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After I got my first real job, I decided the first thing I was going to
buy was a notebook computer. I figured I would end up with a Toshiba
notebook of some sort, probably the current 486sx model that featured a
passive matrix screen. But I kept seeing this Zenith notebook at the local
CompUSA. It was very rugged, which was a huge factor in my decision to
purchase it. To top it off, I like things that are square over the ergo
curved style, and this unit is definitly square! From the waffle design
on the top to the keys! I bought the unit mail order, and paid a good amount of money for it. It served me well, and went on trips ranging from Atlanta to NYC. The odd thing was is that many years later I was still using it. I purchased a RAM upgrade for it when Pentium notebooks were what was in, so it was a cheap upgrade. Win95 on the notebook, dial up networking! Even in 2001 I was carrying it on work related trips because other people seemed to always have the work related notebooks checked out and I wanted to be able to log into the unix boxes at home to check email. At one point I ran into an issue where something wierd was put into the property tag at a party. The person told me the password that was set, and I said okay. It was easy, but I soon forgot the password. I begged Zenith to reveal the information but they wouldn't. Finally years later I found the solution to reset the BIOS password. It has to do with the removable CPU module, and shorting two copper pads when you power it up-- but I don't remember it off hand. If you need it drop me and email and I will see if I still have that email. Cool features on this over others? It is square, industrial feel, track ball was nice. The integrated sound was okay, but not Sound Blaster compatible. It used the Windows Sound System compatible chipset, and the IRQ caused some issues with some cool MOD/S3M music players and demos. The active matrix screen was the bomb at the time. As of this writing my current notebook is a hand-me-down from my friend Josh Sargent! It is a Pentium1-266 with a 800x600 screen (A Compaq 4220T I believe). I am about to buy an IBM Thinkpad 600X from eBay as my next notebook, a PenitumII-500 or 600mhz machine, they go for about $300 now. Living in legacy, but I don't mind. FreeBSD, SSH and web browser is the main functions I use on a notebook computer. |