tokyoracer wrote:

I'm just curious, Not so long ago gotten into DOS gaming on laptops, it started with an AST Premium Exec and later a couple of 486's but the limited sound capabilities made me wonder, did they ever have laptops that came with on-board sound cards, specifically the Pre-Pentium era? I have never seen one for sale that had anything more than a beepy speaker, weven with a meaty DX4 CPU and a ton of RAM (well back then anyway). Granted, you can sometimes do some cool things with it (see the Pinball Dreams/Fantasies games as an example), but when you have a fast 486, it seems a bit daft even back then to not atleast supply some kind of simple FM chip. Surely it couldn't cost alot more and offer so much more than an internal speaker that was drempt up in 1981?
I know there existed a little sound card module things for some DOS compatible 68K Mac's (I think my Performa 630 has a Vibra 16 thingy attached to it), so the technology seems to have been around to fit such a thing inside a mid-90's laptop case.

So really I guess what i'm asking, does anyone know of any x86 laptops that had one built in (not including luggables with full ISA/PCI slot(s))?

Lunchboxes never get any love. 😢

I mean, just look at those lines, it's sleek form, and the handle on the top will come in handy too! 🤣

Google found a thread HERE from April 6th, about a thinkpad with an ISA SB 2.
Then there's this archived thread from last year asking the same question as you. Hopefully it'll be helpful.

ElectricMonk wrote:

http://i.imgur.com/26lsQiy.jpg […]
Show full quote

tokyoracer wrote:

I'm just curious, Not so long ago gotten into DOS gaming on laptops, it started with an AST Premium Exec and later a couple of 486's but the limited sound capabilities made me wonder, did they ever have laptops that came with on-board sound cards, specifically the Pre-Pentium era? I have never seen one for sale that had anything more than a beepy speaker, weven with a meaty DX4 CPU and a ton of RAM (well back then anyway). Granted, you can sometimes do some cool things with it (see the Pinball Dreams/Fantasies games as an example), but when you have a fast 486, it seems a bit daft even back then to not atleast supply some kind of simple FM chip. Surely it couldn't cost alot more and offer so much more than an internal speaker that was drempt up in 1981?
I know there existed a little sound card module things for some DOS compatible 68K Mac's (I think my Performa 630 has a Vibra 16 thingy attached to it), so the technology seems to have been around to fit such a thing inside a mid-90's laptop case.

So really I guess what i'm asking, does anyone know of any x86 laptops that had one built in (not including luggables with full ISA/PCI slot(s))?

Lunchboxes never get any love. 😢

I mean, just look at those lines, it's sleek form, and the handle on the top will come in handy too! 🤣

Google found a thread HERE from April 6th, about a thinkpad with an ISA SB 2.
Then there's this archived thread from last year asking the same question as you. Hopefully it'll be helpful.

I had a lead on an Osborne I suitcase computer once, but after making contact with the seller one time, I never heard back from him again. 😠 I really wanted that, too.

sliderider wrote:

I had a lead on an Osborne I suitcase computer once, but after making contact with the seller one time, I never heard back from him again. 😠 I really wanted that, too.

No doubt. When I was a technical instructor, way back when, we had a small fleet of damn fine lunchboxes, for offsite training. I'd love to have one again, just for the coolness.

No hate intended, I was just wanting to know I'd love a luggable but it's off the topic.

The IBM is pretty cool kinda not what i'm looking for since I am wondering if there's laptops with them built in (I.E. Not full size cards). Plus the sound card technically isn't in the laptop but infact inside the dock.

tokyoracer wrote:

I'm just curious, Not so long ago gotten into DOS gaming on laptops, it started with an AST Premium Exec and later a couple of 486's but the limited sound capabilities made me wonder, did they ever have laptops that came with on-board sound cards, specifically the Pre-Pentium era? I have never seen one for sale that had anything more than a beepy speaker, weven with a meaty DX4 CPU and a ton of RAM (well back then anyway). Granted, you can sometimes do some cool things with it (see the Pinball Dreams/Fantasies games as an example), but when you have a fast 486, it seems a bit daft even back then to not atleast supply some kind of simple FM chip. Surely it couldn't cost alot more and offer so much more than an internal speaker that was drempt up in 1981?
I know there existed a little sound card module things for some DOS compatible 68K Mac's (I think my Performa 630 has a Vibra 16 thingy attached to it), so the technology seems to have been around to fit such a thing inside a mid-90's laptop case.

So really I guess what i'm asking, does anyone know of any x86 laptops that had one built in (not including luggables with full ISA/PCI slot(s))?

There was a thread not long ago about IBMs with external docking bays that could take ISA cards (ElectricMonk linked to it), but as far as something built-in nothing comes to mind until you get many years down the line. There may be something to be found with PCMCIA cards, but again, that's into the 1990s (which isn't entirely out of the spectrum for a 486 or Pentium).

There are a lot of 486 laptops with integrated sound chips from IBM, Toshiba, Fujitsu and Compaq to name a few brands.

tokyoracer wrote:

No hate intended, I was just wanting to know I'd love a luggable but it's off the topic.

The IBM is pretty cool kinda not what i'm looking for since I am wondering if there's laptops with them built in (I.E. Not full size cards). Plus the sound card technically isn't in the laptop but infact inside the dock. Still, totally jelly of that setup.

