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Compaq LTE 5000 series

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LTE 5000 series
Compaq LTE 5100
Developer
ManufacturerInventec
Product familyLTE
TypeLaptop (notebook)
GenerationFourth
Release dateSeptember 1995 (1995-09)[1]
Lifespan1995–1997
Operating system
CPUPentium
PredecessorLTE Elite
SuccessorArmada

The LTE 5000 series was a series of notebook-sized laptops under the LTE line manufactured by Compaq from 1995 to 1997. The LTE 5000 series was Compaq's first laptop with Pentium processors from Intel. The line of computers were co-developed between Compaq and Inventec of Taiwan and were manufactured entirely by Inventec overseas. The LTE 5000 series was the last generation in the LTE line, Compaq replacing it with the Armada line in 1997.

Development and specifications

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The LTE 5000 series was the fourth and final generation of LTE, a notebook family introduced six years earlier in 1989.[2]: C2 [3] The LTE 5000 series directly replaced Compaq's LTE Elite series that they had introduced in 1994.[4][5] According to the press at the time, Compaq had poorly handled the rollout of the LTE Elite in 1994, discontinuing the production of its predecessor, the LTE Lite, months before they were ready to ship the LTE Elite to customers.[6][7] Certain models of the LTE Elite line were fraught with technical issues, leading to several recalls.[7][8] These factors and more contributed to a proportional shrinkage in Compaq's laptop market share, despite the company's total market share slightly increasing from 1993. No longer was Compaq the top laptop maker in the United States: Toshiba overtook them that year, helped along with their Satellite line of laptops.[7][4]

As a result of this upset, in early 1995, Compaq hired Inventec of Taiwan to co-design and manufacture in full the followup LTE. The partnership not only hastened development of a successor but also gained Compaq access to Taiwan's more cutting-edge technologies in the field of mobile computer production.[7][8] It was the first time in several years that Compaq relied on an outside company to design a portable computer of theirs and was the first machine Compaq had manufactured entirely in Taiwan.[9][10] At the beginning of the LTE 5000 series' development, Compaq also scouted for new talent for its portable systems division while letting others go; for example, in January 1995, Compaq hired Jeff Greenberg away from Toshiba America Information Systems to be a product manager of theirs.[7] Compaq's partnership with Inventec was not without its own issues, however, with Compaq engineer Greg Mora calling the process of communicating small but important refinements in design challenging on account of Compaq having no ownership of Inventec's factory.[9]

The LTE 5000 series was a top-to-bottom redesign of the LTE line, with Compaq abandoning the ambitious internal AC adapter of the Elite line in favor of the familiar power brick.[11][12] In its stead was what Compaq termed the MultiBay: a multipurpose, hot-swappable[13]: 41  expansion slot in the front of the machine that allowed users to slot in a floppy drive, a CD-ROM drive (a first for the LTE line), a second hard drive for more disk storage, or a second battery for frequent travelers.[14] Compaq also offered a full-feature docking station that added several other MultiBay units to the machine, on top of additional PC Cards and an Ethernet port.[15]

The LTE 5000 series was the debut of Intel's multimedia-oriented Pentium processor in a Compaq laptop; as well, it was Compaq's first laptop with built-in 16-bit audio synthesis and playback (beyond the PC speaker); hardware acceleration for video; and an infrared port for communicating with PDAs.[14] An optional MPEG decoder card also allowed the laptop to stream MPEG video in real-time as well as output video to television sets and projectors.[4] Compaq used ESS Technology's Sound Blaster–compatible AudioDrive chips to handle audio and used OPTi's PCI-based Viper as the computer's video and general-purpose chipset.[16]: 124  The LTE 5000 series abandoned the monitor-mounted trackballs of older models in favor of an implementation of IBM's keyboard-mounted pointing stick technology.[4][17]

The polarizers of certain early-model LTE 5000 series machines with active-matrix LCDs were coated with a dark film intended to increase contrast when looked at straight-on while reducing visibility from far angles.[10][18] This led to criticism from users who perceived the displays as overly dim, especially for an active-matrix display. Compaq replaced the backlight inverter of successor models with a higher-voltage unit in response to this criticism.[17][19]

