Notebook Recommendations
J Steve Elliott
times I just can't finish what I've been working on when it's time to leave,
so I was thinking it would be nice to have a notebook so I could continue til
I'm at a stopping point. Here's what I want:
* Active matrix color display
* Must be able to run OS/2
And that's about it. Most of them are 386 based, and I'm used to a 33 Mhz
486 DX with 16 MB of RAM. Could anyone tell me the following:
1. Any brand's that will run OS/2.
2. Will OS/2 2.0 on a 386 or 486 SX with 8 MB of memory seem unbearably
slow to me?
I will mostly be running IBM Cset/2 compiler, Microsoft C 6.00 compiler,
Brief editor and rarely DeScribe or Word Perfect.
Thanx, Steve Elliott
Timothy F. Sipples
>I'm looking into purchasing a notebook so I can code while commuting. Many
>times I just can't finish what I've been working on when it's time to leave,
>so I was thinking it would be nice to have a notebook so I could continue til
>I'm at a stopping point. Here's what I want:
> * Active matrix color display
> * Must be able to run OS/2
>And that's about it. Most of them are 386 based, and I'm used to a 33 Mhz
>486 DX with 16 MB of RAM. Could anyone tell me the following:
> 1. Any brand's that will run OS/2.
> 2. Will OS/2 2.0 on a 386 or 486 SX with 8 MB of memory seem unbearably
> slow to me?
Would you believe IBM has one? It seems to be the hottest color
notebook on the market right now (although there's a new Toshiba that
comes close). It is about 7.5 lbs. (travel weight, I believe), has a
10.4 inch (diagonal) 256 color active matrix display (absolutely
gorgeous), a TrackPoint II mouse substitute (sort of a stubby joystick
mounted in the center of the keyboard). It runs with a 486SX-25
(upgradable to 486SX-25/50 clock doubled chip), can hold up to 16 MB
RAM, has a removeable 120 MB hard drive (larger size available soon),
has plenty of ports (keyboard, serial, parallel, mouse, etc), has an
optional V.32bis internal faxmodem, and is, quite simply, a great
machine.
Oh, the price. With 4 MB RAM, 120 MB hard drive (base configuration)
the list price is about mid $4K. Street and educational prices are a
bit lower, of course. (Current educational price is $3840, I
believe.) Add accordingly for RAM.
I believe OS/2 2.0 (with the Service Pak) includes a 256 color driver
specifically for this machine, so the Workplace Shell can run in
640x480 in 256 colors.
It is called the ThinkPad 700C. I certainly wouldn't mind having one.
>I will mostly be running IBM Cset/2 compiler, Microsoft C 6.00 compiler,
>Brief editor and rarely DeScribe or Word Perfect.
I would bring it up to 12 MB of RAM. Add one 8 MB RAM module to the
base system. (Should you want to bring it up to 16 MB later, add a 4
MB RAM module in the remaining slot.)
You might be a bit cramped on disk space. I would look into DCF/2,
the on-the-fly OS/2 disk compression software that should be available
about now. See the file dcf2info.txt, available via anonymous ftp
from ftp-os2.nmsu.edu, for further information on the product.
I forgot to mention that it has a standard card slot, so you can add,
say, a network card. IBM has three available, including ethernet and
Token Ring.
Oh, the power saving features work under OS/2 2.0, which is awfully
handy. And there's an optional Microchannel docking station
available, as well as a desktop port replicator, if needed.
--
Timothy F. Sipples | Read the OS/2 FAQ List 2.0g, available from
si...@ellis.uchicago.edu | 128.123.35.151, anonymous ftp, in /pub/os2/all/info
Dept. of Econ., Univ. | /faq, or from LIST...@BLEKUL11.BITNET (send "HELP")
of Chicago, 60637 | [Read the List, THEN post to ONE OS/2 newsgroup.]
