ThinkPad 800 series
The ThinkPad 800 series were the only ThinkPads based on the PowerPC architecture.
IBM officially announced the release of the Power Series on June 19, 1995 . In addition to two PC models with PowerPC processors, the Power Series also included the ThinkPad models 820 and 850. Both models were released at the same time on July 24, 1995 and included numerous functions that were rare in laptops at the time, such as SCSI hard drives or a special video adapter for recording and playing back videos via a composite video connection. On the other hand, the ThinkPads were comparatively heavy (over 4 kilograms) and with a price of up to $ 12,000 only affordable for professional users.
The ThinkPads officially support AIX 4.1 and Windows NT 3.51 . Two other operating systems ( OS / 2 and Solaris ) were announced, but were no longer released.
Originally a separate department at IBM, the Personal Power Division, was responsible for sales and marketing of the Power Series . This was dissolved again in 1996 and divided between the existing PC Division and RS / 6000 Division , which led to numerous disputes over jurisdiction within IBM. The RS / 6000 Division finally released updated versions of the ThinkPad Models 820 and 850 in 1996, as well as the ThinkPad 800 series flagship, the RS / 6000 860, with a faster processor and a larger screen. Only AIX was officially supported as the operating system, but Windows NT 4.0 could also be installed with an unofficial driver.
ThinkPads from this series are very rare and sought-after collector's items today.
Specifications
| model | Publication date | processor | random access memory | hard disk | Screen resolution | graphic card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ThinkPad 820 | July 24, 1995 | PowerPC 603e (100 MHz) | 16 MB (upgradeable to 48 MB) | 540 MB | 640 × 480 | G10 |
| ThinkPad 821/822/823 | April 15, 1996 | PowerPC 603e (100 MHz) | 32 MB (upgradeable to 48 MB) | 810 MB | 640 × 480 | G10 |
| ThinkPad 850 | July 24, 1995 | PowerPC 603e (100 MHz) | 16 MB (upgradable to 96 MB) | 540 MB | 640 × 480 | G10 |
| ThinkPad 851 | April 15, 1996 | PowerPC 603e (100 MHz) | 32 MB (upgradable to 96 MB) | 810 MB | 800 × 600 | G10 |
| RS / 6000 860 | November 8, 1996 | PowerPC 603e (166 MHz) | 32 MB (upgradable to 96 MB) | 1200 MB | 1024 × 768 | GT20 |
Individual evidence
- ↑ IBM Power Series Brings PowerPC Microprocessor Performance to Desktop and Mobile Personal Computers
- ↑ Windows NT for PowerPC FAQ ( Memento of April 7, 2000 in the Internet Archive )