Fora Inc of San Jose, California has introduced the LP-386C, claimed one of the first laptops to use the 80386 chip instead of the 80386SX, and the first laptop to feature an optional expansion chassis: the 20MHz LP-386C comes with 2Mb random access memory that can be expanded to 8Mb 64Kb read only memory, a 3.5 1.44Mb floppy disk drive and 3.5 40Mb hard disk drive; the expansion chassis has slots for three cards, two full-length 16-bit and one half-length 8-bit AT-bus expansion cards; the optional expansion chassis, also available for Fora’s 16MHz LP286C, costs $950; in addition to the expansion chassis, the LP-386C is configured with one parallel and one serial port, a proprietary slot for an internal modem, and ports for an external VGA monitor, keyboard and floppy disk drive; the display is a backlit LCD double supertwist VGA screen with a resolution of 640 by 480; the display measures 8 by 6 and supports up to 32 grey levels; the system, which includes MS-DOS 4.1 and GW-BASIC, measures 13.7 by 8.5 by 4.3 and weighs 14lbs; it supports MS-DOS, Windows 3.0, Xenix 386, Unix 386 and OS/2, as well as Novell’s NetWare 286 and 386; the LP-386C with 120Mb disk is $5,500.
