Getting a Handle on Portable PCs
Portables continue to be the most varied form of personal computers, even though they share a number of similarities.
As a group they all are small enough to carry home from the office or on a trip. Nearly all have a liquid crystal display screen rather than a video tube. And most run on rechargeable batteries.
Nearly all use the MS-DOS operating system and run the same software as the desktop IBM PC and compatible computers. But virtually all the portables use a 3 1/2-inch disk drive, unlike most desktop PCs, making it difficult to switch program and data disks between the little computers and their desktop brethren.
Every manufacturer of portables has its own ideas about how such a machine should be designed, and thus there are big differences in shape and size, keyboard layout, screen size and clarity, microprocessors, operating speeds and disk storage.
After listening to people’s reactions to various portables over the years, I’ve concluded that choosing the best for you is a much more personal decision than picking out a desktop machine. Every portable requires a series of compromises to achieve its small size, and only you can decide which compromises you are willing to put up with.
I’ve had an opportunity in recent weeks to use four portables: the $3,695 NEC Multispeed HD, the $4,999 Zenith SuperSport 286, the $3,995 Mitsubishi mp286L and the $3,498 Epson Equity LT, each of which is equipped with a single floppy drive and a built-in 20-megabyte hard drive. All except the Mitsubishi have built-in rechargeable batteries. The Mitsubishi runs on 110-volt AC current only.
The Zenith and Mitsubishi portables use Intel’s 80286 microprocessor and run it 50% faster than that used in the IBM PC-AT. The NEC and Epson machines are built around the NEC V30 chip offering several times the performance of the original IBM PC.
All four have backlit LCD screens in which a luminescent panel illuminates the characters. The Epson and NEC use screens about half as tall as they are wide, while the Mitsubishi and Zenith computers have taller screens with the same proportions as a normal monitor.
Here is how the machines compare:
SPEED--There are several measures of speed. One is the speed of the microprocessor itself, another is how fast data can be stored on or retrieved from the disk. Yet another is how fast characters you type appear on the screen.
If you run complicated spreadsheets or sort large database files, microprocessor speed is the most important. But if you update a lot of records in a database or post new entries in an accounting system, disk speed is most important. And if you do word processing, the speed with which your keystrokes appear on the screen and the clarity of your words as you scroll through them is most important.
In terms of microprocessor speed, the Zenith and the Mitsubishi tie, with both scoring an 11.7 computing index on the Norton Utilities testing program. The Epson came in with a 5.1, and the NEC Multispeed was close behind with a 4.6.
Zenith had the fastest hard disk, scoring 3.5 on Norton’s disk index test. Mitsubishi was slower with a score of 2.4, while NEC and Epson both had 1.8.
A third Norton test that combines microprocessor and disk speed into an overall performance index placed the Zenith at the head of the class with a score of 8.9. The Mitsubishi was close behind with 8.6. The Epson and NEC portables are substantially slower, with ratings of 4.0 and 3.6 respectively.
SCREEN--All four displays on these portables are quite legible, and that of the Mitsubishi is especially striking. It sports black type against a silver gray background. Unfortunately, its performance is marred by a noticeable lag between keystroke and appearance of the character on the screen. The lag is great enough that during scrolling, the screen goes nearly blank because the characters don’t stay in one place long enough to be fully displayed.
The Zenith, which like the Epson and NEC has blue characters against a silver background, also suffers from screen lag. The NEC and Epson had no such problem, however. Characters appeared on their screens the instant they were typed.
Screen size is largely a matter of personal taste. Characters on the Mitsubishi and Zenith screens are about 50% taller than on the Epson and NEC, although few users would have trouble seeing them on the smaller screens. However, if you use graphics programs, the images will be distorted horizontally on the smaller screens so that pie charts become egg charts.
KEYBOARD--Perhaps the most important difference among the four machines is their keyboard layouts. Every designer of an IBM-compatible portable must come to grips with placement of the function keys, the cursor-control keys, the numeric keypad keys and assorted auxiliary keys such as Ins(ert) and Del(ete).
