Toshiba Gets into Lightweight Class with New 6-Pound Computer
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Lightweight computers keep coming. Toshiba America yesterday
brought out a new 6-pound, 80C86-based computer. The new T1000SE
has a starting price of $1699.
 
Compared to the similarly lightweight Compaq LTE, The T1000SE
comes up short in the performance-per-pound department, but it
should appeal to traveling computer users who don't need the
horsepower or hard disk of the LTE.
 
A 9.54-MHz 80C86 CPU powers the T1000SE, which measures 12.4
inches wide, 10.2 inches deep, and 1.78 inches high. Standard
equipment consists of a backlit LCD screen (640 x 400 pixels),
3.5-inch 1.44-megabyte floppy-disk drive, 1 megabyte of RAM,
82-key keyboard, PC-Kwik Power Pak Performance utilities,
on-line documentation, serial and parallel ports, and an external
floppy drive port. MS-DOS 3.3 comes embedded in ROM as drive C.
 
In addition to the single RAM card slot, the Toshiba has a slot
for a 2400-bps Hayes-type modem ($349). RAM cards come in
1-megabyte ($699) and 2-megabyte ($1199) capacities.
 
Toshiba intends the RAM cards to be used as a battery-backed
RAMdisk. To the user it appears and behaves as hard-disk
partition D. You can place your most-used applications on it
for quick access. A separate battery in the T1000SE maintains
the RAM card's contents when power is shut off; removing the
card erases its memory.
 
The rated battery life is 2.5 hours, which means you better
have a spare battery pack ($79) for long flights; recharge time
is 4 hours. An AC adapter comes standard with the T1000SE, and
Toshiba also offers an automobile adapter as an option ($129).
A power-management utility lets you specify how long the system
is inactive before shutting down the screen. It also has an
"auto-resume" feature; once enabled, you can shut off the
computer and it will pick up where you left off when you turn
it back on.
 
 
Battery-Powered 386SX Portable Announced
Toshiba yesterday also introduced a 386SX portable that's
battery-powered. The new $5999 T3100SX is similar in several ways
to Zenith's SupersPort SX in that both can run off batteries for
about three hours, use power-saving tricks to conserve energy,
have 386SX processors running at 16 MHz, and come with
40-megabyte hard disks. The Toshiba weighs almost 15 pounds
(which includes the batteries, which can't be detached); the
Zenith can shed the battery weight and drop down to about 12
pounds.
 
The basic T3100SX has 1 megabyte of RAM, which you can fatten
up to 7 megabytes using 2-megabit DRAM modules ($1099), or up
to 13 megs using 4-megabit modules ($4499). The system has a
VGA-type gas plasma display capable of showing 16 shades of
gray. Toshiba says the display is a new model that consumes
less power than other comparable units (3-10 watts rather than
6-35 watts) and has a contrast ratio of 100:1. The display
system is also capable of putting the image that's on the
built-in screen onto an external monitor simultaneously.
 
Toshiba has packaged MS-DOS 4.1 and Quarterdeck's Expanded
Memory Manager-386 with its new computer. Among other standard
components are a 1.44M-byte 3.5-inch floppy drive, 86-key
keyboard, 2 serial ports, 1 parallel port, and a modem slot
(2400-bps modem is $349). Options include a battery charger
($399), expansion chassis ($999), and external 5.25-inch disk
drive ($499). Toshiba says the T3100SX will ship next month.
 
Contact: Toshiba America Information Systems, Computer Systems
Division, 9740 Irvine Blvd, Irvine, CA 92718; (714) 583-3000.
 
                              --- Michael E. Nadeau
 
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