The Personal Systems 2 Becomes Twelve

Caption: 

Seen externally the Ps 2   70 Ps 2 is identical to the Ps2 50, but on the inside, we noted a more compact motherboard with two 32 bit slots.

Description: 

New series Ps /2 personal computers from Ibm

Main Article Text

More than a year after the birth of the first models, of the Ps 2 family, IBM raises the offensive by introducing five new systems. However this time, the surprise effect, is not being seen since we have heard talk about these ads for months. Personally, I remember hearing for the first time in May of last year, about the Model 70 while reading PCWeek (American edition). It stated that IBM was preparing a new desktop remarkably similar to the model 50 but that it was to be much more powerful than Model 60. The prophecy has come true as we had also made the prediction (see PCWeek Italy No. 11 of 31 March 1988) which spoke of the imminent arrival of a more efficiently tuned Model 50.
Let us move onto the description of the five new personal computers. The first, starting from the bottom, is the model 50 Z which offers a better performance of 25% compared to the original Ps 2 50, since it has high speed RAM and a 60 MByte hard disk with a remarkably short access time (27 milliseconds). Apart from these two specifications, Ps 2 50 and Ps 2 50 Z are identical. Totally new are the three systems Ps 2 70 386, whose leading models outperforms all other members of the Ps 2 family. Named Model 70 – A21, this system is based on a 80386 microprocessor at 25 MHz and has 64 Kbytes of cache memory managed by a special coprocessor, the Intel 82385. The machine’s external dimensions are identical to those of a Ps 2 50, but as power goes it exceeds the Model 80. A little lower on the performance scale we find Model 70-121 which has a 80386 processor with 20 MHz frequency. The bringing up the tail end (so to speak) of the 70 series is the model 70 – F61 incorporating a 80386 processor at 16 MHz with a 60 MB hard drive. These IBM desktop machines reach Compaq in the race for processing power of micro and out distances the entire group of look-alike computers. The Model 80-311 closes the series of innovations presenting itself as the ideal machine for the functions of a network server with a 80386 microprocessor at 20 MHz and 314 MB hard drive, and able to be duplicated, which says a lot about the departmental role of this system. All of these models are already available except for the s 2 70-A21 which will arrive later this year. Meanwhile, IBM has readjusted the price of some systems already on the market. For example, the At3 5814000now costs lire.

Roberto Mazzoni