Toshiba Libretto 20

 

Windows 95 搭載、世界最小・最軽重のミニノートパソコン新登場
Equipped with Windows 95, the new worlds smallest, lightest mini laptop

The very first Toshiba Libretto to debut, the Libretto 20 is certainly a novelty piece of hardware, but is it worth buying? 

Basic Specifications

>Intel 486 DX4 75MHz
>8MB RAM *proprietary card, NOT shared with second generation Librettos*
>270MB Toshiba Hard Disk Drive (special thin Toshiba disk drive)
>Windows 95
>6.1" TFT Display with High Color

Buyer beware / things to look out for

>There is NO sound card on these and the Libretto 30 units. They have a little system beep speaker, and that is it. 
>Just like all first, second, and most of the third generation Librettos, these units are incredibly fragile, and CAN NOT BE TAKEN APART unless you are willing to accept damaging the frame of the laptop.
>Will not boot unless a working hard drive is present
>Crack where the screen latches catch (either side), broken screen latches, crack on rear frame in the middle
>Dead battery (while on : unit has 3 green lights, no amber light or fourth green light, while off : blinking orange light or only right most LED is illuminated) 
>Leaking CMOS battery
>HDD actuator arm is stuck
>PCMCIA Bus is 16bit ONLY
>12MB RAM Module Part No : VEM12M Lib20
>Overall very slow, not terribly useful for anything these days

*A small disclaimer regarding batteries : Just because they charge does not mean they hold a charge. The above symptoms are merely telltale of a 101% dead battery*

My unit

I picked up this unit for fairly cheap (45$ CDN) as is junk, untested. I had a spare Libretto 50/60 charger lying around, and the unit itself was in really good cosmetic condition, so I figured "why not". I was going to keep this as a collection piece, but sadly the Yahoo Auctions seller packed it poorly and it was written off while in shipping to my proxy buying services' warehouse. Didn't find out until it arrived a week later...

When I first powered it on, I got nothing out of it except for some faint rapid clicking of the hard drive with the platter spinning up and then spinning down just moment later. Since this did not sound like normal hard drive failure (erratic knocking with platters spinning normally), I took my first step at troubleshooting by giving the corner of the drive a good smack against the ground. Sure enough, after seating the drive back into the unit, it spun up and came to life with the expected CMOS checksum error on screen. After going through the usual BIOS setup, I was pleasantly surprised to see an 8MB RAM upgrade present during the RAM count

After the RAM count the system began booting into Windows 95, but I was a bit bummed to find out that either it was a stripped down factory load, or a re install with a couple factory files brought over. The OS seemed to be installed in 1998. Not much to be found on the drive, looked like it belonged to a fellow who worked for an ISP called "mitene". I found a spreadsheet that seemed to be tracking the various components that were being bought to build modems, and the total cost it was adding up to per month.
Other than that, data mining the drive was not possible as it was almost 100% filled. 

It seems like this unit was mostly connected to network drives as the document history pointed to files on a network mapping. I did curiously find a few pictures of a woman co-worker??? Other than that nothing too interesting, seriously. 

Disheartened by the fact that my unit was no longer cosmetically fit for use as shelf piece, I sold it on eBay as-is along with a spare EN layout keyboard, and no charger for 100$ CDN. 

The verdict

While this is definitely a novel unit being the first Libretto offered by Toshiba, it's not something I'd buy other than to display. With no sound and a very weak CPU, you won't be doing much on this little thing other than listening to the little 270mb hard drive chug away, struggling to load Windows 95. That said, it seems they can be had pretty cheaply, I've seen multiple 20s and 30s go for 40-50$ CDN as is junk. Unless you're looking to make a statement while writing your college thesis at the local Starbucks, or want bragging rights of owning the very first Libretto, I would avoid this one.