🚀 go-pugleaf

I have had a Sharp PC-7000 on loan from Ulrich's Electronics in Ann
Arbor for the MicroGroup's "Clone Day".  Here's some impressions.

Weight: more portable than luggable, but not light enough (or small
	enough) to carry around on a bicycle.  (The Z-171 could be
	carried that way.

Compatibility: ran most things, but dBase III and Fansi-console put
	garbage characters on the screen.  Fansi locked up the machine
	completely.  (It does that for a lot of machines, for that matter.)

Keyboard: nice, full-size layout (AT-style, function keys on the top.)
	Touch was a bit soft, but miles ahead of the Z-171.  Full
	numeric keypad.

Video: readable, but S*L*O*W.  PC-Outline slowed to a crawl with the 
	slow screen updating; Sidekick worked ok, but the screen was
	updated quite irregularly (looked like garbage, then fixed.)
	I noticed the same sort of video behavior with Sidekick and
	a PC emulator card on a Z-100.

Portability: needs a plug, no batter available.  This takes the machine
	out of the Z-171 class and puts it in the Compaq class, with
	the advantage of smalller size and the big disadvantages of
	slow video and lack of regular expansion slots.

Recommendations: take a look at it, then try real hard to justify 
	getting a battery-powered machine or a bigger portable.
	I really don't see the Sharp filling much of a niche in 
	the current marketplace.

Disclaimer: these are my opinions, and although I'm going to have some
	say in the report we prepare, by no means are these opinions
	held by everyone.

Edward Vielmetti, Computing Center MicroGroup, Ann Arbor MI  48109
Edward_Vielmetti%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.ARPA
emv@madvax.uucp   (via ihnp4)