Packard Bell PB286LP-VGA

The PB286LP was Packard Bell's first laptop, shown at Comdex with a 640 by 400 screen that drew CGA. The VGA model kept the case, the keyboard and the battery, put a 640 by 480 panel in the lid, made a 40MB disk standard and added a port for an external VGA monitor.

It gained weight between the press release and the bench. InfoWorld's Comdex preview put it at under seven pounds and its follow-up seven weeks later at under 15 (neither had weighed one); PC Magazine's scale read 16.1. What the weight bought was running time. PC Magazine's rundown test came in at almost the three hours claimed, and PC World got close to five with the screen and disk timeouts switched on.

It was sold on price. In PC World's March 1990 roundup of 286 laptops, equipped alike, it came in $830 under Compaq's LTE/286 and $1,316 under Sharp's PC-5541, and the magazine called it "a nice little generic laptop". The saving shows in what is missing. Packard Bell's brochure lists one internal proprietary modem slot and nothing else; PC World sent readers who wanted an AT slot to Epson's Equity LT-286e. MicroTimes, reviewing the VGA model, found a bus connector for a two-card expansion chassis that Packard Bell did not sell, ran the machine "flawlessly" and still called it "a bit pricey". Two months later a Computer Shopper dealer had it at $2,149.95.

The NEAT chipset this unit reports is in none of the reviews; PC Magazine listed an Intel chip set under the CGA model. NEAT is Chips and Technologies' CS8221: four CMOS parts, aimed in C&T's 1989 catalog at desktops and laptops alike, with an EMS 4.0 memory controller built in.

announced

November 1988

VGA model

April 1990

list price, VGA model

$4,895

RAM as sold

1MB, to 5MB on SIMMs

battery

12V 4Ah NiCd, 3.5lb

expansion

one modem slot, proprietary

• 286-based Laptops PC Magazine, March 13, 1990. The measured weight, the screen, the slot, the chip set and the battery test.
• First-Class Laptops for Frequent Flyers PC World, March 1990. Prices against its rivals, battery life, and no standard slots.
• Computer of the Month: The Packard Bell PB286LP-VGA MicroTimes, September 3, 1990. The VGA model: its price, disk, memory and expansion connector.
• Packard Bell Family Brochure Packard Bell, about 1990. The maker's own specification for the VGA model.
• Vendors Position Laptops As Desktop Alternatives InfoWorld, November 14, 1988, page 14. The Comdex announcement.
• Packard Bell Enters Laptop Market With 12-MHz 286-Based Machine InfoWorld, January 2, 1989, page 19. The launch specification.
• PB286LP Wikipedia. The April 1990 date of the VGA model, from Computer Reseller News.
• Computer Shopper, November 1990 The dealer price.
• Chips and Technologies Short Form Catalog, 1989 The CS8221 NEAT chipset.