NEC Corp has a whole string of new models in its PC-9801 family and if IBM had updated the original Personal Computer in the US and Europe at the same rate as NEC, it might have half the market as NEC has in Japan: the PC-9801 LS is a laptop with two processors, the 16-bit bus Intel 80386SX and NEC’s V30 for backwards compatibility, a 15-level orange-scale plasma display with 640 by 400 pixels, and 1.6Mb main memory; the LS2 model is $4,800 with two 3.5 floppy disks, the LS5 with 40Mb Winchester is $6,500; and the PC-9801 VM21 is succeeded by the VM11 with a 10MHz CPU and two 5.25 floppy drives plus 20Mb and 40Mb Winchester options on the desk-top machine, which is claimed to have an 88% smaller footprint (sounds unlikely) and to take 65% less power than its predecessor – because the support circuitry is integrated onto just three integrated circuits; it costs $2,500; and the new PC-98LT Model 22 laptop uses a liquid crystal diode display putting up 640 by 400 pixels, and comes in at $2,200.
Content from our partners
