IBM PS/2 Note and PS/note: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:32, 13 May 2025

Revision as of 04:14, 14 May 2025

Line 39:

== Background ==

After the departure of Bob Lawten from IBM, the team at IBM had little development direction after the [[IBM PS/2 L40 SX]]. James Cannavino pushed for the new [[Notebook (laptop)|notebook]] series, which fell behind schedule.<ref>{{Cite book|last=A.|first=Dell, Deborah|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/781169669|title=ThinkPad: a different shade of blue|date=2000|publisher=Sams|isbn=0-672-31756-7|pages=84|oclc=781169669}}</ref> The N45 SL, N51 SX and N51 SLC were announced on the same day as the [[IBM PS/2 CL57 SX|IBM PS/2 (color laptop) CL57 SX]]. During this time [[Laptop#Terminology variants|there was a distinction between notebooks and laptops]], where the former are A4 sized and the latter are larger.

The notebooks were modeled after the [[IBM PS/55 Note|PS/55 Note]] which was released by IBM in Japan in April 1991.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Scannell|first1=Ed|date=23 Dec 1991|title=IBM readies 6 portables|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FT0EAAAAMBAJ|magazine=[[InfoWorld]]}}</ref>

Line 75:

==== PS/55 note ====

Simply branded as PS/55 note, the type 5523-S0x was the first Japanese notebook from the 55-series with a 12Mhz 80386 CPU, 2Mb RAM built in and a 9.5" 16-greyscale VGA LCD (640x480). It was only released in Japan. The two main planars inside consisted of two seperate boards "APEX-MAIN" and "SUB-BOARD" leaving room inside for either a floppy drive or a hard drive - but not both. The keyboard has a 7-row layout only.

==== PS/55 note N23 SX ====

This was a second generation PS/55 note type 5523-S1x with N23 SX added to it'sits case badge and also only released in Japan. This machine had a 16Mhz 80386 CPU and a redesigned motherboard consisting of just one planar. The additional space inside meant the machine could accomodate both an internal floppy disk drive and a hard drive. It also featured an external VGA output and display invert switch.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maggs |first=Alexander |date=April 2025 |title=IBM PS/55 Note N23 SX (5523-SC4) - Japan |url=https://ret.rocks/index.php/ibm/early-ibm-portables/ps-55-note-n23-sx |url-status=live |website=Ret Rocks}}</ref>.

==== PS/2 note N33 SX ====

Line 91:

==== PS/note N45 SL ====

The ''PS/note N45 SL'' was priced at $2,045 and contains a 25MHz25&nbsp;MHz [[80386SL|386SL]]. It had 2MB RAM and an 80<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine|last=|first=|date=1992-12-22|title=IBM PS/note N45sl|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v9TVJ_G_sk8C|magazine=[[PC Mag]]|language=en|publisher=Ziff Davis, Inc.}}</ref> or 120MB HDD<ref>{{Cite web|title=PS/note N45 SL|url=https://www.ardent-tool.com/docs/pdf/brochures/ibm-ps-noten45sl.pdf}}</ref> and was equipped with only 6-row keyboard without dedicated navigation block, the similar layout as a low-end [[ThinkPad 300]] laptop.

[[PCMag|''PC Mag'']] considered the display a disappointment, but noted its good design and performance.<ref name=":0" />

Line 127:

{{IBM personal computers}}

[[Category:IBM laptops|PS/ 2 Note]]

[[Category:Computer-related introductions in 1992]]