I don;t know if it's still the case, but when Lenovo first took over the Thinkpad line, they went straight to shit. Absolute garbage that made my flaky Dell Lat D600 look awesome in comparison. I hope they've brought it back up to IBMs standards. Those Thinkpads used to be standard issue at certain universities (Clemson being one of them).

obobskivich wrote:

There was a thread not long ago about IBMs with external docking bays that could take ISA cards (ElectricMonk linked to it), but as far as something built-in nothing comes to mind until you get many years down the line. There may be something to be found with PCMCIA cards, but again, that's into the 1990s (which isn't entirely out of the spectrum for a 486 or Pentium).

Now that is interesting, do you know of a PCMCIA card(s) that work under Win95 on a 486? Would be super useful to have SB support on my Compaq LTE!

lolo799 wrote:

There are a lot of 486 laptops with integrated sound chips from IBM, Toshiba, Fujitsu and Compaq to name a few brands.

Alot? They seem quite scarce from my experience. I have (as mentioned above) a Compaq Laptop but that doesn't have one. Can you name specific ones or a series?

By the sounds of it, there's probably no 386's with anything more than a PC speaker.

There is a really really really good existing thread on the topic of PCMCIA sound cards! The challenge is finding it though... 😵

tokyoracer wrote:

lolo799 wrote:

There are a lot of 486 laptops with integrated sound chips from IBM, Toshiba, Fujitsu and Compaq to name a few brands.

Alot? They seem quite scarce from my experience. I have (as mentioned above) a Compaq Laptop but that doesn't have one. Can you name specific ones or a series?

By the sounds of it, there's probably no 386's with anything more than a PC speaker.

For IBM you could start with this list and look at the specs of the individual models with 486 CPUs.
The first one (ThinkPad 755CD) has an IBM Mwave Audio and Modem controller which claims Sound Blaster compatibility.

I agree with you on 386's.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

There is a really really really good existing thread on the topic of PCMCIA sound cards! The challenge is finding it though... 😵

Well I see plenty of Audigy 2 ZS cars but I should think they are for Win98 and later (so probs not ideal for 486's), by that time they started to use actual sound hardware inside lappys too.

Still interesting responses and I will certainly keep my eyes peeled for these cards and the elusive "Mwave" ThinkPads. That docked one is pretty badass though. Totally jelly about that. 😎

Use this list for audio chipsets on IBM laptops : http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Audio_Subsystems

-Toshiba laptops specs: https://web.archive.org/web/20040817144809/ht … ?TYPE=technical

-Fujitsu
486: http://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/personal/0058.html
5x86: http://www.fmworld.net/biz/fmv/product/former/fmr.html
early Pentium: https://web.archive.org/web/19970614004406/ht … ts/notebook.htm
and http://www.fmworld.net/biz/fmv/product/former/bi_b.html

-Siemens-Nixdorf: http://boginjr.com/electronics/old/pcd-4nd/

-Compaq (486 don't seem to have on-board sound): https://web.archive.org/web/19961225052043/ht … info/index.html

The Audigy 2 ZS is a Cardbus card, it won't work on 486 laptops.

tokyoracer wrote:

....I know there existed a little sound card module things for some DOS compatible 68K Mac's (I think my Performa 630 has a Vibra 16 thingy attached to it), ....

can you please upload the drivers for the performa630dos to vogons ?
should be one disk for the soundcard and two for the display adapter.

Thx very much !!

Greetings
Doc

idspispopd wrote:

For IBM you could start with this list and look at the specs of the individual models with 486 CPUs. The first one (ThinkPad 755 […]
Show full quote

tokyoracer wrote:

lolo799 wrote:

There are a lot of 486 laptops with integrated sound chips from IBM, Toshiba, Fujitsu and Compaq to name a few brands.

Alot? They seem quite scarce from my experience. I have (as mentioned above) a Compaq Laptop but that doesn't have one. Can you name specific ones or a series?

By the sounds of it, there's probably no 386's with anything more than a PC speaker.

For IBM you could start with this list and look at the specs of the individual models with 486 CPUs.
The first one (ThinkPad 755CD) has an IBM Mwave Audio and Modem controller which claims Sound Blaster compatibility.

I agree with you on 386's.

I have an IBM 755CD (486dx4 @ 100mhz) and the soundcard is soundblaster compatible. It even can record video decently for its time.
Will need to find a new bios battery and powerplug for it then I can use it again.

And if my memory is correct two Toshiba Txxxx series also had decent soundcards onboard while being 486 systems.

tokyoracer wrote:

lolo799 wrote:

There are a lot of 486 laptops with integrated sound chips from IBM, Toshiba, Fujitsu and Compaq to name a few brands.

Alot? They seem quite scarce from my experience. I have (as mentioned above) a Compaq Laptop but that doesn't have one. Can you name specific ones or a series?

By the sounds of it, there's probably no 386's with anything more than a PC speaker.

486 Laptops with sound aren't rare, but it's wading through all the different types which is difficult. For example, the Texas Instruments Travelmate 4000M has sound and is Sound Blaster compatible. The 4000E however doesn't have sound. I only found out because of posts on Vogons, Youtube, etc. The lack of searchable specs and reviews is the main cause. We got our reviews and specs from magazines back in the day, and even if there is a scan online, it's probably not indexed properly.