New IBM PCs: The View From the Driver’s Seat
The sleeping giant finally awoke. Last Thursday, International Business Machines announced its long-awaited new personal computers. As the IBM public relations people were quick to point out, this was IBM’s most significant announcement since the company unveiled its original PC in August, 1981. The new machines, referred to as the System/2 family, include four basic models ranging in price from $1,695 to nearly $11,000.
Rumors about the machines have been circulating for months. Fortunately, those who predicted that IBM would release a “closed system” were wrong. IBM will continue its tradition of an “open architecture.” The machines will continue to run on current and future versions of the industry-standard MS-DOS operating system and will have expansion slots for add-on devices. IBM has published the expansion specifications to aid other companies in their efforts to develop plug-in boards.
In the six years that it has been making personal computers, IBM has announced a number of new models. Some, like the XT and AT, have done very well. Others, like the PCjr, RT, Portable and Convertible, have not been well received. Not all of the machines announced last week are sure winners, but the basic direction that IBM has laid out will prevail. This is IBM’s bid to regain the leadership role that it has essentially lost, despite its status as the world’s largest computer maker.
The significance of the new machines goes far behind the specifications and price/performance ratio. And many of the most elegant features are actually invisible to the user. Once you remove the case (no screwdriver required), you’ll find smaller and fewer chips and plenty of built-in features. IBM is now using very large scale integration and surface-mount technology to reduce heat and increase reliability. The technology makes good business sense. There are fewer parts, so the machines can be assembled quickly and cheaply. At the New York press announcement, I watched an IBM representative disassemble and then reassemble a machine in less than 90 seconds.
Each new PC comes with a battery-operated clock/calendar and the same “enhanced” keyboard that IBM introduced recently as an option for its AT line. They all use the newer and better 3 1/2-inch hard-shell diskettes (now on the Apple Macintosh and most portable computers) rather than the cumbersome and damage-prone 5-inch floppy disks. To help in the transition to the new format, IBM will sell optional 5-inch drives for its new machines and 3 1/2-inch drives for the old PCs.
One of the most important features on the new systems is a single chip that sends video signals to both color and monochrome monitors. On previous PCs, it was necessary to buy a controller board for the display screen. The board took up a slot and added to the purchase price, but worse, it created confusion for programmers and users. There were too many “standards.” Some programs--most notably those requiring graphics--simply wouldn’t work on the millions of machines with text-only screens.
All of the new IBM machines can display graphics and crisp, readable text. You can choose between a monochrome monitor with 64 shades of gray or one of several high-resolution color displays. IBM’s new monitors can display graphics or text at a resolution that is better than the previous top-of-the-line graphic displays.
IBM announced four monitors, beginning at $250 for a 12-inch monochrome screen and $595 for a color display. A $595 adapter board makes the new graphics standard available for older IBM PCs and ATs.
The low end of the new line is the Model 30, which has an Intel 8086 central processing unit (CPU) and comes with 640K of memory on the main logic board. It can be configured either with two diskette drives or with one diskette drive and a 20-megabyte (MB) hard disk. Diskettes store up to 720K. A system with two diskette drives sells for $1,695, plus the cost of the monitor, and the hard-drive version sells for $2,295. The machine has three expansion slots that accept the same boards used on IBM’s standard PC and AT machines.
The Model 30 is being positioned as an eventual replacement for IBM’s PC and XT. It is about twice as fast, takes up less desk space and is considerably less expensive than the machines that it replaces. It is still, however, more expensive than many of the “clones,” even when you consider all of the extra hardware you need to upgrade a clone to the same features as the Model 30.
While faster than the older PC’s now ancient 8088 CPU, the 8086 is still old news. Clone makers have been using it for years. The biggest problem with the chip will be evident by early next year, when IBM and Microsoft release the new Operating System/2 (OS/2), also announced last week.
OS/2, which will be available from clone makers as well as IBM, will work on virtually any PC with an 80286 or 80386 CPU but will not work on the Model 30 or any 8088- or 8086-based machine. Microsoft’s new DOS will allow computers to use as much as 16 MB of main memory (the current limit is 640K) and to run more than one program at a time. The new DOS will come with a built-in version of Microsoft Windows, a graphics interface that will enable software developers to create Macintosh-like software using a mouse as a pointing device to move between programs.
IBM’s other new models are built around either an 80286 or 80386 CPU.
The Model 50 has an 80286 CPU that runs 20% faster than IBM’s AT. The 3 1/2-inch diskette stores 1.44 MB (twice the storage of the Model 30) and comes with a built-in 20-MB hard disk. An optional second diskette drive costs $245. For personal use, I’d probably pick the Model 50. My only disappointment is the 20-MB hard disk. I wish the Model 50 were available without a hard disk so you could select a larger capacity model from another company.
The most interesting news about the Model 50 (and the models 60 and 80) is the new expansion chassis. The 50 has three available slots, but, unlike the Model 30, it does not accept the older cards. Instead, it uses a new technology that IBM calls a Micro Channel. This new expansion slot allows information to be transferred up to three times faster than on the AT. What’s more, it’s possible for as many as 15 peripheral devices to operate simultaneously. IBM’s new hardware standard matches the multitasking capability of Microsoft’s yet-to-be-released OS/2 operating system.
The Model 60 is IBM’s other new 80286-based machine. It comes with at least 44 MB of hard-disk storage and can accommodate two hard drives. (IBM announced 70- and 115-MB drives.) There are seven 16-bit general purpose expansion slots, using the new Micro Channel. Unlike previous PCs or the models 30 and 50, this machine sits on the floor--under rather than on top of the desk. Prices start at $5,295 for the 44-MB model.
The Model 80 is the only machine with Intel’s 80386 CPU, which runs up to 3 1/2 times faster than the IBM AT. The Model 80 also sits on the floor and comes with either 1 or 2 MB of memory, expandable to 16 MB. It has three 32-bit and four 16-bit expansion slots. This is a powerful machine, but don’t expect to find one under every desk. Prices range from $6,995 for a unit with a megabyte of RAM and a 44-MB hard disk to $10,995 for the systems with 2 MB of RAM and a 115-MB hard drive.
Before the announcement, some analysts predicted that the new PCs would be “clone killers,” but they’re not. While IBM’s technology is ahead of the clone makers,’ other companies offer less expensive machines with the same or better features and performance. The big change for IBM and the clone makers will come when the new DOS is available.
Under the hood, IBM’s new PCs are very impressive, but from the driver’s seat the improvements are modest.
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