Path: utzoo!yunexus!geac!syntron!jtsv16!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!amdcad!ames!ucsd!rutgers!mcnc!thorin!unc!bell
From: bell@unc.cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Laptop Amiga
Summary: Doesn't have to be supermachine
Message-ID: <4045@thorin.cs.unc.edu>
Date: 6 Sep 88 15:12:25 GMT
Article-I.D.: thorin.4045
References: <3210@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM>
Sender: news@thorin.cs.unc.edu
Reply-To: bell@unc.UUCP (Andrew Bell)
Organization: University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 72

In article <3210@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM> wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) writes:
>What I want is a Laptop Amiga

On this we agree.

>1. Should be your basic 8 lbs.  A power cord is fine, a battery pack is
>heavy and doesn't have much power.

Should have battery pack as option,  at least.  Battery pack should be
sufficient for minimal configuration,  although souped-up versions may need
a cord.

>
>2. CPU - since we have a power cord give us the fastest 68020 or 68030
>that can be put in.  Put in the fastest 32 bit wide memory that can be
>afforded.  This may require a little glue logic for the Amiga chip set,
>but should be reasonable.  Give the user 1meg of chip RAM and at least
>2megs of fast RAM.  

No,  keep it cheap.  What do you need a super laptop for?  If you need that
much power,  put it on your desk where it doesn't require expensive
miniaturizing/cooling.

>3. 1 880k floppy on the side and a built in 30 or 40meg hard disk. Plus
>connectors on the back for more.

Optional hard disk,  room for it (or second floppy) in the "box".

>4. A flip up color flat panel, I don't care what type, but it should 
>be at least 640 by 400 resolution. (704 by 440 would be nicer)

A variety of options here would be nice,  say a B/W 704x232 minimal up to a
Color 704x464.

>5. Lots of I/O connections on the back, for video, printers, modems, and
>whatever can be fit in.

A built-in modem (or room for it) would be nice.  Obviously,  don't bother
with PC slots unless you want to have a built-in bridgeboard capability.
Frankly,  I wouldn't bother with IBM-PC issues.

>6. Price $4500 in stores, $1500 to college students.  Get college students
>hooked on the Amiga and when they are out of school they will sell many
>more.

Do I detect a college student here?

I'm not a marketroid (All together now: but I play one on TV...),  but selling
below cost is never a good idea.  That's why I suggest the lesser machine to
start with.

7. A no-click keyboard (or at least a switch for it) helps us loonies who
would use it to take notes occasionally.  Also,  a built-in trackball would
be better than a mouse for a portable.

>The above would really be something to have, even better than the Dyna-Mac,
>that Apple will someday make.

It's also overkill.  I don't have a 68020 in my 1000 or 2000,  I don't need
it in an Amy portable.  A large portion of the laptop market will be people
who already own Amigas,  and want another one for travelling.  I suspect the
color LCD is really important (showing Berserk/RGB/et al to the unbenighted),
but aiming for the least common denominator first will really get the
machine to sell.  It should also be much easier and faster to produce..

>                                   Wayne Knapp

    -Andrew Bell

The schitzophrenic grad student!
bell@cs.unc.edu
acb@cs.duke.edu