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Sony Announces Transmeta Notebook
VF/VT Hunter was first with the news. Could you gush about a product announcement for us, Mr. Hunter?
"Oh hell yes :)
This link
over at C|Net details Sony's plan to release a
Transmeta-powered notebook by year's end. I KNEW I should wait! What's better, it will include a built-in digital camera. Add standard USB and iLink (aka Firewire) support which seem to be prevalent on most Sonys, plus Sony's reputation for making the coolest looking gizmo's, and I think I've found my next big purchase. It just better not come with a Winmodem."
But since it's not a full-sized laptop, should we assume it will be full-featured? Update: 08/15 11:15 AM by michael : The Picturebook line of Vaios doesn't sell very well - it's too small to be useful as a "real" laptop. If only Sony were smart enough to put this chip in their regular Vaios, they wouldn't be able to keep them on the shelves.
About time they came out with something nifty
--- Simple solutions are always the best
Or is this another cool thing that stays in Japan and eventually trickles down to the U.S.?
Will using Crusoe yield a significant rise in battery life, or are there other components that do the majority of power eating?
Special Relativity: The person in the other queue thinks yours is moving faster.
Just speculation...
-- Ken Kinder ken@_nospam_kenkinder.com http://kenkinder.com/
I'd rather IBM or someone more dependable. Hey, Panasonic can get into the laptop market, no? =)
---
-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
a built-in digital camera Sounds handy... and Big, Heavy and Expensive
The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.
Some of them do work with operating sytems other than Windows already. Its just a question of drivers.
-- Oh Well
No picture in that article. I'd really like one where I can flip the screen around and handle it like a clipboard rather than always having to have the keyboard exposed...
The press release doesn't actually state that it's "not a full-sized laptop", it says that it's "slightly smaller than the company's current laptops".
For me that doesn't suggest any reduction in features, Sony's VAIO range generally comes with a great feature set and from those already listed, this doesn't sound too different.
I would *guess* that the reduced size could have as much to do with the Crusoe's reduced power consumption as anything else. At least I would hope that this helps it reduce the size.
One other thing - isn't is possible on a laptop to bypass a Winmodem and use a PCMCIA modem instead if one wishes? I would certainly hope so - any confirmation or denail of this would be interesting.
"Give the anarchist a cigarette"
A little planning goes a long way...
I have an IBM Workpad z50 which runs WinCE and NetBSD. Love it. It has spoiled me on one unique feature: 8 hour battery life.
I go to conferences and don't worry about plugs or extra batteries. I can take notes, or do some work (usually), while the conference proceeds.
The only drawbacks are: DSTN LCD screen (not viewable at the beach) and limited OS/apps.
When the Crusoe-powered notebooks come I will definitely be looking to buy. But, which one??
Now hiring experienced client- & server-side developers
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
Founder's Camp
Founder's Camp
News for non-Nerds. Stuff that matters.
Only if you consider an two inches big, an ounce heavy, and $30 expensive, as that's what my 640x480 parallel port camera cost a year ago.
By integrating into the case, Sony should be able to bring the cost down.
You can see pictures I took with it at home page.
George
Gateway and America Online have also added their support, committing to use chips from Transmeta for an Internet access device.
:O Very cool, indeed.
Hmmm. So, we combine this with the earlier article from today, and we get a Gateway-built AOL set-top box, running Linux on a Crusoe, correct??
Well, this should be a good little boost for Sony's laptop division. They should get plenty of extra sales, just by riding on the Transmeta buzz.
On the flip side of the coin, other PC makers will want to see how well this thing performs. Hopefully it'll get good marks from the press: if it does, then Transmeta should get quite a few extra orders on the back of this one.
(Spudley Strikes Again!)
I suspect that when the sony does get released in the United States, as the CNet article seemed to indicate that it is going to be, Intel will probably drop prices on notebook procs so far that none of us will be able to buy a Crusoe machine without wincing. It should be interesting to see how AMD reacts once they're in a position similar to Intel's a few years ago. That is, an up-and-coming chip manufacturer is offering a really neat product at a decent price, and performance doesn't seem to suffer for it.
ok, since Transmeta 'came out' I've been ready to buy a crusoe-based machine. Yup, eight months. Nope, none here yet.
I know everyone is saying 'later on this year', but I'm dyin' ova here. Are there any real ETAs on any of the announced devices?
In fact, the only thing that could make the z505 better is a less power-hungry processor. The stock battery in the z505 only lasts an hour under normal use.
