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Compaq LTE Elite
The LTE Elite was a series of notebook-sized laptops under the LTE line manufactured by Compaq from 1994 to 1996. All laptops in the LTE Elite range sported Intel's i486 processors, from the 40 MHz DX2 to the 75 MHz DX4. The LTE Elite was the first notebook-sized laptop to house the AC adapter inside the case itself, eliminating the need to carry an external power brick. The LTE Elite line was replaced by the LTE 5000 series in 1995. Compaq ceased manufacturing the LTE Elite line in March 1996. Due to several recalls and a delayed rollout of the machines, the LTE Elite was overall a sales disappointment for Compaq, with rival Toshiba overtaking them as the top laptop maker in the United States in 1994 and 1995.
Compaq unveiled the LTE Elite series on March 7, 1994, and began shipping it in mid-June 1994 after achieving volume production. It was the third generation of LTE, a notebook family introduced five years earlier in 1989. Development for the LTE Elite was led by Jim Hartzog, general manager of Compaq's portable computer division. The LTE Elite directly replaced Compaq's LTE Lite series that they had introduced in 1992; the latter quickly became Compaq's flagship mobile computer, overtaking sales of their earlier luggable portables. The LTE Elite series was manufactured in large part in Compaq's facility in Singapore. Previously, Compaq had commissioned Citizen Watch of Japan to manufacture the LTE Lite series, but starting in mid-1993, Compaq had begun severing ties with Citizen in favor of focusing on optimizing their own Singapore plant. Certain surface-mount PCBs were manufactured in Compaq's factory in Erskine, while final assembly of each LTE Elite was completed in Houston. This marked the first time since 1991 that Compaq had produced their laptops domestically in the United States.
A major feature of the LTE Elite series was the integration of the AC adapter into the main body of the laptop. Instead of a connector for DC input, the laptop takes a standard "figure-8" connector for AC power. This eliminates the need for an external power brick and was the first time this approach had been done in a notebook-sized computer. Because of this approach, Compaq shipped two different versions of each model of the LTE Elite: 120 V models for North America, and 220 V models for Europe. Another major feature of the LTE Elite was the ability of its processors to be upgraded and replaced, owing to its use of a socket rather than a soldered-on surface-mount package typical of laptops in the mid-1990s. The laptops' hard drives are also easily removable by the end user with the press of a button; alternatively, the hard drive may be locked into the chassis with a security tab built into the drive's caddy. Additionally, all models in the LTE Elite line feature a built-in trackball located at the lower-right of the LCD housing—a holdover from late entries in the earlier LTE Lite family. The left- and right-click buttons are located on the reverse side of the housing.
The LTE Elite series was Compaq's first product with slots for PC Cards (known contemporaneously as PCMCIA cards, after the association who founded the card standard). Unlike other vendor's implementation of PC Cards, the LTE Elite's was largely plug and play, allowing cards to be removed and new cards to be inserted without rebooting the machine. Compaq worked closely with Microsoft to develop the necessary support drivers for plug-and-play PC Cards in Windows 3.1 and in Microsoft Chicago—the latter being Microsoft's beta codename for their next-generation operating system, Windows 95. VLSI Technology, whose largest customer at the time was Compaq, worked closely with the latter to design the PC Card controller ASIC.
Compaq introduced four new docking stations for the LTE Elite line: the SmartStation, the MiniStation/EN, the MiniStation/TR, and the OptiByte Media Station. The SmartStation was the second-most-expensive and feature-packed; like Apple's Duo Dock, the SmartStation loaded the LTE Elite into a rectangular, VCR-like slot, allowing the laptop to be used like a desktop computer, with an external monitor perched on top of the docking station. The SmartStation added two 5.25-inch drive bays, two ISA slots for IBM PC–compatible expansion cards, SCSI-2 ports for parallel peripherals and external storage, and Ethernet ports for networking. The MiniStation/EN and MiniStation/TR meanwhile were simple port replicators adding one of each of the aforementioned SCSI-2 ports and networking ports. The MiniStation/EN provided a Ethernet port, while the MiniStation/TR provided a Token Ring port. The OptiByte Media Station, meanwhile, was the most expensive but added a 16-bit sound card, a double-speed CD-ROM drive and built-in speakers, as well as providing a free ISA slot. This added sound synthesis capability to an otherwise silent laptop (barring the internal PC speaker). The OptiByte Media Station was designed and manufactured by AccuMem Systems and resold by Compaq.
