Ideal for DOS games, but don't expect much from the screen. Chances are you will see a lot of ghosting, except if you hook up a CRT or fast LCD.

CMOS battery is probably dead, but could be a standard CR2032, or soldered connector.
And check the hinges.

Fast DOS computer or a slow Win95 one.

Laptop means crappy display (particularly back then), but no need for external CRT like with desktop.
Potentially more issues with sound & display (particularly in DOS) due to less common laptop hardware.

Personally I'd avoid unless you have a very specific laptop-centric use case in mind, but YMMV.

Not only will the screen be ghosty, these laptops have limited scaling capabilities. Non native resolution will be centered unscaled or jagged pixel stretched. And if it's passive matrix you will probably not be playing action games on it. It will also have a very old fluorescent tube.

I once played all the through on Keen on a LTE 286 once back then when LTE 286 was cheap to get, not again. Take from me, a notebook with decent panel is rare. I know of one that is good is mono VGA TFT is ELITE 3/25e and compaq 486 models with TFT panels is not bad to find but sound is another matter.

Cheers,

I have a P133MMX laptop that I used for a while for MSDOS gaming (and some light Win95 work). I ended up connecting it to a CRT monitor and used a dock for more ports. Came with a 3.5inch floppy and CDRom (I replaced the 5gb HD with a CF to IDE card, used two, one for MSDOS and one for Win95). You'll be limited by upgradeability and the CMOS, like others said, will most likely be dead. I pulled mine out so it would leak and just adjust date/time as needed.

I recently picked up a P75 desktop, and while sig slower, I like that I can upgrade it and it's easier to replace broken parts.

I'm most interested in 386-486-Pentium1 era of computers. I have each cpu-based desktop PC which all i keep in top-notch condition.
In addition, i thought about 2 years ago that i should maybe get a "fast hassle-free Win9x machine" in the form of laptop to do any ad-hoc activities.
I got Dell Latitude CPi A-series machine with Pentium II 366MHz. Upgraded it to have 256MB of ram, 4GB of CF-based HDD, etc.
But in reality, i've practically never used it. It's always a hassle to take it out. Its screen is not the best. (So often you would connect another screen to it) And in the end, in this really rare usage, the screen hinges still start to crack. (Need to find a good solution to fix it... Maybe superglue with soda on the inside?)

So in the end, i still go to my desktop machines. If you want to save some space, maybe go with super socket 7 mATX/AT machine using picoATX powersupply. Should be possible to get it really tiny. It's easier to just switch the hard drives (in the form of CF or SD memory cards) than to have different machines.

... and as mentioned - repairability and upgradeability. A laptop can't beat a desktop type machine.

If you can find one with an active matrix screen they serve a good niche for DOS and Windows 3.1 - but you can run 95 just fine (don’t install IE4) and especially so if you have 16mb ram, and swap the storage to solid state. Some common good ones are the CDT series of Toshiba, or the Libretto 50CT-70CT. Good reasons for this era include dos portability (of course), typically decent DOS audio compatibility and non-neomagic graphics.

I think it's worth getting if it's running and if the display looks good. Uses a coin-cell CMOS battery.

Check for TFT vs. DSTN using the model number or by the number of sliders on the display: you want the single-slider TFT.

I wouldn't pay more than $100 unless it's in perfect condition.

When I was studying Software Engineering in 1995, a friend came in with a Pentium laptop, and the whole class was impressed seeing it run Doom. Given where he got his tech stuff (don't ask!), I would guess it was high end for the year.

I've got a Thinkpad 760 with a TFT screen (single slider on screen!), P1-133, 48Mb ram. I love it! But of course my reasons are particular to my situation:
-As I don't have a permanent spot for my retro stuff, its a lot less hassle to take out a laptop than to set up a desktop.
-Dos,Windows 95 and Pentium 1's were central to my early teens and give me a warm feeling.
-It's good for running late DOS games that I loved in my youth (DOOM, C&C/Red Alert).

There are cons of course:
-Screen is 800x600, and doesn't scale super nice. Not really an issue for me though, once I'm in a game I don't really notice it.
-The p1-133 is good for dos, but forget win95 games (Tiberian sun, Quake2, StarCraft).

So should you do it? Depends on what scratches your itch; I personally do not have interest in playing games from 'before my time' - the matching hardware is therefore also not as interesting to me. Sure, I had 8086 and 80286's, but after the novelty wore off, I simply did not use them. Also, if you have the space, a desktop is more rewarding as you can upgrade various components.

I''ve always though attach an external screen and mouse and you have the basics of a dos PC that takes up no where near as much room up.
For the hard drive you can probably convert to CF of SD card if needed.

Main problem with laptops is getting files on them if it doesn't have a CD drive or its dead but using a CF/SD card would help that as well.

As long as the screen is active matrix, then sure thing.
I have two Pentium MMX laptops, a Dell XPi-CD with a 166mmx
And a Gateway Solo with a Tillamook 266.

I upgraded the passive matrix screen on the Gateway to a active matrix TFT, upgraded the RAM and even upgraded the CPU from a 166 to the Tillamook.
Both have DOS ready sound chips and are excellent for DOS gaming in my opinion.

In my opinion the only one is the "Toshiba Libretto"

I like retro laptops. I have like 11 of them, ranging from the Pentium MMX to Pentium M. But maybe I am the odd man out in this regard.

You will be amazed by Toshiba Libretto 110CT

Jasin Natael wrote on 2022-11-14, 21:28:

I like retro laptops. I have like 11 of them, ranging from the Pentium MMX to Pentium M. But maybe I am the odd man out in this regard.

You are not alone, mate.

For reasons of space saving I collect almost exclusively laptops. In my humble opinion collection of desktops simply doesn't fit a human habitation. And of course I buy those laptops with plans to use them with external monitor in mind, and no, those are not a CRT beasts for the same reasons of space saving.

From my little experience there is no one perfect model of laptop that you've bought and you're done. So I'd say that buying several different laptops is a more realistic plan.

Also keep in mind that there are several models of laptops which docking stations are able to accommodate ISA and/or PCI slots.

It could be decent for DOS. Check the screen and look up the sound card. A quick lookup says it was shipped with both TFT and DSTN screen, but I didn't find the exact parameters, and the sound chip is an ESS ES1688, for which the manufacturer is known to have good DOS sound cards, but I didn't find much about this exact chip.

Also there is this I didn't watch: https://youtu.be/g_ycRi1SDFU
There might be some useful info here.

If the hard drive fails, it can most likely be replaced with a CF card and adapter, as for data transfer, it has PCMCIA slots and should have parallel port.

to be honest unless it was very cheap or free i wouldn't now - they can be limited in options, components, maintenance, data transfer let alone performance and software scope

still fun, but wouldn't go looking for one now when instead you might get a P2 or P3 era laptop with usb and handy things plus (most) of the backward compatibility you want for DOS etc

Thanks for all the opinions! I guess I'll pass as a matter of principle for having raised the price (69 to 75), it's the STN model by the way which apparently is 256 colors only?

Same seller has a DEC RL01 hard disk, curiously...

So alternate plan it is then, R40 if I can get the seller to accept pickup or maybe I'll just fix my Vectra VL400 (another thank you to GigaHerz for reminding me about those things as the original power brick is nonstandard in size...)