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System
Information: Amstrad NC100
Development,
History, Games, Internals, Additional Information, Photos
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| Specifications Table |
| Manufacturer: |
Amstrad
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| Year
Released: |
1992
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Year
Discontinued: |
1993 |
| Size
& Weight: |
Unconfirmed at this time
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| Storage: |
PCMCIA Cards / Internal RAM
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| CPU: |
Zilog Z80
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Speed: |
4Mhz
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| Additional
Processors: |
None
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| System
Memory: |
64Kilobytes RAM 256Kilobytes ROM[3]
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| Graphics
Modes: |
Screen Display 480x64 pixels (80x8 Characters)
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| Max
Colours: |
n/a (monochrome LCD Display)
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| Sound: |
Internal Beeper (1 Channel)
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| Ports: |
RS232 Port / Centronics Compatible Parallel Port
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| Power
Rating: |
6Volts DC
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| Original
Cost |
£199[1]
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9 out of 10
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Retro-Zone.Org
- Retrospective Review:
When reviewing a system I have found that I have to look at it as the designers intended. By today's standard this machine is extremely simple and is of little to use to anyone (unless you are writing a novel.) But when I think about what this machine set out to do - be a simple to use word processor on the go... I can't help but give it a high score. It is great at what it does and is a pleasure to use. The long battery life, real keyboard and parallel printer port make this one of the best notebooks of it's time.
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Do
I have one in my Collection?
YES  I have one of these in it's original box with the "leatherette" sleeve and power pack. I wanted to use it for word processing to see how easy it was.... It WAS easy. I can understand how people liked this machine. I have used the Z88 and this is more user friendly by a mile. I even brought a PCMCIA card for it (after the initial shock of how much they cost!) and used it for a brief period. If only it was easier to transfer documents to the PC...
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Additional Links:
 Visit TIM's NC100 Page
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Development:
The NC100 was designed to be a portable computer which was simple to use. That was the brief given by Sir Alan Sugar (then chairman of Amstrad) given to his design staff. The NC100 projects was internally referred to as Alan's "Baby"[4] and Alan Sugar himself tested the machine for usability during the design phase. The specifications for the computer were not considered important - as long as it could serve it's purpose. Amstrad still believed that most computers were used simply for word processing and little else (a fact backed up by the success of the Amstrad PCW range of computers) and so the NC100 was designed with this in mind. The designers naturally drew on their previous experience and used components which they were familiar with, such as the Zilog Z80A processor (used in at least 13 Amstrad machines to my knowledge.)
The simple to use features of the NC100 come from the software which is included on the internal ROM chip. The Word processor and other applications have been written with a computer novice in mind - although experienced users could find and use a large array of more complicated features.
Alan Sugar actually wrote the first chapter of the NC100's user manual in order to show that even he could use it, after explaining that he has never been very good at computers![4] |
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History:
At the time the NC100 was released the average laptop weighed in at around 3.5Kg[3] and so a lightweight, low cost portable computer which could handle your day to day tasks seemed like a good idea. The problem with the NC100 is - although the machine was extremely simple to use, it was still relatively difficult to transfer your data to a PC. It seems that Amstrad targeted people who did not already own a computer, rather than targeting people who simply want to work on the move and "dock" their portable computer when they get home, or to the office.
The NC100 receive mixed reviews in the press but was generally thought of a good value for money ay £199. Sue Schofield of the 'Independent' newspaper carried out a review of the NC100 and gave it high praise saying "This is how computers should be"[3].
Sales figures for the NC100, while could not be considered bad - were not high enough to satisfy Amstrad which had seen it's share of the computer market plummet due to problems with it's IBM compatible range. The NC100 was eventually replaced with the NC150 which served as a stop-gap measure until the NC200 was released.
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Games:
 I am not aware of any commercial games written for the NC100 although there are some "homebrew" title floating around on the web[5] (see screenshot). The in built applications were stored on a ROM chip which could not be updated. Users could program their own games with the built in version of BBC BASIC.
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Internals:
| The NC100 was based on the ever popular 8-bit Zilog Z80A Processor running at 4Mhz. The 64Kilobytes internal RAM could be expanded using battery backed PCMCIA cards up to 1Mb. The internal software was stored on a 256Kilobyte ROM Chip. The display could show monochrome images up to 640 x 40 Pixels. Text could be displayed in 8 x 80 character rows. The screen did have a green backlight allowing the NC100 to be used in low light conditions. |
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Additional
Information:
The former founder of Sinclair also released a portable computer in 1988 similar to the NC100. Manufactured by his new company (Cambridge Computers) Clive Sinclair released the Z88 which was too based on the Zilog Z80 Processor.
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Photos
| Gallery (click on a thumbnail to
enlarge) |
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The Outer Box
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My NC100 Unit
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The Amstrad "leatherette" sleeve
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Colourful Buttons!
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Exactly what it says
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PCMCIA Card Used with my NC100
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References:
[1] http://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/gadgets-tech/home-computer-how-computers-should-be-sue-schofield-shoulders-her-amstrad-notebook-and-takes-a-swiss-army-knife-to-the-opposition-1483758.html
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_NC100
[3] http://www.angelfire.com/amiga/pc100/amstrad.html
[4] Amstrad Notepad NC100 User Manual (2nd edition) 1992: Amstrad plc. A. Sugar, C. Lawson, S. Maybee
[5] http://www.ncus.org.uk/games.htm#scrolly_nc
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