Amstrad NC-100

The Amstrad NC-100 was a sub-notebook type machine that was proprietary in just about every way!

It ran on AA-sized batteries (or a mains power adapter), and could run it’s 80×8 LCD screen for a fairly decent period of time!

It used a Protext Wordprocessor, and came with simple apps for managing a Calendar, a Calculator, BBC Basic, and a Serial Communications program.

It used a Z80 processor, with 64kb of battery backed internal storage, and expandable with a PCMCIA style expansion card, you had to transfer “documents” off to a PC by using the 9-pin RS/232 Serial connection at the top.

I still have one today, although it doesn’t really get used!  In it’s time it served me quite well as something that was small and light enough to use on the train to do College work, which I’d later transfer off on to my PC and format/print “properly”.

My family and I also used an NC-100 to help a wannabe local author transpose her memoirs to an electronic format.  It was quite a picture watching my father two fingered typing in to the NC-100 while sitting at our kitchen table!  🙂

In Europe, the NC-100 was followed by the NC-200.