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LGR - The $4,750 HP OmniBook from 1996
🕑 Added 2023-10-10 23:48:53 +0000 UTCBack again with a classic LGR retrospective! It's been a good amount of time since I've made a straightforward "here's a cool laptop" video, and while taking some folks through a tour of my collection recently this one happened to stand out to them. So I thought, what the heck, why not finally cover this one?
The Omnibook 800CT here has long been one of my favorite little subnotebooks of the 90s. Not only was it one of the absolute most expensive machines in its class back when it was new, but this one in particular is the cream of the crop with the highest-end CPU option: a Pentium MMX 166! Combine that with the quirky mouse and ID holder and nifty screen and nice sound chip and all the other stuff covered in the video, and yeah, it's simply a pleasant machine to use even now. At least if you're a certain kinda retro weirdo.
I'm also really glad this one came together as smoothly as it did, because wow have there been a few frustrating days lately with projects falling apart and turning more complex. Enjoy this early edit, and lemme know if you notice any errors or anything! The next episode is already starting to come along so (knock on woodgrain) hopefully you'll be seeing that video show up on here about a week from today.
Have a good one and thank you for your ongoing support!
Comments
Sam Parsons
Probably the cutest mouse i have ever seen, but i bet it's kinda useless for anything other than 'finishing that business thing on the train home' type situation.
adcurtin
sweet, I've got an omnibook 430 with the same mouse, but I've yet to find drivers that work with it. It's got a sweet reflective LCD, and can run from AAs
LGR
Oh nice, they have a fascinating channel
Evangeline Domenech
I have one of these computers myself! Got it in a trade with bbishoppcm!
LGR
Ayy 😄
Alyxx the Rat
What a cute and surprisingly capable notebook! I'm actually impressed by the display. Despite the scaling not being on point (lol), it does not look that bad!
LGR
Yep, that was the only way I got to see these things up close back then! Always a relative with a business job or a government contract, or some friend's rich grandparents or something. Rarely if ever got to use the things since they cost as much as car, but wow were they impressive to see doing their thing when new.
LGR
Heh, y'know I actually record those typing bits like four or five times anytime I do them. All about getting the right *sound* as opposed to legitimately typing 😁
Tossabaddle
Neat! I remember my uncle who worked in "fancy business stuff" had a sub-notebook, for travel, in the 90's. I still remember how insanely cool that was back then!
Skoddie
The fake typing at 4:28 is amazing 😸
LGR
Ah that's how it goes, honestly this one I have will probably find a new home sooner or later. Especially owning more capable machines with fewer compromises already. The 800CT is a fun performance level and form factor to play with here and there, but I *always* go for my better-equipped laptops when I'm in the mood for late 90s PC stuff.
kepuexe
I had this model! Unfortunately "had". Sold it some years ago. Was a neat little machine. I loved the cute little mouse.
LGR
That would be a gargantuan project, HP is far older and larger than you might think. I also don’t do Tech Tales anymore, but if I did I’d have to pick a single part of their vast history to focus on rather than the whole company story :)
LGR
Thanks for the clarification, that makes sense!
Hernando Heilbron
HP tech tales maybe?
Kris Asick
MMX is just a set of CPU instructions designed to accelerate integer math by allowing single instructions to perform concurrent calculations on multiple values at a time. From what I understand, EXTREMELY few DOS games take advantage of it because of how late MMX was to the DOS gaming party, but there were indeed a handful which did, as anyone who knows the opcodes and assembly language can add MMX support to their software, DOS or otherwise! :D
50_SHADES_OF_BEIGE
Seeing POD scaled on software render reminds me of a crisper version of PS1 graphics.
LGR
Right? It’s just slim and slick across the board, especially for having a larger screen and full sized keys.
50_SHADES_OF_BEIGE
Wow! That's so thin for it's time. It makes my IBM 760 look downright chungus.
LGR
Indeed, it’s one of those special machines that’s more than the sum of its parts I’d say!
Tom Anderson
Cool! This computer looks awesome despite its limits LGR!
LGR
“The Paw” huh. Interesting, I’ve seen no mention of that in the OmniBook documentation, or even in the old reviews or HP software I’ve come across from back then. I do at least have some full size docking stations for other laptops, so we’ll get to try such upgrades in the future!
jcs
Too bad it didn't include the docking station, it has full size PCI and ISA slots in it and I was always curious if one could upgrade the graphics with a crazy PCI video card and game with it. Also, HP refers to the pop out mouse as "the paw".
