A year after the prototype was shown at the Which Computer Show, Sharp Electronics UK Ltd has launched the PC-8501, a 20MHz 80386-based laptop with active matrix, thin film transistor, colour liquid crystal display (CI No 1,619). According to Sharp, the new laptop outclasses cathode ray tube screens for brightness, colour tone, clarity and speed of response – and is more environmentally friendly, in terms of emissions and heat. The PC-8501, aimed at professional users, salespeople and financial consultants, does not follow on from Sharp’s previous product lines, but is a taste of what lies ahead. The 10.4 screen provides VGA graphics resolution – in 320 by 200 and RIX mode it supports 256 simultaneous colours, and 16 colours in other display modes, such as 640 by 480 resolution. The 12.5 by 16 by 4 box weighs 15 lbs and features maths chip socket, 2Mb memory, expandable to 10Mb on the system board. It has 3.5 1.44Mb floppy and 100Mb auto-parking hard disk with 17mS access time. The PC-8501 is mains-powered but can run off a car battery, contains a half-size 16-bit slot, dedicated Sharp modem slot, two serial, one parallel port, plus ports for numeric keypad and external analogue monitors. Available now at UKP8,000, it includes MS-DOS 4.01, GW-Basic 3.23 and Shell 1.01, user diagnostic disk, password utility and EMS 4 driver.
