Organization: Penn State University
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 22:46:48 EST
From: <RFM@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.tandy
Subject: Re: Q about Tandy 2820
 <1992Dec21.210559.19063@netcon.smc.edu>

In article <1992Dec21.210559.19063@netcon.smc.edu>, agood@netcon.smc.edu (Aaron
Good) says:
>
>In article <92356.001619U61474@uicvm.uic.edu> MATT HUNSAKER
><U61474@uicvm.uic.edu> writes:
>>showed me a bunch of over-priced for the market computers, but the 2820 was
>>only $999.  If anyone out there has one or has used used one, I would be
>
>IMHO - DON'T buy it.. get a 386 clone based laptop from another vendor.....
>stay away from Radio Shack ... I have a 2810 60 Mb and it was a good computer
>two years ago.. but is way overpriced and undersupported..
>I wanted to upgrade the machine to a 80386SLC type processor... but TANDY
>won't
>sell me the part... or if I lie and tell Tandy I'm going to return the logic
>board it will be only 500.00 to upgrade. AND TANDY WILL NOT DO THE UPGRADE
>I HAVE TO DO IT MYSELF AND VOID THE WARRANTY...
>
>I'm really p.o.'d at TANDY
>
>
Don't know of any mfgr of notebooks who offers an upgrade path....
(Sigh!) Wish they did - especially wish Tandy offered a supported
upgrade board to swap out in 2810-series.

But to bash Tandy about this? You'll have to bash the entire notebook
industry. I've never seen anyone advertise m'board upgrades for
notebooks.

The real problem is that the n'book industry is churning out new models
every 6 months or so, or so it seems. Is 3 mnoths more like it?

Buy the latest/greatest n'book today - like the new IBM Thinkpad 700-
series, and what will you have next year this time? -- An obsolescent
machine that's bben replaced by a newer model with a low-voltage version
of the incoming Intel Pentium chip - with active-matrix color screen,
for what? $2,500 - $3,000? You can't keep up.

I've been burned by Tandy too - the 20-meg version of the 2810. Tandy
came out with 60-meg version about 6 months later. There have been
days when I would have KILLED for 60-megs in my 2810. In fact, if I
had 60 megs now, a 2810 would last me a couple more years. With DOS5
and QRAM for upper mem access, the machine is plenty fast for DOS
apps. Heck, even for Windoze (but I wouldn't try to multi-task
anything).
   I spent 10 months with my 2810 plugged into a [cheap] vga color
monitor and an external keyboard, managing my files with STACKER
and Norton Backup to swap files/subdirectories in/out of my 2810.
I've hauled the machine up&down East Coast, and in & out of class-
rooms, for going on 20 months. When on sabbattical, I had the machine
running 10-15 hours a day (plugged into monitor, etc.). I've burned out
an external pwer supply, but the machine keeps chugging along.
BTW: with 5 megs mem, a coprocessor, the internal modem on, etc.,
after a week or so with the system sitting on a desk plugged into exteranl
power, when you go on battery, you've got 15-20 mintutes of power

Would I buy another Tandy notebook? I dunno. Tandy does dumb thing.
Like right now, they're selling a 486sx/20 notebook (current sale
price is under $2,000), with a 60-meg hd. I wouldn't buy a 60-megger
today for love nor money (I learned my lesson back at 20-megs!)
I expect Tandy soon will come out with a 486/25 with 100/120-meg
hd, which is probably why they've dropped the price way down on
the 4800's.
But there are lots of obsolescent Toshiba's, Zenith's. IBM's,
Compaq's, and every other brand you can think of out there, too.
Their models are changing as rapidly as Tandy's are, and I don't
think you can upgrade any of them, either.

Why am I wrting all this? I'm more a Tandy-basher than a Tandy-lover;
I'll never forgive Tandy or me for buying a 20-meg ANYTHING! But
I do have to say that my 2810 has taken a lot of use, and keeps
on chuggin' away.

BTW: One of latest pc magazines reports torture tests of several
notebooks: Tandy 4800 isn't the fastest in terms of operating
speed, but it came out tops in terms of keeping on running after
freezing, heating, pouring coffee on it, shaking, dropping, etc.

If I were a person looking for a good deal, and a 2820 with a 60-meg
hard drive (brand new, NOT display model) came along for $900 or
so, and all I wanted was a DOS-level machine for not a whoe bunch
of money, I could be happy with 2820 (for a while, anyway). Good
keyboard, readable screen, reliable.

BobM, PSU-Harrisburg

-- Me? Defend Tandy? You gotta be kidding! I'm sick!