New product announcement from NEC

Well not really...but it was almost 10 years ago to today that this came out:

SANTA CLARA, Calif., December 14, 1998 NEC Solutions (America), Inc., a premier provider of integrated solutions for the Connected Enterprise in North America, today introduced the NEC MobilePro® 700, the newest of its popular MobilePro Handheld PC (H/PC) product family line and the first NEC MobilePro platform based on the Microsoft® Windows® CE 2.0 operating system for the Handheld PC.

The MobilePro® 700 is a new enterprise-class ultra portable mobile that is the first H/PC manufacturer to come out with a touch typeable keyboard. With a gray scale screen and a 54 MHz NEC Vr4102 MIPS CPU, 8 MB RAM, 16 MB ROM, the 700 is powered by two AA alkaline batteries and operates for up to 25 hours. The 700 has an optional NiMH rechargeable battery.

The Mobilepro® 700 is expected to be upwardly compatible with the recently announced Windows CE 2.1 announced by Microsoft in September. Microsoft released the operating system to PC Companion manufacturers and embedded systems developers in October. Handheld PC Pro (H/PC Pro) is the term that refers to Handheld PCs running Windows CE 2.1 and the enhanced set of H/PC applications. Although the first H/PC Pros to be released are the size of a mini-notebook computer, H/PC Pros may come in smaller form factors. NEC plans to deliver the Mobilepro® 700 in January 1999 at a MSRP of $599.

They actually did make a CE 2.11 ROM chip replacement later that next spring for the 750C, the only time that NEC actually supported a hardware upgrade for a pre-existing device. The other upgrade...the 900C rom flash of course!

Thought you might be interested...Rich

Wow, 10 years. The 700, in my opinion, is one of the best portables ever made. I got my first one about eight years ago from a university grad who was moving on to a laptop. I paid $400 for it. Over the years I’ve fixed the hinges, replaced the screen and added the 32-meg RAM upgrade. It’s still in use today as my main hiking, camping and traveling computer.

I didn’t know they made a 2.11 upgrade. Now, that would be something to have… (the search is on, do you have a part number?)

Rick

The part number was 136-532871, but it was never actually released for sale. There were a couple of MP 700s for sale on eBay that had the pre-release 2.11 OS however. The 750C that followed also had a rom upgrade from CE 2 to 2.11, and that was the first one to be commercially released.

But on the 750C, I'm not sure if the 2.11 upgrade was actually offered, or if NEC upgraded in mid-production to the newer OS. I know I've owned 750Cs with both versions of the OS.

Too bad it was never released. It would make an eminently useable computer even better...

Rick