Mobile |  | by Chuck Horowitz |
For a comparison of the latest Operating Systems (Windows 95, OS/2 WARP and Apple's System 7.5.1) in relation to notebook computers, take a look at the article in January's Mobile Office called "The Wizards of OSs," by Peter D. Varhol.
Speaking of Notebook Computers, Tadpole Technology has a 133MHz, 3.3 volt Pentium Processor notebook available. The computer comes with a 10.4" active-matrix screen, PCI Bus Video and up to 1.2 gigabytes on the hard drive. It has 16 MB of RAM upgradable to 128 MB with 256K secondary cache, 800 X 600 resolution and up to 256 colors simultaneously. It has 1 Type III or 2 Type II PC Card slots. On the downside, there is no serial port, you have to get a docking station to obtain a serial port. The machine does not come with an internal floppy drive, and the street price is $8,395.
Last month I told you about the JAZ, that's JAZ, not JAZZ, Iomega's new parallel port SCSI drive. Well, it's available now at a list price of $499.00 for the internal drive and $599.00 for the external drive. Disks (one gigabyte each) should sell for $99.95 each. (I still love my Zipdrive.)
Iomega also makes the "Ditto," which is a parallel port or internal (they make both) tape drive. The tapes come in more than one capacity; however, the most economical and practical is the 800 MB which will backup many of the notebook drives currently out there. (You'll need at least 2 tapes for the previously mentioned Tadpole though.)
Panasonic has a double speed CD-ROM (KXL-D720) that connects to your notebook through a PCMCIA [now termed PC Card], Type II card. The transfer rate is 300KB/sec., access time is 295MS and it has a 128KB memory buffer. The device operates on 6 AA batteries or on an AC adapter. The weight is under one pound and Photo CD multisession is supported. This CD-ROM will also play audio CDs. I'm getting more information on this gadget and I will pass it along.
Panasonic also makes the Power Drive2, a Rewritable Optical Disk and Quad-Speed CD-ROM. With removable and transportable 650MB disks and a full featured quad speed CD-ROM drive this is a handy device to have.
ATronics International has the IDEal Porter CD-ROM drive. This parallel port interface device comes in 2x, 3x, 4x, 6x and 8x speeds and has a data transfer rate up to 700KB/sec. It supports both bi-directional and EPP parallel port.
MicroSolutions Quad Speed CD-ROM drive has a 600 KB/sec. transfer rate and a 250ms access time from your parallel port or E nhanced Parallel Port (EPP). They also have a Double Speed at half the KB/Sec. (of course).
Greystone offers a Type III PCMCIA Adapter that converts your Type I or Type II slot into a Type III so that the PC Card Hard Drives can be used in older machines. If your machine has 2 stacked Type II slots this device will allow you to use the hard drive type and still have room for the modem, etc.
Chuck Horowitz is a HAL-PC member.
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