GRiD Announces Convertible 486 Notebook; The Ultimate Notebook Computer for the Highly Mobile Professional
WESTLAKE, Texas — June 15, 1993 — GRiD Systems Monday announced a more powerful 486-based version of its award-winning Convertible notebook computer.
The new Convertible 486 is designed for use by the highly mobile professional who needs the power and convenience of today's latest applications in a mobile environment. In addition to providing more processing power, this new addition to the Convertible notebook family has longer battery life, additional power management features, and is priced competitively among similarly classed notebooks.
"The Convertible 486 is the ultimate notebook computer for the highly mobile professional who needs the additional processing power to operate today's resource-intensive and graphical operating environments," said Rosendo Parra, vice president and general manager for GRiD Direct.
"We are confident its superior mobility, intuitive pen pointing device, lifetime guarantee on the case, and competitive price will make our Convertible 486 the portable system of choice for today's notebook buyers."
Like all portable GRiD products, the Convertible 486 is designed for rugged everyday use in or out of the office, on the road, in the air, or in the field. The Convertible 486 is built with a magnesium DuraShell case with an exclusive lifetime guarantee, a shock resistant hard drive, and features tempered glass over the display panel.
The Convertible 486 comes standard with MS-DOS 6.0, Microsoft Windows for Pens 3.1, and a version of the PenCell spreadsheet from PenWare Inc. The system also features simultaneous video, so live presentations and demonstrations can be performed using both the system's internal display and an external color VGA monitor or video projection system.
GRiD also supports software applications from companies such as Microsoft and Slate for mobile fax and receive, contact management, scheduling and organizing, personal information management, document notation, hand-drawn graphics and note-taking.
The Convertible 486 utilizes both a keyboard and a pen, and is designed to accept input in three different ways: 1) from the keyboard, when used as a conventional notebook computer; 2) from a pen, as an intuitive mouse-like pointing device when the unit is in conventional notebook mode; and 3) from both the keyboard and pen interchangeably within the same application, a feature unique to this type of pen-enabled notebook design.
By folding the screen down over the keyboard, the user can quickly and easily convert the unit from a state-of-the-art notebook computer into a state-of-the-art pen tablet computer.
The Convertible 486 is a 25 MHz Intel486 SL notebook computer that comes standard with a backlit VGA screen for easy readability in all lighting conditions; four megabytes of system RAM, expandable to 12 megabytes; a rugged, warranteed for life DuraShell magnesium case; and a choice of a 125MB or a ruggedized 200MB hard disk drive.
Like the original Convertible, the Convertible 486 has a PCMCIA version 2.0 compatible expansion slot with Socket Services software, and comes with an easily attached 3.5" 1.44 megabyte floppy drive. The unit, which measures 11.5" x 9.5" x 2.0", weighs 6.0 pounds.
The GRiD Convertible 486 also supports the PenRight! DOS-based pen operating environment and the PenRight! Pro graphical environment tool kit for building custom pen applications.
The original Intel386 SL-based GRiD Convertible has been hailed as an innovation since its introduction in November of 1992, and has received numerous awards from computer industry trade publications, including InfoWorld, PC Laptop, and Computer Reseller News.
The Convertible has been called the best mobile computer on the market, partly because the hybrid keyboard and pen approach allows for a greater degree of portability than any notebook system to date. For example, when the computer is used as a tablet the user can operate the system while standing up (unlike a notebook computer). This added convenience is beneficial to mobile executives needing access to their data at any moment.
The Convertible 486 will be available in July starting at $2,699 through GRiD's direct 800 telephone number 1-800-934-GRiD (4743). It also will be offered directly to corporate and government customers through the GRiD field sales force.
Notebook products carry a one-year carry-in or mail-in service warranty through any of the 24 U.S. GRiD authorized service centers. The DuraShell magnesium casing carries a lifetime warranty.
GRiD Systems designs, markets and services desktop, laptop, notebook, pen and multimedia computers and pen-based software development tools. GRiD is located at 7 Village Circle, Westlake, Texas. GRiD's products are marketed worldwide by GRiD, GRiD Europe, and by authorized GRiD distributors and resellers.
note to Editors: GRiD is a registered trademark of GRiD Systems Corp. Convertible and PenRight! are trademarks of GRiD Systems Corp. MS-DOS and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Intel386 and Intel386 are trademarks of Intel Corp.
The absence of a TM or R in connection with the marks identifying products of other vendors does not indicate the absence of registration of these products.
CONTACT:
GRiD Systems Corp.
Lauren Baker, 817/491-5369