The monochrome active-matrix LCD used in the LTE Elite 4/50E, first premiered in Compaq's earlier LTE Lite line, was manufactured by Hosiden. This was the same LCD used by Apple in some entries of their PowerBook 100 series. Compaq were the only notebook manufacturer besides Apple to make use of active-matrix monochrome LCDs. Compaq winded down production of the LTE Elite 4/50E after Hosiden's Kobe-based LCD factory was severely damaged in the Great Hanshin earthquake of January 1995, eliminating their future supply of monochrome active-matrix LCDs.
All entries in the LTE Elite line featured i486 processors, ranging from 40-MHz DX2s to 75-MHz Intel DX4s. A 100-MHz DX4 model was prototyped beginning in September 1994 and was slated for a March 1995 release. However, this model was ultimately shelved, Compaq instead releasing the LTE Elite 4/75 and LTE Elite 4/75CXL, with 75-MHz DX4s, that March.
In late July 1994, only a month after having been shipped, three models of the LTE Elite line suffered from faulty VLSI PC Card controller chips that prevented slots from recognizing cards and that rejected cards shortly after the system recognized their insertion. Compaq halted production until the fall of that year when a new batch of controllers was produced; machines with the fault-free controller have an orange sticker on the door of the PC Card slot. This PC Card snafu was a major factor in Compaq's decision to cancel their Concerto tablet in August 1994.
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Compaq LTE Elite AI simulator
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Compaq LTE Elite
The LTE Elite was a series of notebook-sized laptops under the LTE line manufactured by Compaq from 1994 to 1996. All laptops in the LTE Elite range sported Intel's i486 processors, from the 40 MHz DX2 to the 75 MHz DX4. The LTE Elite was the first notebook-sized laptop to house the AC adapter inside the case itself, eliminating the need to carry an external power brick. The LTE Elite line was replaced by the LTE 5000 series in 1995. Compaq ceased manufacturing the LTE Elite line in March 1996. Due to several recalls and a delayed rollout of the machines, the LTE Elite was overall a sales disappointment for Compaq, with rival Toshiba overtaking them as the top laptop maker in the United States in 1994 and 1995.
Compaq unveiled the LTE Elite series on March 7, 1994, and began shipping it in mid-June 1994 after achieving volume production. It was the third generation of LTE, a notebook family introduced five years earlier in 1989. Development for the LTE Elite was led by Jim Hartzog, general manager of Compaq's portable computer division. The LTE Elite directly replaced Compaq's LTE Lite series that they had introduced in 1992; the latter quickly became Compaq's flagship mobile computer, overtaking sales of their earlier luggable portables. The LTE Elite series was manufactured in large part in Compaq's facility in Singapore. Previously, Compaq had commissioned Citizen Watch of Japan to manufacture the LTE Lite series, but starting in mid-1993, Compaq had begun severing ties with Citizen in favor of focusing on optimizing their own Singapore plant. Certain surface-mount PCBs were manufactured in Compaq's factory in Erskine, while final assembly of each LTE Elite was completed in Houston. This marked the first time since 1991 that Compaq had produced their laptops domestically in the United States.
