Compaq LTE Elite 4/100CX

Compaq LTE Elite 4/100CX

The LTE Elite 4/100CX is an unreleased model from Compaq's LTE Elite series of 486-based laptops. It is functionally equivalent to the 4/75CXL, but has a DX4-100 processor, a faster graphics processor, and includes a sound card, among other minor changes.

The 4/100CX made it into the late prototype stage, but was never announced or released. Currently, two prototypes are known to exist. The first is owned by 80sCompaqPC, who found it on eBay in 2021, advertised as a different LTE Elite model. The second unit showed up on eBay in August 2024, in a listing that also included a normal looking LTE Lite/25E, with poor quality photos and no meaningful description. The listing was up for around a month before disappearing, with no indication that it ever sold (asking bid was $500 if I remember right).

Specifications

Spec Details
CPU CPU Type: Soldered QFP (on daughtercard)
Intel 486DX4 @100MHz
Chipset VLSI VL82C420/VL82C144
RAM Type: LTE Elite Proprietary
Standard: 8MB Soldered
Maximum: 32MB
Storage 2.5" IDE
Requires Adapter: Yes
Standard: 810MB (IBM)
Display Options 10.4" Active Matrix Color LCD @640x480
Graphics Chipset Cirrus Logic GD7543
VRAM: 1MB
Audio ESS AudioDrive 1688
- Mono Speaker
- Microphone
Main Battery NiMH
CMOS Battery NiCad
Power Supply Internal, uses standard 2-prong mains voltage plug
Media Drives 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Drive (Epson SMD-1240, belt drive)
PC Cards 2x PCMCIA Slots (2x Type II/1x Type III)
Networking None
Other I/O - 1x Parallel
- 1x Serial
- 1x VGA Out
- 1x PS/2
- 1x Dock Connector
- 1x Mic In
- 1x Line In
- 1x Line Out
BIOS Compaq BIOS
Pointing Device Trackball

The First Prototype

Differences compared to the Elite 4/75CXL

How close to production is it?

Seemingly very close. The only prototype-y things about this unit are that the keyboard bezel plastic lacks texturing (a common occurrence on prototype parts), along with one video bug. At certain resolutions, the screen is incorrectly scaled, causing the image to be shifted down by about two inches. This can be mostly negated if you set the "internal display features" option in BIOS to disabled. After this, most things will then display correctly, except for the Windows 95 splash screen for whatever reason.

Other than that one fault, this prototype is fully functional. The motherboard only has a single factory bodge wire.

The video glitch

When was it made?

The serial barcode on this prototype indicates that it was manufactured in the 9th week of 1995, so, early March. The 4/75CXL released in March 1995, which means that this more advanced laptop was in late stage development right when Compaq was releasing their updated 1995 Elite lineup.

The BIOS chip in this prototype is marked "2/16", potentially indicating that the BIOS dates to February 16th.

Why didn't it release?

With no primary sources from Compaq, all I can really do is speculate here. It's possible that Compaq was at some point planning on releasing the 4/100CX alongside the 4/75C and 4/75CXL, which both released in March 1995. This would have made sense, as it would have made Compaq's 1995 laptop lineup a good bit stronger than it ended up being. While the Elite line was a quite strong business option in 1994 when they first released, by 1995, they were getting a bit weak in the face of the competition. By March, most of their competitors had new laptops out with more modern designs, many of which included sound cards, and some of which even used Pentium processors. This is why it was a bit strange that all Compaq released in their 1995 refresh was the 4/75C, a lower end option with a passive matrix display, and the 4/75CXL, which was just a 4/75CX with a larger LCD.

Compaq's eventual solution was the LTE 5000, which was released in August 1995. The 5000 was an all-new design, used Pentium processors, and included CD-ROM support. It was a great machine, and helped to gain back some of the market share that Compaq lost throughout the first half of 1995. The 5000 was not fully produced by Compaq, with manufacturing and probably some of the design being contracted to Inventec in Taiwan.

With all of this taken into account, my guess behind the cancellation is that Compaq failed to have the 4/100CX fully ready for production by March, and then determined that it was not worth releasing later, as the LTE 5000 was nearly ready for release. While they could have still sold it as a lower end option, perhaps production costs were not low enough when compared to the LTE 5000 to make it worthwhile?

Image Gallery

A massive, massive thank you goes out to 80sCompaqPC for making this page possible! He supplied me with the specifications and all of these photos of his prototype to use here. Without him, this gem never would have been documented.

Internals

The Second Prototype

This prototype showed up in an eBay listing in August 2024. The title of the listing was "vintage compaq portable computer LTE Lite/25E" with the description simply stating "Vintage Compaq laptops. Power on". The four poor quality listing photos showed two laptops, one being a normal looking LTE Lite/25E, and the other being an LTE Elite. While it was a bit tricky to discern, this Elite was definitely another sound prototype, likely a 4/100CX. It had the same modified plastics, the display lid badge only said "Compaq", and you could just barely tell that it had audio jacks on the left side. I never wrote down the asking bid, but I believe it was set to start at $500. I noticed the listing first and sent it to 80sCompaqPC, who agreed that it was another prototype. A little while later, someone else noticed and posted it to the Compaq LTE/Armada Facebook group. Despite this attention, no one bid on the listing. It was relisted around 4 times if I remember correctly, after which the listing was removed and seemingly never sold. It just vanished without a trace one day.

Image Gallery

Here are the four listing photos, which I thankfully saved.


Page last updated (MM/DD/YYYY): 02/07/2025
Update Reason: added a bunch of new information and photos

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