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IBM Thinkpad 235

This is one of my IBM Thinkpad 235 machines, imported from Japan. 235 machines tend to be in lovely condtion and well-kept by their owners.

 

 

IBM Thinkpad 220

The IBM Thinkpad is not such a difficult machine to get, but in good condition and working is another matter altogether. This machine was obtained and repaired in reasonable condition and boots to the original installation of it's Japan-centric menu. It comes inside it's own IBM leather wallet.

Thinkpad 200 Series Overview

These were almost all Type 24xx and 26xx machines which were aimed at the ultraportable, ultracompact market. None of them had built-in removable floppy or optical drives. Here we have the added benefit of the numbers being almost entirely chronological!

The series had two outliers within it, which were certainly related to the 2xx series - the non-Thinkpad (PT not TP!) Palm Top PC110 -which is perhaps why there is no 210 Model and the Risk-based Workpad Z50 - which looks awfully similar to the 240 models but is not intel-based.

Read more: Thinkpad 200 Series Overview

Restoring IBM Thinkpad 230cs

The 230cs is the final iteration of the 'monolith' sequence of IBM ultra mobile Thinkpads. There was the original Monolith prototype which was never released, which was succeeded by a production-ready PC110 or PalmTop 110 or PT110 or....TP110. It wasn't allowed to be called a Thinkpad because it wasn't Thinkpad-y enough. 

Read more: Restoring IBM Thinkpad 230cs

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IBM 5535 Multistation

IBM Japan had a range of Kanji-character-enabled desktop computers, called the Multistations. This was part of that family with the addition of a greyscale LCD display. Although 5535 is the 'laptop' range of machines, With the sheer size and weight (7kg), I think you would consider it more like a 'space saving desktop', much like the IBM Convertible. It has a sibling called the 5535-S which has a slightly different design and is 'less boxy'.

Read more: IBM 5535 Multistation

IBM PS/2 Model CL57 SX

This is a massive, stange, outlier in IBM's journey into portable personal computers. CL for 'Color Laptop' and 57 for....... fuck knows.  The type is 8554 and it runs MCA bus. It's almost completely unique although it shares a look similar to that of the possibly-vaporware, Japan-only PS/55 Power (PC) Laptop EWS - which also feels like a skunkworks project.

Some sources state this machine started as a Model N27sx - a 'for fun' IBM Japan design for domestic japanese market. I can't find much source material that this is true though. Apparently, the CPU was downgraded from a 486 to a 386 so as to not compete with other PS/2 machines. Supposedly there are some hidden clues on the machines that despite it's international 85xx model designation, the plant ID is 97 which is IBM Japan Entry Systems factory in Fujisawa.

Read more: IBM PS/2 Model CL57 SX

PS/55 Note N51 SX and SLC

After the successes of the original note (1st Gen), the N23 (2nd Gen) and the N33 machines, two machines share the third generation space - the still-monochome MCA N51 and TFT Colour, ISA C23V.

Read more: PS/55 Note N51 SX and SLC

Notes on notes

Note: The 5499 On-Line note isn't really part of the brand note family. Whilst it's certainly a notebook, it's a weird dead end portable terminal which has very little use unconnected to a maintrame.

PS/55 note - The PS/55 was a range of Type-55xx computers for only Japan. They're based on the PS/2 but ISA bus and with special Japanese localisations supporting the more technically difficult languge to display on screen and type on a keyboard.

The 'note' branding was devised for the Notebook versions and within Japan all had to be in the 5523 model range (as opposed to 5535 for laptops). The original (or 1st Generation) 12Mhz PS/55 Note was the 386 5523-S0x model with sandwiched planars and room for either a FDD or HDD.

Read more: Notes on notes

PS/55 Note (1st Generation)

This was the first mass-market (well - Japan!) IBM Notebook - specifically a seperate model line to the type 5535 laptop models, which is why they simply badged it with 'note'.

The first generation PS/55 notes had the type 5523-S0x

Read more: PS/55 Note (1st Generation)