Harry Potter wrote on 2024-12-25, 11:42:

I just looked at eBay but found only broken ones. 🙁 Where else can I get a new DOS laptop? I don't mind having to install everything. I live in the U.S.

Are you sure? If you want to buy something "new" you should buy one of those retro notebooks from AliExpress.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/135453746270?_trkpar … B9WW8BEAHJ3E4WB

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/32568068302846 … 7Cquery_from%3A

You need to define what you want in a DOS laptop.

Some starters to think over:

- Native SB/FM audio support
- 1:1 VGA scaling support (i.e. only 640x480 panels)
- Higher SVGA screen mode support (800x600 or higher)
- Good resolution scaling support
- USB?
- Ethernet or PCMCIA slots to add ethernet?
- Working battery?
- Built in floppy or cdrom?
- Flexible CPU speed support (Pentium MMX or a K6-2)
- Do you want to be able to run Win95/98?
- Do you want support for later, more demanding 3D dos games or those in Windows?

There's a lot to consider, and there isn't a answer which satisfies all of them.

It's worth reading through this thread: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga

Personally I started with two IBM Thinkpads... Nice machines but one had a poor quality screen (DSTN) and good SB/FM audio, the other a nice screen but atrocious FM music. I have since tried a couple of Toshiba Satellite and Tecra models which have much better audio, but not as good scaling support as the Thinkpads.

It's a bit like a set of intersecting Venn diagrams with no point where every circle intersects... You gotta decide which are your highest priorities and go for that!