Zenith ZFL-171-42 Vintage Laptop Computer
This compact computer was produced in 1985 by Zenith Data Systems to meet an Internal Revenue Service request for portable computers usable by its field audit staff. It was purchased and used by a friend for his accounting firm in 1986 and has been in storage for nearly four decades. This unit is Serial Number 548EE0363.
It is powered by an Intel 80C88 processor at 4.77 MHz. Standard RAM was 256K. With an expansion card the RAM was 640 K.I believe that this computer has the expansion memory (see photo).
The display is a 10 inch backlit LCD with 80 columns x 25 rows of text or 640 x 200 monochrome graphics.
There are two 5.25 floppy disk drives.
Includes a serial and parallel port plus an expansion slot.
Some of these computers had a optional RGB video card accessible on the back (covered on this unit by a plastic blank.) This computer does not have that video card.The built-in keyboard is full size with an additional row of ten function keys and four special icon keys for clock, modem, disk drive and calculator.
These computers were very solidly-built. It weighs 14.4 pounds and was designed for rough handling.
This unit has a replacement power transformer providing 12 v, 3.75 amp. The built-in battery pack is missing.
The screen lights and the disk drive runs when the power switch is turned on, but I have no MS-DOS floppy disks available to test it.It is in good cosmetic condition, no cracks or scratches on the case. The carrying strap is missing.
This is a great example of a highly collectable vintage computer from the dawn of the laptop era.
A PDF of the original operating manual is included with this classic unit.
The list price in 1985 for the ZFL-171-42 was $2,699. The optional 256K RAM upgrade was $199.00