A major feature of the LTE Elite series was the integration of the AC adapter into the main body of the laptop. Instead of a connector for DC input, the laptop takes a standard "figure-8" connector for AC power. This eliminates the need for an external power brick and was the first time this approach had been done in a notebook-sized computer. Because of this approach, Compaq shipped two different versions of each model of the LTE Elite: 120 V models for North America, and 220 V models for Europe. Another major feature of the LTE Elite was the ability of its processors to be upgraded and replaced, owing to its use of a socket rather than a soldered-on surface-mount package typical of laptops in the mid-1990s. The laptops' hard drives are also easily removable by the end user with the press of a button; alternatively, the hard drive may be locked into the chassis with a security tab built into the drive's caddy. Additionally, all models in the LTE Elite line feature a built-in trackball located at the lower-right of the LCD housing—a holdover from late entries in the earlier LTE Lite family. The left- and right-click buttons are located on the reverse side of the housing.
The LTE Elite series was Compaq's first product with slots for PC Cards (known contemporaneously as PCMCIA cards, after the association who founded the card standard). Unlike other vendor's implementation of PC Cards, the LTE Elite's was largely plug and play, allowing cards to be removed and new cards to be inserted without rebooting the machine. Compaq worked closely with Microsoft to develop the necessary support drivers for plug-and-play PC Cards in Windows 3.1 and in Microsoft Chicago—the latter being Microsoft's beta codename for their next-generation operating system, Windows 95. VLSI Technology, whose largest customer at the time was Compaq, worked closely with the latter to design the PC Card controller ASIC.
Compaq introduced four new docking stations for the LTE Elite line: the SmartStation, the MiniStation/EN, the MiniStation/TR, and the OptiByte Media Station. The SmartStation was the second-most-expensive and feature-packed; like Apple's Duo Dock, the SmartStation loaded the LTE Elite into a rectangular, VCR-like slot, allowing the laptop to be used like a desktop computer, with an external monitor perched on top of the docking station. The SmartStation added two 5.25-inch drive bays, two ISA slots for IBM PC–compatible expansion cards, SCSI-2 ports for parallel peripherals and external storage, and Ethernet ports for networking. The MiniStation/EN and MiniStation/TR meanwhile were simple port replicators adding one of each of the aforementioned SCSI-2 ports and networking ports. The MiniStation/EN provided a Ethernet port, while the MiniStation/TR provided a Token Ring port. The OptiByte Media Station, meanwhile, was the most expensive but added a 16-bit sound card, a double-speed CD-ROM drive and built-in speakers, as well as providing a free ISA slot. This added sound synthesis capability to an otherwise silent laptop (barring the internal PC speaker). The OptiByte Media Station was designed and manufactured by AccuMem Systems and resold by Compaq.
The monochrome active-matrix LCD used in the LTE Elite 4/50E, first premiered in Compaq's earlier LTE Lite line, was manufactured by Hosiden. This was the same LCD used by Apple in some entries of their PowerBook 100 series. Compaq were the only notebook manufacturer besides Apple to make use of active-matrix monochrome LCDs. Compaq winded down production of the LTE Elite 4/50E after Hosiden's Kobe-based LCD factory was severely damaged in the Great Hanshin earthquake of January 1995, eliminating their future supply of monochrome active-matrix LCDs.
All entries in the LTE Elite line featured i486 processors, ranging from 40-MHz DX2s to 75-MHz Intel DX4s. A 100-MHz DX4 model was prototyped beginning in September 1994 and was slated for a March 1995 release. However, this model was ultimately shelved, Compaq instead releasing the LTE Elite 4/75 and LTE Elite 4/75CXL, with 75-MHz DX4s, that March.
In late July 1994, only a month after having been shipped, three models of the LTE Elite line suffered from faulty VLSI PC Card controller chips that prevented slots from recognizing cards and that rejected cards shortly after the system recognized their insertion. Compaq halted production until the fall of that year when a new batch of controllers was produced; machines with the fault-free controller have an orange sticker on the door of the PC Card slot. This PC Card snafu was a major factor in Compaq's decision to cancel their Concerto tablet in August 1994.