As for the Vaio C1 series, it has almost all of the equipment that the z505 has, without the extra usb port and the built-in ethernet. It even has the same screen resolution (1024x768), albeit in a smaller size. With the Crusoe processor, that little 2-lb machine may be even more neat.
I wonder how the price of the Transmeta unit will compare to those of the Intel-powered slimnotes. It seems like this unit will be pit against mini-notebooks like the Toshiba Libretto. If you have ever used one of these, you will recognize how difficult it is to use these smaller notebooks productively and how lacking they are as far as functionality and expandability (not to mention their inflated price). Since Transmeta's chips require less power, Sony can use a cheaper, lighter and less powerful battery without affecting runtime, so maybe this will help their slimnote be cheaper and lighter than those made by Toshiba, using the Intel chips.
ByteMyCode.com: A Web 2.0 code sharing community.
This makes sense. It appears that this notebook is the replacement for the C1 picturebook (which is pretty cool in its own right).
The Crusoe would be a good choice for the laptop, with its power and heat efficiency. The old C1 (which Sony still sells, albeit not very many) is run off a P2 400.
If it could boot up faster, I think it would be a great pseudo-pda. It is only slightly larger then the HP Jornada 690 and the Psion Revo's.
As it is, I guess they are marketing it to digital artists (digital camera included, firewire interface, some crappy digital imaging software).
I like the idea of niche laptops, if they would lose the digital camera and maybe market a version of it to "road warriors" (I hate that term) I think it would be tres cool...
i was at a cafe and someone pointed over to my notebook and started a conversation with the lady next to him. geezus, my vaio is so sexy, other people are using it to get dates!
"you get hit and your head goes ping" --rocky horror picture show
I have really liked the Sony machines in the past. What I am hoping is that this will be a little cheaper.
All the Sony machines already have killer battery life so adding a Transmeta chip might just make these the killer hardware app for those long airplane flights.
Telcos have alot of dark fibre in the States. Most people assume that's optical fibre...but it's actually moral fibre.
Given the state of microelectronics today, I find that question a bit bizarre. For instance, you could put the modem/sound card/etc. directly on the motherboard. Need more expandibility? Put any external ports (parallel, ethernet) on a docking station (you wouldn't use those on the go anyway).
I've see demos of Sony's mini cameras designed for use with next gen mobile phones/PDAs. The lens is smaller than a dime and the whole thing is about the size of a sugar cube. The camera plugged into the side of the phone to take an image and upload via wireless data connection to the net. The camera also had a mode for close in (macro) shots of text for OCR purposes. They demonstrated shooting a business card and having the text appear on screen.
A laptop with this built-in camera feature would add little mass/bulkiness. Sony was a little slow to the PC marketplace, but they do understand ergonomics and proper feature implementation better than most other laptop makers. I've worked on a Vaio laptop and it has 'the feel' that a Toshiba or Compaq lacks.
Note to self-> Order replacement laptop at office today...
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I got a vaio some months back, and it is not quite as cool as it looks - it's slow, the screen has got the dreaded "always-on" pixel (and Sony refuse to do something about it unless at least 4 pixels are broken !), using external monitor/tv out requires a reboot - in short, I preferred my old dell. Maybe Sony should stick to TV's, diskmen and Aibos !
Wanna bet the Transmeta device will look totally droolworthy, but prove to be a toy for marketers rather than geeks ?
It's all very well in practice, but it will never work in theory.
After following a few links on the Sony site, I dug up the following:
:)
This product line, C1, exists, and it's first model powered by a Celeron 400. It's about the 10 by 6 inches, making it look like a really big WinCE device, only it runs 98 SE.
The standard battery lasts between one and two hours. That is, as you can imagine, pretty unacceptable. Moving to the Crusoe is a good move here, because can probably get another hour to 90 minutes out of it. Then, when upgrading to a "quad capacity battery", you can get about 12 to 16 hours out of it, which means you can use it most of the day.
And for those people bitching about it's small size, this is the market Transmeta was aiming for, so there.
Is this post not nifty? Sluggy Freelance. Worshi
Is it too much to ask for some non-proprietary features? Like standard interfaces for perifrials?
Visit DC2600
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
As the subject line says, why the excitement over Crusoe?
Admittedly it should lead to longer battery life, but it's "just" an x86 (yes, I know about the code morphing, but for all intents and purposes it's an x86).
As far as I can see, this is just some sort of cult-of-celebrity thing, ohh look, Linus Torsvalds, whatever it is must be good.
