*Voyager may be too muscular for the road. (Sun Microsystems Computer Corp.'s SPARCstation portable computer)  (PC Week LABS: Beta Sight) 
PC Week  March 28, 1994 v11 n12 p89(2)
PC Week  March 28, 1994 v11 n12 p89(2)

Voyager may be too muscular for the road. (Sun Microsystems
Computer Corp.'s SPARCstation portable computer)  (PC Week
LABS: Beta Sight) 

by	Blakeley, Michael

Abstract
Sun Microsystems Computer Corp's $14,999 Voyager SPARCstation
portable computer offers solid performance and cutting-edge
technologies, but its size and weight makes it less portable than
expected. The Voyager's design is fully featured, including a 12-inch
color active-matrix display that provides 1,024 by 768 pixel
resolutions, 2 PCMCIA slots, a built-in ISDN port that provides speeds up
to 64K-bps and built-in Ethernet and SCSI. It also includes a 60-MHz
microSPARC II processor that offers comparable performance to other
SPARCstations, but is limited in its floating-point performance. Other
features include low power consumption and a 2-hour battery life.
Although the Voyager may be attractive to users with limited desk
space, its weight of 13 pounds and bulky size prohibits it from being
used on an airplane and makes transporting the unit a cumbersome
process.

Full Text
Targeted at traveling computer users, the Voyager, Sun Microsystems
Computer Corp.'s newest SPARCstation, provides desktop capabilities
and solid workstation performance in a compact, portable package. The
question is, who will use it?

PC Week Labs examined a pre-release version of the Voyager --due to
ship next month -- that included a 12-inch color active-matrix display,
a 60MHz microSPARC II CPU, and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. The
Energy Star-compliant system also includes extensive networking and
remote-access facilities.

On a user's desk, the Voyager is a full-featured SPARCstation running
SunSoft Inc.'s Solaris 2.3 Unix operating system. Ethernet and SCSI are
built in.

While the technology built into the Voyager is nothing short of amazing,
however, the 13-pound system is more of a luggable than a laptop.
Although the swivel-mounted LCD panel is fixed to the power supply and
to the system unit in a small-footprint design, the keyboard can't latch
onto the LCD panel. The unit's size would prohibit its use on an airplane.

Packing the Voyager for travel isn't easy, either. The system is bulky,
and has to be packed in several pieces: system unit, power supply, and
keyboard, along with a mouse and cables. SMCC supplied a rugged
carrying case, which included several pockets for the components.

Despite the Voyager's bundle of cutting-edge technologies, it might not
capture much of the marketplace. Most Solaris 2.3 users are allocated
more than 2 square feet of desk space, rendering the Voyager's smaller
footprint somewhat insignificant. In addition, professionals who
frequently move from office to office often must use their computers
when a desk isn't available, something that is not possible with the
Voyager.

On the other hand, the Voyager may win the hearts of some nomadic
users. The portable workstation has a place on desktops where space is
costly, in crowded areas such as trading pits and small offices.
Traveling consultants also might value the Voyager for its fully
featured, portable design -- the Voyager makes few compromises
regarding power and flexibility.

The model we tested will list for $14,999. A Voyager with a 14-inch
monochrome LCD will cost $9,995, while a unit with an external 17-inch
CRT will cost $8,995.

While the Voyager's prices are a big pill to swallow, the system's
technological innovations may help buyers wash it down. We were
impressed by the Voyager's 12-inch LCD display: At 1,024-by-768-pixel
resolution, it's easily the largest 8-bit color active-matrix display
we've seen.

Equally impressive, for a Unix workstation, are the two Type 2 PCMCIA
slots, usable as a single Type 3 slot. SMCC will offer an optional
14.4K-bps fax/data modem card with the unit.

For users who don't want to be limited to modem speeds, the Voyager
also includes a built-in ISDN port. With this digital telecom port, users
can dial in to the office at speeds of up to 64K bps.

SMCC claims the Voyager's lithium-ion batteries let the system run
about 2 hours on batteries that take only 1 hour to charge; the company
did not supply a battery for testing.

The Voyager is also SMCC's first Energy Star SPARCstation, ensuring
lower power consumption in the office or on the road.

For users who prefer a PDA (personal digital assistant) to the 13-pound
Voyager for jaunts outside the office, SMCC has built an infrared data
port into the front of the Voyager. SMCC claims compatibility with
Hewlett-Packard Co.'s SIR (serial infrared) 15K-bps specification, and
with the Sharp/Apple interface, which lets Voyager users share data
with HP's Zoomer and Apple Computer Inc.'s Newton PDAs.

The Voyager's processor is SMCC's 60MHz microSPARC II, with a
SPECint92 performance rating of 43 and a SPECfp92 rating of 37. The
Voyager's integer performance compares favorably with that of the
SPARCstation 10/30, but floating-point performance falls below that of
older SPARCstations.

The Voyager also includes desktop amenities such as 16-bit stereo
sound, a 3.5-inch floppy drive, parallel and serial ports, and an external
video adapter.

The base system includes 16M bytes of RAM, expandable to 80M bytes,
and a 340M-byte, 2.5-inch hard drive. Additional hard drives, CD ROMs,
and tape drives can be added to the external SCSI chain.