Difference between revisions of "Digital DECpc 425SE"

Revision as of 12:22, 10 November 2021

Digital DECpc 425SE Overview

Features

Intel 486 SX 25MHz CPU
4MB memory on-board, 20MB max with 16MB (proprietary format RAM module)
9.5" Colour or Mono STN display (640x480 resolution, 20:1 contrast ratio)
Chips & Technologies F65530 video chipset 512kB VRAM (640x480 256 colour capable)
80 or 125MB standard slim PATA HDD
1.44MB FDD
No soundcard

Other

Mono speaker (PC beeper only)
1xPCMCIA Slots
VGA Output
NimH rechargeable battery
PS/2, Serial, Parallel ports
14V power supply (separate)

Windows 3.1, IBM OS/2 (slightly slow on Windows 3.11)

Best retro purpose

Early DOS and Windows 3.1 era gaming, for titles released before 1993 or as a classic office computer. Unfortunately, the CPU does not have any mathematics coprocessor and harddrive compatibility is limited. The video chipset is definitely too slow for anything beyond 320x200 resolution and even 640x480 resolution is quite taxing on Windows 3.1. DOS games support is decent only if you do not need any soundcard and the PC beeper is enough.

Benchmarks

Durability and Repair-ability

The plastic quality of most of the chassis is quite good for such an old laptop. Unfortunately, the laptop is not as easily serviceable since some parts, such as the RAM module, is proprietary. Also, the older BIOS and its configuration has problems in accomodating modern harddrives, especially as slimmer models were not as popular at that time. On the other side, circuitry durability is very good, so these laptops have good prospects of surviving for a few more years. The LCD screen has a fluorescent backlight that is potentially difficult to replace as screens used, at that time, on similar laptops, can be quite cumbersome to dissassemble (the IBM Thinkpad 755 series, for instance). Also, another issue is that the monochrome LCD that is supplied with most models may not be easily replaced with the colour one.

Greatest features & flaws

Features	Flaws
Average Windows 3.1 DOS Gaming platform	Cumbersome Windows graphics support
Compact laptop	Too slow on Windows 95, limited RAM expansion capability
Durable, comfortable keyboard and trackpoint	Poor video chipset, no soundcard
Great Floppy and harddrive access	Proprietary power supply connector

Review

A very compact, low-end, business laptop, released in 1994. It had a below average mix of parts for a 486. The CPU was already obsolete as the laptop was supplied with an older model that did not have mathematical coprocessor and it run at only 25MHz, the lowest CPU frequency on a 486. The video chipset is somewhat reasonable, even if it is supplied with a bare-minimum 512kb of memory. The laptop also lacks any soundcard. Expandability is reasonable as the laptop has two PS/2 ports and a PCMCIA slot.

It is very difficult to understand why Digital insisted on using such such a weak combination of CPU, harddrive, RAM on a 1994 laptop as it was already impossible to do any serious upgrades to allow running a Windows 95 system launched just a year down the line. A slight guess would be that the platform was actually older, designed for 386 laptops and used, due to economy of scale, on a 486 laptop.

The screen that is supplied with the laptop is another weak point. There was no modern TFT screen that could be purchased, which means that, colour or not, the display was awful. A very poor contrast ratio and response time is typical for laptops such as this, although the practice of suppling these screens was also common on other manufacturers. RAM capability is mixed. The lack of standardization means that memory upgrades are quite difficult to find, as the laptop require a proprietary memory module standard.

The included standard capacity harddrive is not adequate as even modest Windows 3.1 installations with a Microsoft Office 4.3 package can take almost the entire 80MB capacity. The harddrive itself is also prone to failure, due to age, and a replacement may be difficult to find.

The keyboard is one of the highlights of this laptop, as it is quite good for a laptop with quite a small chassis. The supplied pointing device, consisting of a small trackball and clickable buttons, is not so pleasant to use, as fatigue settles quickly when navigating a screen. This points at graphical interfaces such as Windows being only an afterthought of designers, although solutions such as side hanging pointing devices were common on Digital and Toshiba laptops of the era. Overall, the laptop is not comfortable on graphics applications and the combination of CPU, screen, trackball make clear this statement.

Software support is, also, a mixed experience. While hardware capabilities are outright limited by the CPU and screen, slight DOS gaming possible even though anything newer than Wolfenstein 3D is barely playable, as is the case for the venerable DOOM. Overall, the laptop seems to be a wrong choice in modern times, valuable only for the heritage of being one of the last series of laptops sold by the previously successful Digital Equipment Corporating of America, or DEC.

