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Welcome to the blog section of my website. Here you'll find my mostly useless information on various retro gaming computers and consoles and a few other hobbies…

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Sony Vaio PCG-Z505/Z600

I bought a pair of two old Sony Vaio laptops; a PCG-Z600RE and a PCG-Z600TEK in February 2025 as more candidates for a top-end DOS gaming laptop.

Actually, on delivery and closer examination, the PCG-Z600TEK turned out to be a PCG-Z600HEK - The difference being it had the better Pentium III 800MHz, rather than the 700MHz.

The PCG-Z600xxx models are the UK/European version of the PCG-ZR505, and hence not really mentioned much. There are a lot of variations of these machines.

Z505HE Z505HS Z505LE Z505LS Z600RE Z600NE Z600LE Z600TE Z600HE
Processor Intel Pentium III Intel Pentium III Intel Pentium III Intel Pentium III Intel Pentium III Intel Pentium III Intel Pentium III Intel Pentium III Intel Pentium III
Processor Speed 450MHz 500MHz 650MHz 750MHz 500MHz 650MHz 700MHz 700MHz 800MHz
Graphics Type NeoMagic NeoMagic ATI ATI NeoMagic NeoMagic ATI ATI ATI
Graphics Model MagicMedia 256AV MagicMedia 256AV Rage Mobility M1 Rage Mobility M1 MagicMedia 256AV MagicGraph 256XL+ Rage Mobility M1 Rage Mobility M1 Rage Mobility M1
Graphics Bus AGP AGP AGP AGP AGP AGP AGP AGP AGP
Graphics RAM 2.5MB 2.5MB 8MB 8MB 2.5MB 6MB 8MB 8MB 8MB
Screen Size 12“ 12” 12“ 12” 12“ 12” 12“ 12” 12“
Screen Resolution 1024×768 1024×768 1024×768 1024×768 1024×768 1024×768 1024×768 1024×768 1024×768
Audio Type Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha
Audio Model

That is not all of them!

They share a common (slim) chassis, with a 12” 1024×768 screen, the same battery and no internal FDD/CD/DVD capability (they were modelled as an ultra portable). The main differences are the use of the NeoMagic graphics versus ATI Rage Mobility. The ATI option is much, much better with the typical smooth scaling of non-native screen modes to the LCD panel.

PCG-Z600RE

PCG-Z600TEK

Port Replicator

→ Read more...

2025/02/04 13:41 · john

Compaq Armada 1750

I bought this old Armada 1750 laptop in January 2025 after having a big run of issues with the last purchase(s); a pair of Sony Vaio laptops.

Specs

  • Intel Pentium II: 300, 333, 366, 400MHz
  • ATI Rage LT 4MB (AGP) video
  • 12“ TFT LCD @ 800×600
  • 13” TFT LCD @ 1024×768
  • 14“ TFT LCD @ 1024×768
  • RAM PC66 SO-DIMM
    • 64MB (onboard), expansion up to 192MB (unofficial support to 320MB with the right type of 256MB module)
  • ESS ES1869 Audiodrive (ISA) sound

This particular example came with floppy module, CD-rom module, 128MB RAM (via a single 64MB upgrade) and the Pentium II 333 processor.

→ Read more...

2025/01/23 20:03 · john

Sony Vaio PCG-F807K/F808K/F809K

I bought these two laptops; a PCG-F807K (sold as working) and a PCG-F809K (sold as non-working) in January 2025 as potential candidates for a top-end DOS gaming laptop, to compare with the Thinkpad 240, which whilst a great machine, is not quite perfect (mono sound, less-than-perfect scaling of low res games).

PCG-F809K

PCG-F807K

  • Intel Pentium III Mobile
    • 650MHz - F807K
    • 750MHz - F808K
    • 850MHz - F809K
  • 256MB (maximum) PC100 SO-DIMM (2x slots)
    • 64MB (standard) - F807K
    • 128MB (standard) - F808K/F809K
  • ATI Rage Mobility M1 8MB
    • 14“ 1024×768 TFT screen - F807K
    • 15” 1024×768 TFT screen - F808K
    • 15“ 1400×1050 TFT screen - F809K
  • Yamaha YMF-744 audio (OPL3, SB Pro 2.0, XG MIDI - Windows only)
  • 2x PCMCIA / Cardbus
  • Headphone out, Microphone in (no Line-in)
  • Stereo speakers
  • Onboard FDD + DVD

These models are also referred to as PCG-9326, PCG-9336 and PCG-9316.

→ Read more...

2025/01/16 16:26 · john

Virtual Pinball / Arcade Cabinet - PC Hardware Testing

Back to Virtual Pinball / Arcade Cabinet Index

  • HP T740 Thin client system
  • AMD Ryzen V1756B
    • 4 Core / 8 Thread
    • 3.2GHz base / 3.6GHz turbo
    • 512KB L1 cache
    • 2MB L2 cache
    • 2MB L3 cache
  • 2x 8GB DDR4
  • Nvidia T600 4GB (PCIe 3.0 8x)
  • 128GB NVMe M.2 (OS)
  • 2TB SATA M.2 (ROM and table data)
  • Sweex 7.1 USB External sound card

→ Read more...

2024/12/24 20:50 · john
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