(Also, with 15-inch XGA screens on some of their machines, what benefit is a Crusoe chip going to afford? Isn't most of the power going to be sucked through the screen anyway?)
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Remember that Sony Camcorder that had infra red capabilities?
Yeah, and some people reported that in a particular mode, you could see thru clothes!!
Bet the R&D team kept that a secret. Must have had a lot of fun testing it.
But since Sony has such a good marketing wing, the product was all over South East Asia and they had a tough time recalling back all the pieces.
But I would give anything to somebody who has a piece left.
-Anaplexian
"Dream"
I post first, I get noticed.
I post first, I get seen
I post first, I get moderated
And my website is where every body's been.
my website= http://iotaspace.net
[the site is cooler than it's name]
Now hiring experienced client- & server-side developers
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
Even the samurai
have teddy bears,
and even the teddy bears
Even the samurai
have teddy bears,
and even the teddy bears
get drunk
These Sony devices are always cool until the price comes around.
When the Sony PDA came around, I was very enthusiastic. This thing had the ability to kick Palm's ass. But then I saw the price. It was well over 600 dollars.
So although these Sony devices are truly cool, the price just makes them an unreasonable substitute to cheaper brands.
4 is quite good for a return. Many requires 6 to be out before they will let you return the display. This is one reason to try the laptop at a store before you bring it home.
F /...
I'm quite happy with my VAIO... then again it weighs 2.7lbs. That's lighter than a lot of books I carry around.
---
Solaris/FreeBSD/Openstep/NeXTSTEP/Linux/ultrix/OS
--- I do not moderate.
I, of course, ordered a sturdy dell. Then my co-worker quit so I took the sony he just ordered instead. Unfortunately, I've had more problems with it than you can imagine. If you stare at the plastic funny, it'll break. They are *really* cheaply made. I'll never buy one again. My co-worker, against my advice, just ordered 4 of them for a different department. They arrived last week and he's already told me he wished he'd listened to me.
The next site to slashdot will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and start slashdotting it early!
They *are* an RIAA member. OTOH, I've always said that any Sony boycott (at least in the US) would last until October 26, 2000 :).
I'm lucky, my vaio is screen flawless.
A quick search on the web will bring up some information on how you can get a couple more bad pixels on the screen / dead pixels and then you can get a new screen. Those things cost so much there is no reason you should have to deal with a stuck pixel.
Of course, I'm not encouraging fraud, or anything. *grin*
..don't panic
The Picturebook line of Vaios doesn't sell very well - it's too small to be useful as a "real" laptop.
I disagree that it's too small. My usual computer is a similar mini-notebook. The low weight makes it something I don't think twice about throwing in my briefcase *everyday*. Now the market for weight-conscious mobile computing is small, but that dosn't make the device "not useful".
I have discovered a truly marvelous sig, unfortunately the sig limit is too small to contain i
--
Linux runs quite well on it. I've been running Mandrake on it for a few months now. CowboyNeal himself has installed Debian on his. The only thing disppointing about this laptop is that it uses a Winmodem (starting with the latest C1-XS model), but I don't mind as much, since I pretty much only use the PCMCIA eth0 on it. Otherwise, it's a really nice laptop. When I boot into Win98, I can roam around work and use this little computer like a digital camera, since you can swivel the camera so that it's pointing away from you.
It's got a nice widescreen LCD on it, which makes watching those letterbox DivX:-) movies a joy. With the Crusoe chip, you might be able to watch a bunch of movies during a cross country plane ride!
bishy
These things may not have sold well before, but with one of those babys inside it...
:)
I remember one of the UK PC mags - PCW IIRC - going mad over this when it first apeared, and I can see why. It's just so _cute_, that size and with that camera. I was sorely tempted when I saw a 233 model going for UKP900 a while back, but managed to be good
I've just got a Psion 5. Lovely machine, not without its problems - but neither was my Palm III. Gave up on that because I realised I needed a keyboard.
Now. A Psion 5 is already too big for a pocket. This isn't much bigger - certainly no bigger than an LG Phenom Express. Except it's got a 1024*480 colour screen rather than my Psion's 640*240 16 greyscale. It can run Windows so I don't have such a limited software range. And, with this chip, it'll now run all day.
Yes, it's heavier. Yes, it's more fragile. Yes, it's more expensive and yes, it won't power up instantly. But let's be honest here. If we're sensible with the install, Windows will still boot within 30 seconds, which is good enough nost of the time. It'll also be a lot faster. And you still have to be careful with PDAs. I cracked my Palm III's screen, for example...
