by Chuck Horowitz
Do you remember the Toshiba Libretto that I told you about a few months ago? You know, 75MHz, 16MB of RAM, 777MB hard drive, about the size of a VHS tape for $5290 from Japan Palmtop Direct. Well, they are now selling the Libretto 70CT with 166MHz MMX Pe ntium processor, 32MB of EDO RAM, a 4.1 Gigabyte hard drive, 32K of internal cache and a port replicator for $3849. At this rate I may be able to afford one by Christmas. Japan Palmtop can be reached at 800-641-5996 or www.mmjp.or.jp/jpd.
NEC Computer Systems Division (Mountain View, CA) has the MobilePro 750C, a PDA running Windows CE with a 75MHz NEC VR4111 processor, 8MB of RAM (optional 16MB), a color screen that is .28mm dot pitch and 640X240 gray scale. The unit has a 33.6Kbps softw are modem and a lithium-ion battery. This 10 inch by 5 inch machine is $899. NEC can be contacted at 800-338-9549 or www.nec.com.
For all you PalmPilot aficionados out there, Calvin O. Parker has a new book out, published by MIS Press, called The Complete PalmPilot. It looks very good and sells for $29.95.
Pilot Island Publishing, Inc. (Winter Garden, FL) has what they call “Pilot Goodies.” This is software and accessories for your Pilot or PalmPilot. They say that Pilot Goodies gives you access to the top 101 plus PalmPilot applications. This includes fax , e-mail, games, a spreadsheet, a database, a word processor and financial tools. You need Windows 95, a 386 or greater processor, 8MB of RAM, a VGA monitor and a CD on your desktop or notebook, and of course a Pilot or PalmPilot. Pilot Island can be rea ched at 407/877-0017 or www.pilotisland.com.
Puma Technology, Inc. (San Jose, CA) now offers support for the Texas Instruments Avigo 10 organizer/pager and AT&T’s PocketNet smart phones with their IntelliSync software. The Avigo can synchronize Lotus Organizer 97 with your notebook or desktop. Supp ort will be forthcoming for Microsoft’s Schudule+ and Outlook 97, ACT, GoldMine and Starfish Sidekick. This package costs $69. For AT&T PocketNet, the IntelliSync program allows the user to enter information into a PocketNet phone and then synchronize wi th a notebook, which can be in the office or at home, via the internet. This package allows users to synchronize wirelessly from anywhere. Puma can be contacted at 800-774-7862 or www.pumatech.com.
DynaFirm Ltd Co. (Los Alamos, NM) has the CardJet business card scanner for the PalmPilot. This item is about the size of the PalmPilot and can store the data from up to 200 cards at a time. The data is viewable on the PalmPilot screen where it can be ed ited. Once you synchronize with your desktop or notebook, the data is transferred to the PalmPilot desktop application. The CardJet will sell for $199 and should be available soon. DynaFirm can be reached at 505-662-1459 or www.dynafirm.com.
Compaq Computer Corporation (Houston, TX) makes a range of Armada notebook computers with a 266MHz MMX Pentium Processor, 32MB of RAM, a 12.1 inch or 13.3 inch XGA screen, a 4 or 5 Gigabyte hard drive, 20X CD drive, and a 56Kbps modem. Prices for these u nits range from $3,999 to $5,699. Compaq can be contacted at 800-652-6672 or www.compaq.com.
Impact Computers makes a 200MHz MMX Pentium notebook with 32MB of RAM (expandable to 80MB), a 1.44 or 2.1 or 3.0 Gigablye hard drive, an optional 64-bit controller, a removable 20X CD drive, a removable 3.5 inch floppy drive, a 12.1 inch TFT active-matri x SVGA screen, 2MB of Video RAM, Zoom Video, 256KB of Level 2 Pipeline Burst cache, a nickel metal hydride battery, two Type II or one Type III PCMCIA slots, two stereo speakers and a microphone, a TouchPad pointing device, all the standard ports includi ng IrDA, TV-Out and a game/MIDI port, a docking station connector, PCI Local Bus and advance power management. All this in a 7.9 pound package at $2,195. A port replicator, PCMCIA 33.6Kbps data/fax modem, 56Kbps data/fax modem or an Ethernet combo are op tions. Impact can be reached at 800-978-8880 or www.impact-computers.com.
AKIA Corporation (Austin, TX) now has a 266MHz MMX Pentium notebook with 64MB of RAM (expandable to 128MB), a 4.0 Gigabyte enhanced IDE hard drive, a removable 20X CD, a 13.3 inch XGA active-matrix screen, 512KB of Level 2 Pipeline Burst cache, a smart l ithium-ion battery, 16-bit stereo, a high speed IrDA port, USB and TV-Out ports. The FlexaBay accepts a CD and a 3.5 inch floppy drive that are removable. It also has a 2MB, 128-bit PCI graphics accelerator. AKIA can be contacted at 800-936-5481 or www.akia.com.
RDI Computer Corporation (Carlsbad, CA) makes the UltraBook portable workstation. This 7.5 pound unit has a 200MHz Ultra SPARC 1 processor running Sun Microsystems Solaris operating system (sort of UNIX to go, right?) It comes with a 14.1 inch screen, up to 12 Gigabytes of removable hard drive capacity and up to 512MB of RAM. Of course, pricing starts at $11,995. RDI can be reached at 800-734-5483 or www.rdi.com.
Chuck Horowitz is a HAL-PC member and can be reached at 713-739-4893 or BrisAssoc@aol.com or chuckh@hal-pc.org .
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.