Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops

In comp.sys.laptops / hobbes@pine.circa.ufl.edu (HOBBES) asks:
>Has anyone who ordered one of the new compudyne notebooks
>received theirs yet?
>
>Someone was expecting one on the first or third of April.
>
>Impressions?  Reviews?
>>
>thanks.
>----------

Well, yes.  And, no.  I ordered the 386SL/25.  It was supposed to be
shipped April 1st or 3rd (they weren't clear), and I called April 1 to
check on the status.  Delayed about 10 days.  Frustrating, but this
happens with new products and new technology.

Yesterday (the 9th) I found my notebook on my doorstep.  Yay!  And,
nay.  They packed the wrong one and sent me the 386SXL/25 instead of
the SL.  I'm a big "SL" fan, so this one won't suffice.  I called and
it turns out this has happened several times.  Apparantly someone in
shipping there is on a spree (the packing list and -- of course -- 
billing is correct, they just stuffed the wrong PC in the box).

I'm going to keep this one until my SL ships, so I've played with it
a bit since yesterday.  My impressions?  Let me first get some (to me)
major gripes out of the way:

  The 10" display they advertise isn't.  It's 9.5".  Not a big deal?
  Well, I've had NB with 10" displays and when I opened this one up
  it hit me right off; too small.  It's an honest 9.5", which is
  substantially smaller than a 10" (in sq inches).  Disappointing,
  more so because they seem proud to sell this "10 incher" when it's
  not.  Truth in advertising takes a fall.

  They're also quite proud of it's slim 1.6" height, mentioning it
  several times.  It's more like 1.8".  Still small, but why lie
  about it.  Major gripe.

Now, for the good parts.  It seems plenty fast (and this is the SXL,
the SL with cache should be better).  I ran PC Labs Bench 6.0 and
compared them with PC Mags reviews of notebooks about a month ago,
and this one seems as fast or faster than most of them.  (It's hard
to be exact though.  I've only had it for a day, and the PC Mag
review did some averaging that is unclear to me, so I'm approximating).
Windows (it's shipped with 3.1) loads quickly though, and DOS work
is crisp.  Good performance.  I should mention I got "mine" with 6MB
RAM, which helps performance, of course.

Smaller-than-expected size aside, the display is quite good.  As good
as any I've seen (I haven't seen the PB170 though).  "Colors" map very
well, and brightness and contrast are right up there.  Windows looks
wonderful, and text is very readable.

The keyboard is terrific.  Granted, this is subjective, kinda like
saying "THIS color of blue is 'better' than THAT color of blue), but
I like it.  The keys have a short 2.5mm stroke, with is fine by me
(there's some push to shorten keystrokes to minimize RMI.  I agree).
The keys have a positive, and quiet, snap when the point is made.
The layout is dandy too, inverted "T" cursor keys and dedicated Home,
PgUp, PgDn, End.  I think the keyboard is too flat though, although the
keycaps have slight recesses.  

The sliding contrast and brightness controls aren't well done.  They
barely protrude above their recessed slots, and they stick somewhat,
so they're hard to position.  

The power button is right above the kybd and is recessed.  It's easy
to access but hard, if not impossible, to hit accidentally.  Good
setup.  Above that is the LED status bar with the requisite status
lights, and there's a suspend/resume button right next to it.  It's
got a Sony-like graphic for "play/pause", kinda like this: "[> ||]".
Hitting it shuts down most everything, and since this is an SXL, 
the CPU goes to "near 0MHz."  While the sparse manual says suspend may
not work properly in protected mode environments (UN*X, OS/2, Windows),
it hasn't failed yet in Win 3.1.   They mounted the floppy on the
right-hand side, which is short-sighted since a lot of people will
want to mount a trackball there.  That would be overcome by the
built-in trackball, but mine didn't come with it.  A letter was enclosed
to tell me they would be sending it within 2 weeks.  So, I can't comment
on that.

The unit is sturdy and feels good.  The latch holding the cover, on this
one, is bad, and getting the thing open is nearly impossible.  I doubt
that's indicative of all units though.

Two nice features I wasn't aware of: The first is "Close Cover Mode".
When you close the cover, the NB beeps twice and suspends itself.
Opening the cover, though, doesn't wake it back up, but hitting the
suspend/resume button does.  I hope the SL implements this a bit more
fully, but that's minor.  The other feature is an internal backup battery.
You can be suspend the unit while you're using it, pull out the battery
(they have an elegant battery mounting system that makes it easy to
get in and out) and put in a new one, then wake it back up without
losing anything.  Impressive.  BUT, I just tried it, and it didnt' work.
It "woke up" and rebooted.  Tried it twice with no luck.  Maybe that's
something to bring up to their tech support.  The manual *does* warn
you to back up before trying this, so maybe it's hit-and-miss.  Hard
to tell, so far I've only had misses.

I wished it had a mouse port, and it does, according to the manual.
You need to get an (optional) connector that tees off the keyboard
port and provides a keyboard connection along with a PS/2 mouse
connect.

They ship "Concise" versions of the Win 3.1 and MS-DOS 5.0 manuals.
Enough to get you going, but . . . concise.  The user manual is
about 100 pages long.  That is to say, it doesn't burden you with
data, although it does provide pinouts and specs.  A fair portion
of the manual is directed at the first-time user or novice.  But,
most of everything is in there, and it's very, very well-written.
They don't provide the disks for Win 3.1, but they install it for
you and leave the \WINSTALL directory on the drive which contains
all of the disk images.

I like what I see except for the screen and the size (it's also 8.7"
deep, not 8.5" like advertised).  A big screen is important to me, but
what bothers me more is "misrepresentation."  (I'm being diplomatic).

That's about all I have.  Also, it would have been nice if they sent me
the right one!  I'm told it should be here "mid-April".  When I called
them on it, the people I spoke with were terrific.  Seems like a good
company.  I just with they used calibrated rulers when spec'ing these
things. . .

Dean Cashen
-- Boise


--------<disclaimer>----------
HP and I share some views, but
the ones above are all mine...