Reception

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The Houston Chronicle's Dwight Silverman, reviewing the LTE 5100, called the display's refresh rate snappy, the hard drive's seek times "lightning-fast", and the keyboard's feeling "typically nice" for a Compaq portable. He deemed the laptop "excellent [for] anyone who has to do presentations on the road", with its hardware-accelerated graphics chip streaming video files flawlessly.[18] Silverman had reservations with the display's brightness and relative heft of the machine, at 8 pounds (3.6 kg). Overall, he deemed the LTE 5100 "an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to computer design [that] virtually bludgeons the competition with a mass of features".[18] Silverman had similar opinions about its successor the LTE 5300, although noting that the brightness of its display was noticeably improved and praising the increased size of its display.[17]

PC/Computing's Marty Jerome, reviewing the LTE 5100, gave the machine four-and-a-half-stars out of five. Like Silverman, Dwight praised its video performance while also highlighting its built-in speakers as "surprisingly good" in terms of range and stereo separation. Also like Silverman, Dwight drew attention to the machine's heaviness, writing that it "harken[ed] back to the days of laptops and throbbing shoulders", but found the keyboard layout "excellent" and welcomed the addition of a wrist wrest.[12] Jerome called the optional CD-ROM drive slow for the time, at only 2× speed.[12]

PC World's Brad Grimes, reviewing the LTE 5100, deemed the machine "among the best" of the portables the magazine had tested up to that point and evaluated it as the fastest 90-MHz Pentium notebook on the market. However, he wrote that the over $6,000 price tag made it noncompetitive.[20] Melissa Riofrio of the same publication, reviewing a submodel of the LTE 5100 with half the included RAM (8 MB instead of 16 MB), found it slow compared to competitor offerings and still too expensive, at $5,400.[21] Reviewing the LTE 5250, Grimes called its processor performant, the case and keyboard sturdy and comfortable, the speakers superb, and the battery life long but called the display too dim and too small.[22] He found the LTE 5150 an adequate substitute, albeit with one with a lower-quality passive-matrix display.[22]

Bruce Brown of PC Magazine, reviewing the LTE 5300, called it a "stalwart choice" for "a top-quality multimedia presentation portable" and "a good bet for corporate buyers" but found it expensive at over $6,600. In benchmark tests, Brown deemed the Compaq LTE an average performer in terms of number-crunching and graphical capability while singling out its battery life as "very good".[23] Comparing the LTE 5300 to Dell's Latitude XPi P133ST, Michael Caton of PC Week called the Compaq a better desktop replacement due to its modularity and optional full-feature docking station but found Dell's unit an overall performer in terms of processing speed and graphics.[24]

PC World's Rex Farrance, reviewing the LTE 5400 (the final model in the line), wrote that, while expensive, the machine possessed "above-average reliability, super service, flawless construction, and a lovely screen".[25] Its 150-MHz processor was deemed only slightly above average in terms of performance, while its battery life and hard drive storage space were deemed mediocre.[25]

Legacy

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Compaq began retiring the LTE line with the 5000 series after introducing the Armada line in 1996. The final LTE 5000 models rolled off the line in the middle of June 1997.[2] The Armada series marked the return of Compaq manufacturing their own laptops; following the end of the LTE 5000 series, Compaq severed ties with Inventec.[26]

In 2016, Jalopnik reported that the Compaq LTE 5280, released in 1996, was still used by McLaren Automotive to service the McLaren F1 supercar—the current record holder (as of 2022) for the fastest production car with a naturally aspirated engine.[27][28] McLaren built 106 F1s, of which 100 were remaining in 2016. McLaren designed the on-board diagnostics (OBD) designed around the use of the Compaq LTE line as the scan tool. Their mechanics use software installed on the LTE 5280 as their means to service the car, with a bespoke conditional access (CA) card built into the LTE 5280 both to prevent third-party access to the cars' OBD and to copy-protect the scan tool software.[29] A software-based, platform-agnostic emulator for the CA card was developed a few years later, although McLaren maintains a hoarde of LTE 5280s as spares.[28][30]

