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Text File | 1988-11-22 | 6KB | 88 lines

       Review of the Mitac Paragon 286 VE, 16MHz AT-Compatible With VGA
                       Copyright 1988 David W. Batterson

     Some time ago when I had an Apple //c, I needed an external floppy drive
but didn't want to pay Apple's inflated prices.  So I bought one made by Mitac.
It served me well until I left the Apple orchard behind for the MS-DOS world.
     Mitac also moved ahead.  It began making XT and AT compatibles for other
companies in 1982.  Only recently did it start selling its ATs and 386s under
the Mitac label.
     Although it now also produces a 386 tower PC, and a fully-licensed IBM
PS/2-compatible, it has had good success with its Paragon series of
small-footprint PCs.
     The unit I chose for review is the MPC2200 VE, a 286 with 16MHz, Paradise
Plus VGA card and a 40MB hard drive.  Standard RAM is 1MB.  There are two
serial ports (a 25-pin and 9-pin), and one parallel.  And even with the compact
size, there are six expansion slots (one half-size and 5 full-size).
     The Mitac comes with MS-DOS/GW-BASIC versions 3.3, and complete manuals
for each.  There's the usual socket for an 80287 math co-processor.
     First a word about the hard drive.  It's a 3 1/2" drive manufactured by
Conner Peripherals:  the CP-344.  Although rated at 40MB, the formatted drive
came up with about 42.7MB.  The average access time is 29ms, with a 1-to-1
interleave.
     I was extremely pleased with the quietness of this drive.  I spoke to a
technical representative from the company at COMDEX/Fall, and he told me that
their drives are among the quietest in the industry.  It is definitely quieter
than Seagate and MiniScribe drives I've tested.  You particularly notice the
difference when you boot or turn off the Paragon 286 VE.
     The CP-344 drive features automatic error correction.  It also performs an
automatic diagnostics routine at start-up time.  This hard drive is Grade A all
the way, and I applaud Conner Peripherals for a fine product.
     The Paragon 286 VE comes with both 1.2MB 5 1/4" and 1.44MB 3 1/2" floppy
drives.  The 5 1/4" drive is supplied by Mitsubishi.  The 3 1/2" drive, made by
Alps, is mounted vertically to save space.
     A problem with the vertical array is that to insert or remove a 3 1/2"
disk, you have to move the keyboard out of the way.  So that's a bit of an
irritation.  I generally use 5 1/4" disks most of the time, though.
     The power switch is conveniently located on the front panel, next to the
reset button.  There's a light to indicate 16MHz mode.  You vary the speed
between 16MHz and 8MHz by pressing the <Ctrl> <Alt> <\> combination.  You then
receive an audible signal--2 beeps for 16MHz and 4 for 8MHz mode.
     The Paradise VGA Plus card can be configured in other ways than the
default VGA mode.  If you have an NEC MultiSync (or compatible) monitor, it
will support 800x600 graphics resolution in 16 colors.  Otherwise, the
resolution is 640x480 with 16 colors or b&w, and 320x200 with 256 colors or 64
shades of gray.
     It also supports EGA, CGA, MDA, Hercules, and 43 line/132 column text
modes.  You can change these using the VGAPLUS.EXE program.  There's also a
video test program, and ROMCHECK.COM to check the system BIOS date (this one
was dated 7/30/87).
     The VGA monitor supplied was a 13" Tatung CM-1496, analog type, with .31mm
dot pitch.  Besides color mode, a switch lets you select amber, green or
blue display.  After many hours of use, I suffered no eyestrain.  However, the
monitor swivels but doesn't tilt, as you would expect.
     The Mitac also has a digital port in the event you wish to use a digital
VGA monitor.  Note:  you cannot use both ports.  If you wish to connect a
second monitor, a second video adapter is required.
     Mitac's enhanced 101 keyboard is acceptable, but doesn't deserve any
awards.  It doesn't have the click-tactile feel I prefer, like Northgate's
OmniKey/102 keyboard.  But I realize many users, including Compaq owners, like
the soft keyboards.
     The operations manual is useful and complete.  However, I noticed a couple
of mistakes.  On page 3-8, it mentions that you clear the screen using the
<Ctrl> <Home> key combination.  This is true only while using GW-BASIC; it is
NOT an MS-DOS command.  The correct command, of course, is CLS.
     On page 13 of the ERRATA booklet, it states "FORMAT C:\S\V."  This should
be FORMAT C:/S/V instead.
     The Mitac comes with the Advanced Disk Manager (ADM) utility program.
This allows you to customize a hard disk installation.  You can create up to 16
partitions, and can assign passwords for hard disk access.  ADM also lets you
extend the hard disk space beyond DOS' strange 32MB limit, up to 512MB!
     At the factory, Shadow RAM is enabled.  This executes the system and video
BIOS through RAM (the 640K - 1 MB area), providing increased speed.  You can
disable Shadow Ram if you prefer.  By using the ADM utility, you can permit
your software to access that extra 384K as Extended memory.  In some cases,
this may be preferable to using the Shadow RAM feature.
     I like the 286 VE very much.  The 16MHz CPU, BIOS going through Shadow
RAM, and the peppy hard disk all work in combination to provide blazing speed
and performance.  Software just cooks on this machine!
     The compact size saves valuable desk space--I need all the space I can get
on my desk!  I think Mitac will find a ready market for these PCs.  This review
unit had a suggested list of around $2900, but shop around for a good street
price.
     For more information, contact American Mitac Corp., 410 E. Plumeria Dr.,
San Jose, CA  95134; [phone], [phone], FAX: [phone].
                                       #
     David W. Batterson writes computer reviews, articles and commentary.  You
can reach him via MCI MAIL: DBATTERSON.