This nice little laptop is one of the first real IBM PC compatible laptops featuring large LCD display (80x25 here) and true compatibility.
This machine has two 720KB Floppy drives (and no hard drive). It boots from one floppy drive (DOS) while the 2nd floppy is used for data and programs you may wish to run. It has a NEC V20 8-bit processor which is switchable between 7.16 MHz and 4.77 MHz. It also has a CGA backlit LCD screen (monochrome), optional built in modem (1200 baud), math coprocessor and standard serial and parallel ports. It also has a DB-9 CGA port and RCA composite port for use with an external display.
There are LED indicators for Caps Lock, Num Lock, Low Battery, Scroll Lock and Standby Mode. Special features (for the time) includes battery-powered clock & calendar, standby mode and internal speakers.
The first member of the 1400 serie is called the LT. The FD and HD models were released later (1988?). The FD having two 3.5'' disk drives and the HD one 3.5'' disk drive + one built-in hard disk (20 MB).
The only differences between LT and FD model are : FD has an external floppy drive connector, no composite video output and only one internal slot (for modem). The case is almost identical though the FD is lighther. The HD is an FD model with a 20 MB hard drive built-in instead of the 2nd floppy drive.
The LT was delivered with Tandy DOS 3.2003 or 3.2004, and the FD & HD with Tandy DOS 3.3004.
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Thanks to Alex Rushing...
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I had one of these in university, with two floppy disks. Wrote tons of term papers in WordPerfect. Also played chess and taught myself programming in BASIC and Turbo Pascal. Screen was very readable, keyboard OK. Things were simpler then but it was all I needed.
Monday 31st July 2023
Coleman Nee (Switerland)
Just found one while moving… going to have to see what kind of power it needs.
Tuesday 7th December 2021
Butz (USA)
I just found one, in the box with all original documents!? 20201010
Saturday 10th October 2020
Roussel Barriere (United States)
NAME
1400 LT/FD/HD
MANUFACTURER
Tandy Radio Shack
TYPE
Portable
ORIGIN
U.S.A.
YEAR
1987
END OF PRODUCTION
Unknown
BUILT IN LANGUAGE
MS-DOS, GW-BASIC & DESKmate delivered on disks
KEYBOARD
full stroke keyboard, 76 keys
CPU
NEC V20 (Intel 8088 equivalent)
SPEED
4.77MHz or 7.16MHz
CO-PROCESSOR
Intel 8087-2 (8 MHz) math co-processor
RAM
640 KB + 128 KB available for RAM-based disk driver or print spooler
ROM
16 KB
TEXT MODES
40 x 25, 80 x 25
GRAPHIC MODES
640 x 200 (monochrome 9'' LCD backlight display), conform to IBM CGA
COLORS
16 shades of blue with built-in LCD display. Colours with external monitor
SOUND
Sound beeper
SIZE / WEIGHT
3.5 x 14.5 x 12.5 inches / 13.5 lbs 370 x 310 x 80 mm / 5Kg
I/O PORTS
AC adapter, Centronics/parallel (DB-25 F), RS232/serial port (DB-9 M), RGBI output for color monitor (DB-9 F), composite video output, enhanced keyboard (5 pin Din F), 2 internal slots (modem, I/O bus)
BUILT IN MEDIA
LT & FD : 2 x 3.5'' floppy disk drives (DS DD, 720 KB each) HD : one 3.5'' floppy disk drive (720 KB) + 20MB hard disk
OS
Tandy DOS 3
POWER SUPPLY
External PSU - 15v DC 700mA and internal battery (12 volt, 2200 mAh, 4 hours of continuous use)