Models

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Compaq LTE 5000 series lineup[31]
Model Release date Processor Clock
speed
(MHz)		 LCD technology LCD
size
(in.)		 LCD
resolution		 Stock memory
(max., in MB)		 HDD CD-ROM drive
LTE 5000 Model 510 CSTN September 1995[1] Intel Pentium 75 Passive-matrix color 10.4 640×480 8 or 16 (80) 510 MB Optional
LTE 5000 Model 810 CSTN September 1995[1] Intel Pentium 75 Passive-matrix color 11.3 640×480 8 or 16 (80) 810 MB Optional
LTE 5000 Model 810 CTFT September 1995[1] Intel Pentium 75 Active-matrix color 10.4 640×480 8 or 16 (80) 810 MB Optional
LTE 5100 Model 810 CTFT September 1995[1] Intel Pentium 90 Active-matrix color 10.4 800×600 8 or 16 (80) 810 MB Optional
LTE 5100 Model 810 CD CTFT September 1995[1] Intel Pentium 90 Active-matrix color 10.4 800×600 8 or 16 (80) 810 MB Included
LTE 5150 Model 810 CSTN 800×600 June 1996[32] Intel Pentium 100 Passive-matrix color 11.3 800×600 8 or 16 (80) 810 MB Included
LTE 5200 Model 1350 CTFT September 1995[1] Intel Pentium 120 Active-matrix color 10.4 800×600 8 or 16 (80) 1.35 GB Optional
LTE 5250 Model 810 CTFT 800×600 June 1996[32] Intel Pentium 120 Active-matrix color 10.4 800×600 8 or 16 (80) 810 MB Included
LTE 5280 Model 810 CTFT 800×600 April 1996[33] Intel Pentium 120 Active-matrix color 11.3 800×600 8 or 16 (80) 810 MB Included
LTE 5280 Model 1350 CTFT 800×600 April 1996[33] Intel Pentium 120 Active-matrix color 11.3 800×600 8 or 16 (80) 1.35 GB Included
LTE 5300 Model 1350 CTFT 800×600 April 1996[33] Intel Pentium 133 Active-matrix color 12.1 800×600 8 or 16 (80) 1.35 GB Included
LTE 5300 Model 2160 CTFT 800×600 April 1996[33] Intel Pentium 133 Active-matrix color 12.1 800×600 8 or 16 (80) 2.16 GB Included
LTE 5380 Model 2160 CTFT 1024×768 November 1996[34] Intel Pentium 133 Active-matrix color 12.1 1024×768 8 or 16 (80) 2.16 GB Included
LTE 5400 Model 2160 CTFT 800×600 November 1996[34] Intel Pentium 150 Active-matrix color 12.1 800×600 8 or 16 (80) 2.16 GB Included