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 == Review ==
-A midrange, somewhat compact, business laptop, released in 1995. It had a below average mix of parts for a 486. While the CPU is good for a 486, the sub-par video chipset and the lack of any soundcard seriously position this laptop as more of a low-end model, despite what IBM stated.
+A very compact, low-end, business laptop, released in 1994. It had a below average mix of parts for a 486. The CPU was already obsolete as the laptop was supplied with an older model that did not have mathematical coprocessor and it run at only 25MHz, the lowest CPU frequency on a 486. The video chipset is somewhat reasonable, even if it is supplied with a bare-minimum 512kb of memory. The laptop also lacks any soundcard. Expandability is reasonable as the laptop has two PS/2 ports and a PCMCIA slot.
-The Western Digital branded video chipset was already obsolete by the time of the laptop's release. The lack of any acceleration functions means that even running Windows 3.1 in 640x480 feels sluggish and Windows 95 operation feels very slow. It is very difficult to understand why IBM insisted on using such video chipsets that do not even expose VESA capabilities, requiring loading a special VESA TSR to be able to run Windows in 640x480 resolution. Also, although resolutions such as 1024x768 at 256 colors are possible, they are clearly beyond the user's patience.
+It is very difficult to understand why Digital insisted on using such such a weak combination of CPU, harddrive, RAM on a 1994 laptop as it was already impossible to do any serious upgrades to allow running a Windows 95 system launched just a year down the line. A slight guess would be that the platform was actually older, designed for 386 laptops and used, due to economy of scale, on a 486 laptop.
-The inclusion of a relatively modern TFT screen, having a good contrast ratio and response time is one of the few saving graces in terms of technical prowess as most laptops of its era either had poor color LCDs or good but monochrome ones. RAM capabilities are mixed. The lack of standardization means that memory upgrades are quite difficult to find, as the laptop require a potentially proprietary memory module standard, the so-called memory module adapter, that looks like PCMCIA but is not PCMCIA, to be used.
+The screen that is supplied with the laptop is another weak point. There was no modern TFT screen that could be purchased, which means that, colour or not, the display was awful. A very poor contrast ratio and response time is typical for laptops such as this, although the practice of suppling these screens was also common on other manufacturers. RAM capability is mixed. The lack of standardization means that memory upgrades are quite difficult to find, as the laptop require a proprietary memory module standard.
-The included standard capacity harddrive is not adequate as even modest Windows 95 installations with a Microsoft Office 95 package can take around more than 300MB. The harddrive itself is noisy and very bulky (12mm height) but the plastic drive cage along with the laptop's own casing offer excellent noise damping capabilities as metal frames are almost entirely avoided.
+The included standard capacity harddrive is not adequate as even modest Windows 3.1 installations with a Microsoft Office 4.3 package can take almost the entire 80MB capacity. The harddrive itself is also prone to failure, due to age, and a replacement may be difficult to find.
-One of the famous features of this laptop is the easily lift-able keyboard that is operated by sliding some side latches on the chassis. This offers very easy access to most internal parts such as the battery, harddrive, floppy drive, memory. This was a very nice design feature that, fortunately, does not compromise too much the laptop's rigidity, keyboard feel and durability. Although latches can be damaged with improper operation they do withstand long use quite well and the keyboard hinges survives some rough handling.
+The keyboard is one of the highlights of this laptop, as it is quite good for a laptop with quite a small chassis. The supplied pointing device, consisting of a small trackball and clickable buttons, is not so pleasant to use, as fatigue settles quickly when navigating a screen. This points at graphical interfaces such as Windows being only an afterthought of designers, although solutions such as side hanging pointing devices were common on Digital and Toshiba laptops of the era. Overall, the laptop is not comfortable on graphics applications and the combination of CPU, screen, trackball make clear this statement.
-The keyboard, trackpoint and trackpoint buttons are at the classic IBM standard. While the keyboard is not quite the best, mainly due to the lift-able design feature that reduced the travelling distance of the keys and made the keyboard feel more rigid than it should, it is still good compared with some low-end products of other manufacturers.
+Software support is, also, a mixed experience. While hardware capabilities are outright limited by the CPU and screen, slight DOS gaming possible even though anything newer than Wolfenstein 3D is barely playable, as is the case for the venerable DOOM. Overall, the laptop seems to be a wrong choice in modern times, valuable only for the heritage of being one of the last series of laptops sold by the previously successful Digital Equipment Corporating of America, or DEC.
-Software support is a mixed experience. While hardware capabilities are not outright bad, the video chipset seriously limit comfortable operating systems to Windows 3.1. Although Windows 95 is entirely possible, you should have at least 16MB of RAM available. DOS gaming is below average as anything newer than Wolfenstein 3D is barely playable, as is the case for the venerable DOOM.
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