Michael Graff
A few corrections to Tim's comments about the IBM ThinkPad 700C
notebook computer:
In <1992Dec1.2...@midway.uchicago.edu> Timothy F. Sipples writes:
>Would you believe IBM has one? It seems to be the hottest color
>notebook on the market right now (although there's a new Toshiba that
>comes close). It is about 7.5 lbs. (travel weight, I believe), has a
>10.4 inch (diagonal) 256 color active matrix display (absolutely
>gorgeous), a TrackPoint II mouse substitute (sort of a stubby joystick
>mounted in the center of the keyboard). It runs with a 486SX-25
>(upgradable to 486SX-25/50 clock doubled chip), can hold up to 16 MB
>RAM, has a removeable 120 MB hard drive (larger size available soon),
>has plenty of ports (keyboard, serial, parallel, mouse, etc), has an
>optional V.32bis internal faxmodem, and is, quite simply, a great
>machine.
The processor is an IBM 486SLC-25, not to be confused with the
Cyrix processor of the same name. The IBM version has a 16K
cache. The upgrade processor is a 486SLC2-25/50, available
in January.
The modem is available in March. Meanwhile, Apex Data
(1-800-841-2739) has 9600 and 14,400 bps modems for the 700C.
>I forgot to mention that it has a standard card slot, so you can add,
>say, a network card. IBM has three available, including ethernet and
>Token Ring.
If you're talking about PCMCIA, this is unfortunately not true.
IBM has introduced PCMCIA versions of Token Ring, Ethernet, and
3270 cards, but no laptops with PCMCIA slots.
...Michael Graff
Timothy F. Sipples
>>I forgot to mention that it has a standard card slot, so you can add,
>>say, a network card. IBM has three available, including ethernet and
>>Token Ring.
> If you're talking about PCMCIA, this is unfortunately not true.
> IBM has introduced PCMCIA versions of Token Ring, Ethernet, and
> 3270 cards, but no laptops with PCMCIA slots.
Sorry -- I was thinking of the ThinkPad 300 (which has a built-in
ethernet port) and also of the cards you mention (which, oddly enough,
don't fit in the 700 or 700C).
--
Timothy F. Sipples | Read the OS/2 FAQ List 2.0h, available from
John Bodnar
>I'm looking into purchasing a notebook so I can code while commuting. Many
>times I just can't finish what I've been working on when it's time to leave,
>so I was thinking it would be nice to have a notebook so I could continue til
>I'm at a stopping point. Here's what I want:
>
> * Active matrix color display
> * Must be able to run OS/2
>
>And that's about it. Most of them are 386 based, and I'm used to a 33 Mhz
>486 DX with 16 MB of RAM. Could anyone tell me the following:
>
> 1. Any brand's that will run OS/2.
> 2. Will OS/2 2.0 on a 386 or 486 SX with 8 MB of memory seem unbearably
> slow to me?
I would definitely look into an IBM Thinkpad 700C. It has a 25MHz
IBM486SLC processor in it (16K internal cache). IBM will soon, or may even
have now, available a 25/50 MHz clock doubling version.
The Thinkpad 700C has a 10.4 inch active matrix color display - the largest
available on the market.
It ships with 8M of RAM, OS/2 2.0 and a 120M hard disk. It can probably
take a full 16M.
This machine has got to be the sweetest notebook out there. I think it's
safe to say that most of us would drool for such a machine :-)
Happy hunting.
--
John Bodnar : Friends don't let friends use Windows!
The University of Texas at Austin : But I'm still waiting for Microsoft
Internet: jbo...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu : Solitaire NT! Heaven forbid, another
UUCP: ....!cs.utexas!ut-ccwf!jbodnar : productive user of OS/2 v2.0!
Michael Graff
In <85...@ut-emx.uucp> John Bodnar writes:
>I would definitely look into an IBM Thinkpad 700C. It has a 25MHz
>IBM486SLC processor in it (16K internal cache). IBM will soon, or may even
>have now, available a 25/50 MHz clock doubling version.
The clock-doubler ships in January.
>The Thinkpad 700C has a 10.4 inch active matrix color display - the largest
>available on the market.
I finally got to see one in person. The display is really nice.
>It ships with 8M of RAM, OS/2 2.0 and a 120M hard disk. It can probably
>take a full 16M.
Actually, it ships with 4M and DOS 5. I don't know why, since it's
a perfect laptop for OS/2. But it can be upgraded to 16M.
...Michael Graff