The TurboGrafx-16, known as the PC Engine in Japan, is a fourth-generation home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation of game consoles, commonly known as the 16-bit era, though the console has an 8-bit central processing unit (CPU). It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. In Japan, the system was launched as a competitor to the Famicom, but the delayed United States release meant that it ended up competing with the Sega Genesis and later the Super NES.
The PC-9800 series, commonly shortened to PC-98 or 98, is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2000. The platform established NEC's dominance in the Japanese personal computer market, and, by 1999, more than 18 million units had been sold. While NEC did not market these specific machines in the West, it sold the NEC APC III, which had similar hardware as early PC-98 models.
Zeos International, Ltd., was a PC manufacturer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Originally based in New Brighton, Minnesota, and founded by Gregory E. Herrick, the company incorporated in Minnesota in 1981. Prior to manufacturing PCs, the company was called NPC Electronics. NPC was a contract assembly business best known for developing a transmitter device called Radio Realty. Marketed primarily to real estate brokers, this product enabled prospective home buyers to tune in and listen to prerecorded information about a property listing while parked in front of the dwelling. Radio Realty was divested in the early 1980s as NPC started developing, manufacturing, and selling PCs under the Zeos name. The company went public in mid-1985 by self-underwriting, and officially changed its name from NPC Electronics to Zeos International.
Zenith Data Systems (ZDS) was a division of Zenith Electronics founded in 1979 after Zenith acquired Heathkit, which had entered the personal computer market in 1977. Headquartered in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Zenith sold personal computers under both the Heath/Zenith and Zenith Data Systems names.
Compaq LTE was a line of laptop computers made by Compaq, introduced in 1989. The first models, Compaq LTE and Compaq LTE 286, were among the first computers to be close to the size of a paper notebook, spurring the use of the term "notebook" to describe a smaller laptop, and earned a notable place in laptop history. They were also among the first to include both a built-in hard disk and a floppy disk drive, and later models offered optional docking stations, providing performance comparable to then-current desktop machines.
The Compaq Deskpro was a line of business-oriented personal computers manufactured by Compaq, then discontinued after the merger with Hewlett-Packard. Models were produced containing microprocessors from the 8086 up to the x86-based Intel Pentium 4.
Subnotebook was a marketing term for laptop computers that are smaller and lighter than a typical 'notebook' sized laptop.
The NEC UltraLite was an MS-DOS-based laptop in a "notebook" size. It was introduced in October 1988 alongside the heavier and more-capable ProSpeed.
The history of laptops describes the efforts, begun in the 1970s, to build small, portable personal computers that combine the components, inputs, outputs and capabilities of a desktop computer in a small chassis.
The IBM Personal System/2 Model L40 SX was a portable computer made by IBM, as part of the IBM PS/2 series. It was the successor to the IBM PC Convertible. The "SX" in the name refers to its CPU, the Intel 80386SX.
The LTE Lite was a series of notebook-sized laptops under the LTE line manufactured by Compaq from 1992 to 1994. The first entries in the series were Compaq's first computers after co-founder Rod Canion's ouster and Eckhard Pfeiffer's tenure as the new CEO. The notebooks were co-developed and manufactured by Compaq and Citizen Watch of Japan. They were a hot-seller for Compaq and spanned multiple models, with various processors and liquid-crystal display technologies.
The Digital HiNote is a series of laptop computers that was manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation between 1994 and 2002. It was generally positively reviewed by technology journalists. The series consisted of the VP and Ultra models which were based on the i486, Pentium, Pentium MMX and Pentium II. Digital was acquired by Compaq in 1998, after which the series was phased out.
Blue Chip Electronics was an American computer company founded by John Rossi in 1982. Rossi, a former employee of Commodore Business Machines, founded the company to develop peripherals for Commodore's home computers. The company switched gears in 1986, when Rossi employed Hyundai Electronics as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for Blue Chip's own line of computers, which were low-cost IBM PC clones.
The PCradio was a notebook computer released by International Business Machines (IBM) in late 1991. Designed primarily for mobile workers such as service technicians, salespersons and public safety workers, the PCradio featured a ruggedized build with no internal hard disk drive and was optioned with either a cellular or ARDIS RF modem, in addition to a standard landline modem.
American Computer and Peripheral (AC&P) was an American computer company based in Santa Ana, California. The company was founded in 1985 by Alan Lue and released several expansion boards for the IBM PC as well as a few PC clones before going bankrupt in December 1989. Obscure in its own time, the company's 386 Translator was the first plug-in board for Intel's newly released 80386 processor and the first mass-market computing device to offer consumers a means of using the 386 in July 1986.
The ActionNote was a series of laptop computers developed by Epson America in 1993. The series was Epson's answer to the small businesses and home office market for laptops and initially ran alongside their corporate-oriented NB series of laptops. The series was segmented into premium and low-cost offerings and included a subnotebook, the ActionNote 4000. The bulk of the laptops' manufacturing was performed by ASE Technologies of Taiwan, with the exception of the short-lived initial entries into the 700 series, which were produced by Jabil Circuit. The ActionNote received mixed, mostly positive, reception in its lifespan before Epson America silently left the personal computer market in 1996.
Canon Computer Systems, Inc. (CCSI), sometimes shortened to Canon Computer, was an American subsidiary of Canon Inc. formed in 1992 to develop and market the parent company's personal computers and workstations. The subsidiary also assumed the responsibility of marketing Canon's printers and photocopiers, which were formerly sold by other Canon divisions. It went defunct in January 2001.
DTK Computer is the name for international branches of Datatech Enterprises, a Taiwanese computer manufacturer. Founded in 1981, the company was an early supplier of peripherals for IBM PCs as well as PC compatible motherboards. In the late 1980s, the company switched to developing complete systems under the DTK name as well as serving as an OEM for motherboards and cases, as bought by other small computer companies and systems integrators. The company was little-known in its own time but performed well in the marketplace. DTK was the 10th and 11th biggest personal computer manufacturer in the world in 1991 and 1992 respectively, according to Electronics magazine.
Advanced Logic Research, Inc. (ALR), was an American computer company founded in 1984 in Irvine, California by Gene Lu. The company marketed IBM PC compatibles across that standard's evolution until 1997, when it was acquired by Gateway 2000. ALR had a reputation for beating its larger competitors to market with compatibles featuring cutting-edge technologies but struggled with brand recognition among the fiercely competitive market of low-end PCs in the mid-1990s. According to computer journalist and collector Michael Nadeau, "ALR's business strategy was to be the first to market with the latest and fastest possible PC-compatible designs", a strategy that "often succeeded".
Monorail Inc., later the Monorail Computer Corporation, was an American computer company founded in 1995 in Marietta, Georgia, by Doug Johns. The company's Monorail PC, which was an all-in-one computer with a flat-panel LCD, prefigured the similarly designed iMac G4 by over five years. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the company "helped spawn a revolution in personal computers ... [selling] machines for as little as $999 in an effort to woo new price-sensitive users", to which larger manufacturers like Compaq and Packard Bell NEC followed suit.