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Compaq to launch new line of notebooks". Austin American-Statesman: D4. August 22, 1995 – via ProQuest.
  2. ^ a b Silverman, Dwight (April 30, 1997). "Compaq launches its newest Armada". Houston Chronicle: C2–C3 – via ProQuest.
  3. ^ Chang, Chun-Yen; Po-Lung Yu, eds. (2001). Made by Taiwan: Booming in the Information Technology Era. World Scientific Publishing Company. p. 175. ISBN 9789814489898 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ a b c d Silverman, Dwight (August 22, 1995). "New Compaq notebook full of surprises". Houston Chronicle: 1 – via ProQuest.
  5. ^ Staff writer (March 7, 1994). "Compaq Computer Corp.: Five Notebook Computers Due to Be Unveiled Today". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company: B6 – via ProQuest.
  6. ^ Fitzgerald, Michael (January 23, 1995). "Compaq tries to regain notebook throne". Computerworld. 29 (4). IDG Publications: 6 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ a b c d e Francis, Bob; Yvonne L. Lee (January 30, 1995). "Compaq slates big changes to gain edge in notebooks". InfoWorld. 17 (5). IDG Publications: 8 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ a b Fitzergald, Michael; Jaikumar Vijayan (April 17, 1995). "Users: Problems with Compaq notebooks linger". Computerworld. 29 (16). IDG Publications: 8 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ a b Dwight, Silverman (October 27, 1998). "Workers move to make potent portables". Houston Chronicle: 1 – via NewsBank.
  10. ^ a b DiCarlo, Lisa (December 4, 1995). "Compaq to refresh Conturas—but also faces backlogs and bugs in new LTE 5000 models". PC Week. 12 (48). Ziff-Davis: 6 – via Gale.
  11. ^ "Compaq launches new flagship family of MMX-based performance notebook computers". EDGE. 8. EDGE Publishing: 8. May 5, 1997 – via Gale.
  12. ^ a b c Jerome, Marty (December 1995). "Compaq's Multimedia Road Show". PC/Computing. 8 (12). Ziff-Davis: 84 – via ProQuest.
  13. ^ DeVoney, Chris (April 26, 1996). "Power portables". Computerworld. 30 (35). IDG Publications: 41, 44 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ a b Gilooly, Brian (September 4, 1995). "Pentium Makes Compaq Lineup". September 4, 1995. InformationWeek: 26 – via ProQuest.
  15. ^ Mitchell, Gabrielle (December 1995). "New Notebooks Pack Desktop Power". PC World. 13 (12). IDG Publications: 93 – via the Internet Archive.
  16. ^ Bender, Maggi; Jim Kane; John McDonough (October 1996). "19 Pentium Portables Do Multimedia". Byte. 21 (10). McGraw-Hill: 114–125 – via ProQuest.
  17. ^ a b c Silverman, Dwight (May 26, 1996). "Two multimedia notebooks pack a punch". Houston Chronicle: 5 – via ProQuest.
  18. ^ a b c Silverman, Dwight (December 24, 1995). "Vices spoil Compaq LTE 5100's virtues". Houston Chronicle: 4 – via ProQuest.
  19. ^ DiCarlo, Lisa (January 29, 1996). "Compaq's problematic LTE 5000 notebook is still bugging users". PC Week. 13 (4). Ziff-Davis: 1 et seq – via Gale.
  20. ^ Grimes, Brad (April 1996). "Notebook Snapshots: Compaq LTE 5100". PC World. 14 (4). IDG Publications: 198 – via the Internet Archive.
  21. ^ Riofrio, Melissa (May 1996). "Notebook Snapshots: Compaq LTE 5100". PC World. 14 (5). IDG Publications: 218 – via the Internet Archive.
  22. ^ a b Grimes, Brad (December 1996). "Compaq LTE 5250". PC World. 14 (12). IDG Publications: 245, 247 – via the Internet Archive.
  23. ^ Brown, Bruce (August 1996). "Compaq LTE 5300". PC Magazine. 15 (14). Ziff-Davis: 151 – via Google Books.
  24. ^ Caton, Michael (April 22, 1996). "P133 makes splash in portables". PC Week. 13 (16). Ziff-Davis: 75 – via Gale.
  25. ^ a b Farrance, Rex (April 1997). "Compaq LTE 5400". PC World. 15 (4). IDG Publications: 208 – via the Internet Archive.
  26. ^ DiCarlo, Lisa (September 9, 1996). "U.S. firms find promise, pitfalls in Taiwan". PC Week. 13 (36). Ziff-Davis: 18 – via Gale.
  27. ^ Warren, Tom (May 3, 2016). "McLaren needs a 20-year-old Compaq laptop to maintain its F1 supercar". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on March 22, 2023.
  28. ^ a b Garg, Sresht (December 12, 2022). "Why Do McLaren's F1 Cars Still Need a 20-Year-Old Computer to Be Serviced?". Top Gear India. BBC Studios Distribution. Archived from the original on May 29, 2023.
  29. ^ Petrány, Máté (April 28, 2016). "This Ancient Laptop Is the Only Key to the Most Valuable Supercars on the Planet". Jalopnik. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on October 11, 2023.
  30. ^ Oates, John (November 18, 2019). "Intel end-of-lifing BIOS and driver downloads for dusty hardware". The Register. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023.
  31. ^ Maintenance and Service Guide: Compaq LTE 5000 Family of Personal Computers (PDF). Compaq Computer Corporation. 1996. pp. 2–3.
  32. ^ a b April, Carolyn A. (June 24, 1996). "Compaq launches more notebooks". InfoWorld. 18 (26). IDG Publications: 36 – via ProQuest.
  33. ^ a b c d Silverman, Dwight (April 16, 1996). "Speedier chips added to Compaq notebooks". Houston Chronicle: 3 – via ProQuest.
  34. ^ a b April, Carolyn A. (November 18, 1996). "PCs get price cuts to make way for new models". InfoWorld. 18 (47). IDG Publications: 6 – via ProQuest.
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