeable) periodically, then re-
charging.  I pressed him on periodically, and he said weekly I should
do this.  I believe that every 3-4 weeks is probably better, depending
upon usage. (I sure wish someone with some serious experience
and background would post a practical, non-theoretical article on the
care and feeding of Nicads!  No Saturday techs or "I think..."'s
please.) 

The really cool thing about the LP-320 is that it's half card slot is fully
integral and supplied from the battery.  I have a Future Domain
TMC-850 SCSI board installed to give me tape backup and an
additional 200 Mb of SCSI 15 ms drive space. Here are some
performance characteristics with some anomalies.  (My LP-320 has
0 wait state, 2Mb installed, although these tests used 8Mb of 0 wait
state mem.) These tests are from Norton utilities SI tests:

          LP-320          LP-320    LP-320     Desktop reference
          w/internal      w/ SCSI   w/ SCSI    AMS 386-16
          Conner 40Mb     Maxtor    Conner     w/ Seagate
                          LXT-130   CP-3200    94351-230S

Compute   19.8            21.1      19.8       22.0
Index

Disk      5.3             5.7       5.0        12.3
Index

Perform.  14.9            15.9      14.8       18.7

The anomalies are why a 16 Mhz 386 has a higher compute index
than a 20 Mhz 386, and why there was an increase in performance
in one of the CI results on the LP-320.

A couple weird things: The power switch on the rear is a rocker
switch. If you set it down on a non-flat surface, the PC can easily be
turned on inside the case!  Solution: I carry it sideways, with the side
pointing down.  The power connector is weird and if you want to
provide a special power supply, you'll need this connector and 3
Amps @ 15 volts.  The keyboard is kind of cheap; the space key fell
out at the beginning, but once I reinstalled it, never a problem again,
though I mostly plug in a separate keyboard.  There is no audible
beep at low battery, just 15 minutes (yes: 15!) of flashing red LED.

I also use a Western Digital WD-8003 based ethernet board in it with
FTP software's TCP/IP package and have no problems whatsoever.

The external 5 1/4 in 1.2 Mb floppy is also powered from the battery,
no external supply needed like Toshiba.  (Hey, my 1200H is for sale,
with lotsa accessories, anyone interested?)

All in all, I like the machine. I use it for word-processing, C++
(Borland) development, and some other stuff.  

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Andrew Ward  ...sun!aeras!andrew    (408) 922-8393                          |
| Arix Computer Corp.  San Jose, CA   95131  USA                              |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+