They're not as stupid as they look, releasing it first in one of these. Were I a little richer, I'd look at one.
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
I couldn't disagree more. It's pretty much the perfect size. A regular laptop is just too big to carry around all the time. The Vaio Picturebook line, like the Libretto before it, is pretty much ideal. A "real" laptop, as you call it, has no practical value as far as I can see. They're too big to be portable, and too underpowered for the desktop. Apparently, however, Toshiba were forced to withdraw the Libretto from the American market, because the general public couldn't cope with the small keyboard. I expect the picturebook line to go the same way. Sigh. From my point of view, the keyboard size is just right. It's quite big enough to type at full speed, unlike those found on traditional palmtops and many CE devices. It's worth noting that here in the UK, the smaller Vaios seem to be more prevalent than their full size brethren (although this is purely anecdotal -- I don't have sales figures). Perhaps it's a US thing. Either way, I'm still having to resort to importing my Libretoo ff1100V from Japan, 'coz that's the only place it's available anymore :-(
"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
Is there such a thing as "Certified Linus Compatible" on laptops?
The only thing I know for sure is that Compaqs are always incompatible.
Have a look at Linux on Laptops. They link to Linux reports on just about every notebook model you'll find.
too small to be useful as a "real" laptop
Um, hello? I for one would never even consider using a laptop that weighed more than 3 pounds or was too big to hold comfortably (and safely) in one hand. If you want a huge bulky machine with a 15" monitor, for crying out loud, buy a freaking desktop. The whole point of having a laptop is small size, aka portability. If you can feel the weight of your laptop in your backpack, you bought the wrong machine. When you can get a P-II 400MHz machine with 128MB RAM, a 12GB drive, a keyboard that is easily large enough for anyone to touch-type on, and every other feature of a full-sized machine in a case only minimally larger than a VHS tape (and half the thickness, for that matter), how on earth does that equal "not useful"? Sheesh.
This is cool for many people, like my friend the flight attendant who needed something that fit in her carry-on.
Don't take this as a flame, but who would be doing video editing on a laptop?
Laptops are all about maximum battery life. They achieve this by compromising speed for lower power usage. Video editing is all about high speed disc access, powerful video processors, and bright displays. Laptops deliberately lack strength in these areas.
Using a Intel or AMD chip will add more to the power usage budget than a Transmeta promises to do.
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And yet, here comes a new toy! Nevermind the three or four calls for "boycotts" and "buycotts", I've gotta be the First On My Block To Have One! Especially due to -- and this is the kicker -- "Sony's reputation for making the coolest looking gizmo's"
Ugh, this was a bit more vitriolic than I expected. Ah well, (Score: -1, Troll).
Most laptops let you use a USB mouse, but IMO mice are overrated. I much prefer my laptop's touchpad to a "proper mouse". With a touchpad, my hand doesn't have to stray as far from the keyboard, and when my hand tires I can switch to the other hand more easily and comfortably than with a mouse.
> If only Sony were smart enough to put this chip in their regular Vaios, they wouldn't be able to keep them on the shelves.
I question this one. Firstly, I'm all for Transmeta - they've done some really cool stuff, and are one of the few processor groups that have done anything radical in the last few years, so this isn't a rant at them. I'm curious about the quote above.
To the general public, they won't care what processor is under the hood - they just want something that runs Windows in a small package. In fact, not having "Intel Inside" written on it could be a detractor as far as Joe Public is concerned - PC = Intel for a lot of people.
In addition, I'm not sure how much of a battery saving a Crusoe chip will bring this kind of device - I'd imagine that the LCD panel, hard disk, etc. are going to take a fair whack too.
Adding "Transmeta Inside" may make it appeal to geeks, but I don't think it'll significantly cause the product to shift, unless it really does provide significant battery savings.
Still, on the plus side, the low power sleep mode on the Crusoe really makes sense for this kind of device. And it's good to see Transmeta getting the validation they deserve after all those ney-sayers crying "where are the customers?".
-- Michael
What does he mean, too small to be useful? I brought a PCG-C1XD about three months back and I absolutely love it. I got the upgrade to 128MB Ram and the larger 8 hour battery too. Now I charge overnight and run it off the battery all day. I don't even bother taking a power supply into work with me as I just don't need it. This little thing is fantastic. The keys have a lovely feel and the keyboard is large enough for me to touch type. The screen size works out very well for apps like Outlook 2000 and full screen web browsing. Even with the extra weight of the bigger battery it's still lighter than a regular laptop and because of the small size I've been able to use a relatively small, old DEC Hinote carry bag which is also stuffed with lots of other non-PC things I like to carry round. And it doesn't give me arm ache after half an hour.
