Vital Statistics

In early 1990, HP engineers designed and developed codename "Jaguar" - a new handheld PC/XT compatible computer. Within just 15 months, Hewlett Packard launched their new device as the 95LX, one of the first MS-DOS-based palmtop PC compatibles. Two years ealier, Atari had already released the Portfolio (aka Folio), and a year earlier DIP had released their "Poquet PC", but neither of these were truly MS-DOS compatible. The key strength of HP's little machine was its almost 100%-compatibility with MS-DOS, allowing them to run tens of thousands of applications and utilities that others just couldn't. It came with the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet built-in (very popular at the time) and a very good collection of PIM applications. The only real restrictions was the graphical capability, with the 95LX running a lower resolution screen, both in graphics and text modes (40x25), and supporting only MDA (Monochrome Display Adapter). Later versions improved on this: the 100LX and 200LX both came with full CGA support, complete with a full resolution screen (80x25 text, and 640x200 graphics), making them even more able to run "normal" MS-DOS software.

95LX

The 95LX has MS-DOS 3.22 built into a ROM chip, along with a collection of PIM (Personal Information Management) applications. At its core it runs an NEC V20 CPU, which is similar and pin-compatible with the Intel 8088 used in the first IBM PC and IBM PC/XT computers.

It was available with either 512K of RAM or 1MB. If you purchased the 512K you couldn't upgrade later to 1MB as there was no internal memory expansion capabilities, although you could purchase a PCMCIA card to increase RAM and/or Storage space.

100LX

The 100LX (codename "Cougar") was a worthy successor to the 95LX. It boosted the CPU processing capability with the Intel 80186 CPU running at 8 MHz, and graphics were upgraded to CGA resulting in a full 80x25 text mode. The applications, including the main System Manager shell were dramatically improved, and became fully graphical in nature. A special bit-blitter chip accelerated the graphics display to bring the apparent speed of the new machine to match that of the 95LX's text mode. HP moved manufacturing of the 100LX from the US to Singapore.

Applications-wise, the database became customisable and this app now powered the Phone Book, Appointment Book, NoteTaker and World Time. The main operating system was upgraded to MS-DOS 5.0, the last ROMable version of DOS, and the built-in DataComm program was enhanced with the addition of Lotus cc:Mail Remote.

All these additional programs meant the ROM chip grew to 2Mb. The first 100LXs came with 1Mb RAM, but this was later increased to 2Mb.

On the hardware front, the PCMCIA slot was upgraded to support v2.0 cards meaning larger storage capacities were supported, and the serial port was made more standards-compliant than that in the 95LX, and the Infra-red transfer speed shot to 115K baud. The 100LX now also supported rechargeable batteries (with charging capability while on AC power).

200LX

In 1995, the 200LX arrived, and came in either 1Mb, 2Mb or a little later, 4Mb versions. Hardware-wise, the casing colour was changed from the 95LX/100LX's black to a subtle green/grey. It got a slightly better keyboard with improved tactile click and a separate numeric keypad, and a few minor cosmetic changes, but the key difference was in the software. Bundled in ROM with the 200LX was Intuit's Pocket Quicken financial software, Laplink Remote for file transfers, and some further feature enhancements to the other PIM software.

A quick comparison of the three models:-