Epson is the hands-down winner in this category as far as I’m concerned. Its 85-key layout comes very close to matching that of a desktop PC with 10 function keys across the top and the familiar PC combined numeric keypad and cursor control keys on the right.
Zenith puts the cursor keys in an upside-down T at the lower right of its keyboard and 10 function keys across the top. Two of those keys also do double duty as F11 and F12. The numeric keypad is overlayed on the alpha keys and accessed with a special function key.
Mitsubishi actually has one more key than the Epson but lays them out awkwardly so that the cursor keys are a long reach away at the upper right of the keyboard. Function keys F1 through F12 are in two staggered rows at the upper left, and the numeric keypad keys are overlayed on the standard alpha keys.
NEC makes the same mistake with cursor keys at the upper right, where it also puts the numeric keypad layout. It places F1 through F10 in two vertical rows at the left.
BATTERY LIFE--Battery life of the three portables so equipped was tested with the backlighting of their screens on the entire time. The test program simply displayed the time on the screen each second and every two minutes stored the time in a file on the hard disk.
Zenith was the winner by a big margin, lasting 3 hours and 44 minutes. The NEC Multispeed died after 2 hours and 2 minutes, while it was all over for the Epson Equity LT in a mere hour and 22 minutes.
WEIGHT--These are portables, but I wouldn’t want to carry any of them very far. To be realistic, I weighed the external power supplies and power cords plus the computers themselves--because you need all that stuff to use them once the battery runs down.
The Mitsubishi, which has a built-in power supply, but no battery, needs only a cord to plug it in and was the lightest at just over 15 pounds. The Zenith and Epson were each about 2.5 pounds heavier, including built-in battery and external power supply. However, if you remove the Zenith’s detachable battery pack and use it as an AC-only machine, it weighs a mere 13.5 pounds. The NEC weighed in at 17 pounds.
THE PRODUCTS
NEC Multispeed HD, Zenith SuperSport 286, Mitsubishi mp286L and Epson Equity LT are portable computers running the MS-DOS operating system.
Common Features:
Each has a 3 1/2-inch floppy drive and a 20-megabyte hard disk, 640 kilobytes of RAM operating memory (Zenith has 1 MB) and backlit LCD screen complying with the IBM CGA display resolution. Each allows a separate color monitor to be attached and has parallel and serial ports. All but the Mitsubishi run on rechargeable battery power.
Epson Equity LT
NEC V30 running at 4.77 and 10 MHz. 720K floppy drive. Non-backlit screen available for $200 less. Built-in 1200-baud modem available. Dual floppy drive model available. Comes with Lap Link software for transferring files from desktop computer. Manufacturer: Epson America, Inc., 2780 Lomita Blvd., Torrance, CA 90505, (800) 421-5426. Price: $3,498.
Mitsubishi mp286L
Uses Intel 80286 microprocessor running at 12 MHz. Floppy drive stores 1.44 megabytes. Four expansion slots. Options include 2-MB extended memory, EGA display adapter, 2400 baud modem, 80287 math co-processor, separate 17-key numeric keypad. Manufacturer: Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc., 991 Knox St., Torrance, CA 90502, (213) 515-3993. Price: $3,995.
NEC Multispeed HD
NEC V30 microprocessor running at 4.77 and 9.54 MHz. Five built-in programs, Telcom, Outliner, Filer, Dialer and Notepad. 720-kilobyte floppy drive. Built-in 1200 modem available. Other configurations available. Manufacturer: NEC Home Electronics (U.S.A.) Inc., 1255 Michael Drive, Wood Dale, Ill. 60191 (312) 860-9500. Price: $3,695.
Zenith SuperSport 286
Intel 80286 running at 12 MHz with zero wait states. 1.44-MB floppy. Three expansion slots. Options include 2-MB total memory, 80C287 math co-processor, 40-MB hard drive, 1200 and 2400 baud modems, separate 24-key numeric keypad. Manufacturer: Zenith Data Systems Corp., 1000 Milwaukee Ave., Glenview, Ill. 60025, (312) 699-4800. Price: $4,999.
