Small Big Computing Giant - IBM WorkPad z50 PDA Review

Introduction

These days, few people will surprise you with a tablet or netbook. Smartbooks also appear periodically - netbooks based on the RISC architecture (or rather ARM, in the vast majority of cases). There are a lot of compact devices with relatively large screens (7-11 inches) that allow you to comfortably work on the network or with documents. Their boom began in 2008, a few months after the announcement of the ASUS eeePC 701. Later, tablets began to gain popularity, smartbooks flashed on the horizon, which had not yet become so popular, but gave impetus to the appearance of tablets with a docking keyboard.



But as always, our new is a very well-forgotten old. Today we will talk about what today would be called a smartbook, but in those days this device was called differently. And in Russian it sounded and looked somewhat paradoxical - the Keyboard Pocket Personal Computer (Keyboard PDA), which was rather strange combined with a kilogram weight and dimensions similar to an A5 format sheet. No, of course there were really pocket keyboards, but today it's not about them. In English, the term for these devices was more correct - PDA with Keyboard - a personal digital assistant with a keyboard. That is why the name of the CCP was fixed in Russian, regardless of size.

So - our today's hero is IBM WorkPad z50. A large keyboard PDA in the days of his youth, a smartbook today.

Acquaintance

At first glance, we have a compact laptop. The black case is made of very high quality scratch resistant plastic. Forms - strict, classic. At first glance, we have a ThinkPad. But this is not entirely true - the IBM WorkPad inscription on the nameplate. From 1998 to 2002, under this name, IBM released Palm PDA clones, but among them was one original model, the one we are considering today.

Move the latch and open the computer. The similarity with the laptop does not disappear. Keyboard, trackpoint - all like ordinary ThinkPads. Only the number of indicators is less than usual - only 2 - battery status or notification indicator. Yes, instead of the F1-F12 keys, A1-A12.




And then we’ll be surprised at the relatively small screen for such chassis sizes - 8.2 inches, although the cover is designed for a 10.4 inch screen (Design is based on the popular ThinkPad 240 subnote. It is based on a lot of changes.), On the side of which there are buttons for adjusting brightness and contrast. This is not an error, the screen is made on a passive DSTN matrix. This is done not so much to reduce cost, but to increase battery life. The screen has a resolution of VGA (640x480) and can display 16-bit color. The image quality is surprisingly decent for this type of matrix, but the contrast, brightness and viewing angles are certainly not as good as the screens on the active matrix.

Now look at the edge of a PDA laptop:



At the front, as always, there is nothing but a latch. The rear side also does not indulge in variety - there lives a battery (like most modern laptops) and an external power supply socket (19 volts nominally), there is also a battery lock valve combined with a hardware power switch. But the sides are already more interesting in this regard. To the right is a proprietary COM port connector, a CF card slot, an infrared port and a VGA connector. On the left is a modem connector, headphone and microphone jacks, and a PCMCIA slot. The CF slot accepts cards up to 8GB, MicroDrive was initially recommended for it at 340MB (ultra-compact mechanical HDD the size of a CF card), in this instance there is a 4GB card. You can not only record data on it, but also install programs. The PCMCIA slot can accept any 16-bit card for which there are drivers for Windows CE / MIPS. Unfortunately, the network cards available from the author do not support this operating system.

In work

A full computer startup takes about one and a half minutes. But, as a rule, PDAs do not turn off and do not restart for months. In sleep mode, the battery consumption is extremely small (a fraction of a percent per day), while the computer exits from sleep mode almost instantly.

You cannot call the device fast. 131 Megahertz and the lack of L2 cache affect very much. But working in the office suite is very comfortable, as in most programs created for such devices. Actually low performance is noticeable mainly when the application starts, but not when working. The system interface is not unusual, it is very similar to the classic design of Windows 95 / NT 4.0. It is striking that the system (namely its interface) is designed for simultaneous operation with a single window - there is no possibility of resizing windows - either on the whole screen or a fixed size of the form.



Included with the system is installed and application software. The structure includes Microsoft Office (Pocket versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and even Access elements), Internet Explorer, Rapid Access utility (quick access to settings and device management), programs for working with a modem, printer, utility for archiving the system .

Finding third-party software for MIPS systems is already difficult, but still possible. Total Commander was the first to find (and the author of the program distributes versions for mobile devices for free), a convenient MP3 player is wanted.

If we talk about the physical sensations of working with the device - IBM did not disappoint here. The keyboard is almost full-sized (95% of the standard), very pleasant to use. I will leave the trackpoint without comment - it’s the same ThinkPad trackpoint. As a result, working on a table or other hard surface is very convenient. With work on weight, not everything is so simple. In this regard, of course, the touch devices and the Toshiba Libretto 50CT win, but nevertheless it’s nice to hold the device in your hands, it’s convenient to read, but controlling the device is a bit more complicated than specially adapted computers.



But do not forget that this device is more of a laptop than a PDA. He has more opportunities for communication with the outside world, more expansion opportunities, more autonomy from Big Brother. Yes, compared to classic subnotebooks, it has much lower performance, it is more difficult to find software. But it pays off with its amazing battery life. With a standard battery weighing 1.2 kg, the computer can work up to 8 hours with an active screen (and its backlight), and the processor load level almost does not affect the operating time. With an extended battery, the time increases to 16 hours, while the adapter for using ordinary AA batteries (“finger batteries”) was supplied with it — it is installed instead of a standard battery. And even at the age of almost 15 years, the battery is fully functional.

Conclusion

So we met with the "grandfather of smartbooks." This is not to say that he was one of a kind - NEC, Sharp and others, mostly Japanese, manufacturers produced such devices. But this particular device is the most “notebook” of all its kind. Moreover, it was WorkPad that was focused not on the consumer, but on the professional market. But it would be a mistake to call this class of devices popular in those years. There were not so many released, few survived to this day. They were bought by those who needed a tool to work with special properties. This model was produced for only 10 months - from April 1999 to February 2000, there was no replacement - the ThinkPad 240 with similar dimensions had a large performance, it worked under the usual operating systems, but could not work on batteries for such a long time.



Nowadays it is difficult to find WorkPad z50, especially in good condition, so this instance is a collectible rarity. The author took several months to search for the computer in excellent condition ...

PS Some additional information:
1) Link to the IBM WorkPad catalog - www.lenovo.com/psref/pdf/wwbook.pdf
2) Overview from the past - 2005 (English) - www.hpcfactor.com/reviews/hardware/ibm/workpad-z50
3) The page of the presented copy on the website of the private collection - www.digitalvintage.ru/IBM_WorkPad_z50