Less-than-confident seems to be the only way to describe Kaypro Computers Ltd’s launch of its latest high-end lap-top computer at the Which Computer? Show this year. The Barking, Essex subsidiary of the Solana Beach company is adopting a policy of wait and see as far as sales of the Kaypro 2020 are concerned, and this is hardly surprising considering that its price tag of UKP2,800 is over twice that of its predecessor, in the Kaypro lap top 2000 range, the 2000 Plus, which is being phased out. The new machine features an 80C286 processor running at 12MHz, 1Mb of memory, a 20Mb fixed disk drive and a 1.44Mb, 3.5 floppy disk drive. Serial and parallel 5.25 floppy drive and monitor ports have been included. It comes with an Extended Graphics Adaptor, and backlit liquid crystal display. On the software front, Microsoft Works is bundled with MS-DOS. Additional extras have pumped up the price; they include a detachable keyboard and a multi-voltage charger unit for round-the-world usage. The Kaypro 2020 will be available to interested laps this month. This is not all the company has to offer though: it also released details of forthcoming models in its 286 and 386 desktop series. The Kaypro 286/20 will have a 20MHz 80286 processor, 1Mb memory, 5.25 1.2Mb floppy drive and 40Mb or 80Mb hard disk options. The Kaypro 386/25 will offer the same drives, but use a 25MHz 80386 with 2Mb of memory. Both are to have a standard 225W power supply, although the company is working on a small chassis version of the 286/20, with a power supply of 150W. Software details are sketchy, but it seems likely that the 286/20 will support MS-DOS Version 3.3 and Basic, whilst the 386/25 is expected to come with MS-DOS 4.0. The computers are expected to be available here in April or May, but pricing on them has yet to be decided. In the US, Kaypro Corp looks likely to run into trouble with Micro I Inc, the San Francisco company that launched an 80386 based box with 30Mb disk for $2,000 just before Christmas (CI No 1,080) because Kaypro is calling a new low-end small footprint machine the Micro I. The machine uses a NEC V20-based 8088 compatible board from Faraday Electronics and comes in at $1,050 with 512Kb. The thing measures just 12 by 12 by 2.5, and can have either a small CRT display or a liquid crystal diode display. The processor is rated at 9.54MHz but can be slowed to 7.15MHz or 4.77MHz. It comes with two 3.5 720Kb floppies, RS232 and one slot as standard.