This little beauty is definately the best PC purchase I've ever made, and it never fails to turn heads or provoke cooing noises when it's shown to someone for the first time.
I really think Sony will do very well if they can get a Crusoe chip in one of these things. The 8 hours I get right now is a huge benefit to me, and if they can match that with the default 2 hour battery they'll have a real winner on their hands.
Macka
I own a Sony Picturebook C1Xs and I find it to be a VERY useful little laptop. I use it all the time for everything from Web work to design in Photoshop, it has yet to let me down. My only gripe is that the battery life is terrible, so I guess if they dropped a nice Transmeta chip in it it would alleviate that problem.
Actually Panasonic already makes notebooks. Check out the Toughbook
Really nice products, if a little pricey.
Ender
Nothing to see here
Like Sony PCG-C1XS Picturebook Camera Capture you mean?
How does he find the time to work on so much neat software?
"don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
I stand corrected. Have to put the C1 on my list of replacements for the 505 to watch for next year, I guess. Their tech support still sucks donkey --- though. :) Most people would just be happy if they'd acknowledge when stuff is busted and not make you reinstall the crappy-OS it came with to prove the point. There was a time when Sony customer service kicked ass, but not anymore. At least not their computing division..
..don't panic
The keyboard issues you get used to. The display's a little annoying; but again, you get used to it after a while.
Try carrying that desktop somewhere on a trip (business or otherwise...)
Try using that desktop on a plane.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
If only Sony were smart enough to put this chip in their regular Vaios, they wouldn't be able to keep them on the shelves.
Right on the money. I'm in the "desktop replacement" market. I'm just about to buy a Sony VAIO F560 but I'd change my plans in an nanosecond if I could get the same machine with a power-sipping Transmeta chip, and thereby get more than an hour of battery-powered compute time. Better, give me a laptop with *two* Transmeta chips. Can anyone think of a single reason why they wouldn't want dual Transmeta's in a laptop?
--
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
How clever! Glad that's only a forward.
Email me.
Don't trust anyone over 90000.
+++ATH0
I believe that there's one built into a Ten-Gallon Hat ;)
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Tried it and saw that it was good... :-)
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I have a trinitron that was made in 1984, it does not do cable, so I have to plug in a VCR to use to change channels. But it still works, it sat outside of my parents house for about 6 years as the one that they would watch when having bbq's and other outside things
.sigs suck, thus nothing here.
and i'd recommend it to anyone who actually wants to be able to carry their laptop around.
i only need a pc for testing web pages, checking email on the move and running linux, and it does all of those perfectly and without taking up any more room than a book.
i'm a linux idiot, but it installed without a hitch and ran x inn 1024x480. looks great. even got three buttons.
the little camera is just a firewire device, by the way. so it still won't work in linux, but at least we know why.
there are two problems.
The processor has always been underpowered next to the rest of the lineup. presumably due to heat issues in that little case. not a problem for me, but puts many off.
and the battery life is shit. hour and a half tops.
so crusoe sounds like a smart move on all fronts.
ours just got fried - fell in a swamp, battery acid ate motherboard - and we'll be getting another one. probably sooner than 'year end', unfortunately.
i've been doing some research on the picture book and it seems a native of slashdot has one. he also seems to have gotten linux and just about every feature working.
check it at: cowboy neal's vaio page
also, i was concerned about not being able to use the firewire camera(anyone read cryptonomicon?) think of how cool it would be to have running under linux.
So check out : camera capture program
it's all very spiff. it will be doubly cool(no pun) when the transmeta chip gets in there.
xavii aka bob
disconnect_myself.from_your.memory_and.never_feel anything.at_all-strung.out
In addition to the other two replies so far, there is a HOWTO especially for the cute little VAIO PCG-C1XD.
With the extra battery life Crusoe offers, I think it would be a crime not to do a keyboard-less tablet with built-in Bluetooth, once the technology is out. Imagine how nice a Sony tablet, RF cordless keyboard and mouse would look - and to be able to just pick it up and work off-site for a whole day would be heaven.
Did anyone notice that CNet called Transmeta "the upstart processor maker". The 'upstart' thing is getting a bit ridiculus don't you think CNet?
one complaint i have (i have a 505TR), is for example sony's proprietary firewire chipset.. which has pretty much eliminated using it under linux (the firewire), tho the rest of the stuff is "standard available stuff".. :/
Doesn't matter who made the cleaning cassette. Don't use them, they're very destructive.
