YEAR: 1987
INITIAL PRICE: 6499 USD
The Toshiba T1200XE was a laptop manufactured by the Toshiba Corporation, first made in 1987. It was an upgraded version of the Toshiba T1100 Plus.
It was equipped with an Intel 80C86 processor at 12 MHz, 1 MB RAM expandable to 5 MB of which 384 kB could be used for LIM EMS or as a RAMdisk, CGA graphics card, one 720 kB 3.5″ floppy drive and one 20 MB hard drive (Some models had two floppy drives.) MS-DOS 3.30 was included with the laptop. It was the first laptop with a swappable battery pack. Its original price was 6499 USD.
The T1200XE’s hard drive had an unusual 26-pin interface made by JVC, incompatible with ST506/412 or ATA interfaces. Floppy drives were connected using similar 26-pin connectors. The computer had many unique functions, such as Hard RAM – a small part of RAM was battery-backed and could be used as non-volatile hard drive. Another function allowed to suspend the system or power control the hard drive (which was still dependent on the hard disk’s on/off switch).
| Processor Intel 80C286TM microprocessor Adjustable 12/6 MHz clock speed |
Memory
1 MB RAM standard
5 MB RAM maximum
LIM-EMS 4.0
Storage
Internal 3.5″ 1.44 MB/720 KB diskette drive
20 MB hard disk drive (25 msec)
Battery-backed Hard RAM for memory above 640 KB
Display
High-resolution sidelit Supertwist LCD
640 x 400 pixels
Brightness and contrast control
Size: 20.5 x 12.5 cm (7.9″ x 4.9″)
Graphics
Double-scan CGA
Toshiba graphics mode (compatible with leading applications)
Keyboard
84 full-size sculptured keys
Familiar layout
12 function keys
Dedicated cursor keys
Integrated numeric keypad
Status LEDs
Interfaces
25-pin bidirectional parallel/external diskette drive port
9-pin RS-232C serial port
RGB colour monitor port
External numeric keypad port
Operating System
MS-DOS 4.01
MS-DOS 3.3 (option)
Battery
High-density rechargeable NiCd
Removable
1.5-2 hours per charge
Dimensions (W*D*H)
310 x 280 x 50 mm
12.2″ x 11.0″ x 2.0″
Weight
3.6 kg/7.9 lb (including battery)
Power Supply
Autosensing 100-240V AC adapter for worldwide usage
Advanced Toshiba Features
Hard RAM
MaxTimeTM Power Management
AutoResumeTM Mode
Options
Carrying bag
Internal Hayes-compatible modem (where approved)
Two 2 MB memory expansion modules
External 5.25″ 360 KB diskette drive
External numeric keypad
MS-DOS 3.3
Extra battery packs
Quick charger
Toshiba ExpressWriter 301 portable printer
Other useful files:
The X86 Generation 