The dry ones are abrasive and sand down your rotating video heads (which widens their gaps and therefore reduces their frequency response (resolution)). Further, as the heads protrude less and less from the video head drum, they contact the tape less, and the net effect is that the output is reduced. This means that the AGC in the video amps is cranked up higher and the amplifier noise ("hiss", in an audio amplifier) becomes more visible as snow on the screen. It's usually especially visible when the VCR is displaying a dark and rich color.
The wet video head cleaners tend to stick to the head drum, and it takes a lot of force for the capstan to drag the wet tape. The VCR, of course, just tries to play the tape, and it defaults to attempting to spin the capstan at a given speed. If the capstan motor won't do x RPMs, the VCR's computer just runs the motor harder until it either does the right speed or pops the motor. They're multiphase AC motors, and the driver transistors often fry with these wet head cleaner cassettes. Other stuff that happens with wet cleaning cassettes is that since the capstan is pulling on the tape really hard to drag it over the drum, the guideposts and stuff between the capstan/pinch roller and the head drum all get bent or knocked out of alignment. Take up reel tables and clutches often die, too.
Simply, a dry cleaning cassette is like trying to clean your glasses with fine sandpaper. A wet cleaning cassette is like trying to clean your glasses by throwing them over Niagara Falls. Either technique will remove fingerprints.
Go to Borders, pick up a book on VCR repair, and read the chapter on cleaning your VCR. It's easy, everything you need is available at Radio Shack, and your VCR's picture will be better than with any cleaning cassette. Don't try to clean your VCR without reading the book - they're very delicate; it'd be as dangerous as guessing at syntax for rm while logged in as root.
And then, give your cleaning cassettes to someone you don't like. The best part is, they'll even thank you.
I not only took it straight off to repair, but I bought a 2000S the same day. When the old deck came back, I gave it to my mother, who swapped out her old Teac thing. It was left off for a couple of weeks and when it was plugged back in the power supply fried itself, just like my old Teac deck. It was duly binned.Well, anything electronic can and will eventually fail.
I have only a little experience with Teac consumer-grade stuff: I've replaced the heads in a Teac cassette deck, and I've gotta say, it was great. Flip the lid off, pull the knobs off the front, flip the door open and up, then take out the two screws holding the facepanel on. From there, I was able to change the head in a few minutes. All the test points to attach my oscilloscope and true RMS voltmeter (no Stallman jokes) were nicely labelled on the PC board, which make aligning it very easy.
I've never touched a Teac home VCR.
But, remember that Teac is one of the best regarded name in recording equipment. Teac/Tascam open-reel audio tape decks are right up there with ReVox and Ferrograph in reputation. And Teac VTRs are up there in the same rarefied atmosphere as Sony and Ampex.
Everything eventually will break. But I've never had any reason to knock Teac, either.
BTW, when something like that, normally plugged in all the time, dies when you first attempt to use it after it's been idle for a while, check all the filter capacitors, especially those near transformers and regulators. They dry out, lose their "form", and short out. This creates hum in the DC power and overloads the regulators, shutting down either that leg of the supply, or the whole supply. A fix is usually a trip to the electronics store, a bunch of electrolytic capacitors, and 20 minutes of soldering.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Okay, I have owned the original American Picturebook (C1X) for over a year now, dropped it, abused it, stepped on it, (hey, nobody can tell me Windows computer's aren't stable until they've used one as a step ladder) and so on. It has been verbally and physically abused on many occasions (as has a coworker's XG-29) and it still works great.
Hell, this poor notebook has been tossed, unprotected, into a backpack filled with other hard, sharp objects, and the only part that's worse for wear is the exterior covering. The monitor port flap doesn't stay shut, but aside from some major scuffing (and a heathy dent) it's fine. The screen side of the case has a large scratch, a noticable dent, and lots of scuffed off paint, and both the screen and the camera work flawlessly.
The only company I've seen overbuild electronics better than Sony was the old-time HP calculator division. (My 48SX was indestructable...)
As for Dells? The Inspirons I have ordered for work are pieces of $#!&. They may hold up to a pounding, but out of the box, they won't go to sleep! (Or, more specifically, they won't wake up once you put them to sleep.) Now, I may be a bit picky, but is it too much to ask that the 'Sleep' function works, on a notebook???
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.