Epson ActionNote 700 Series
The ActionNote 700 Series were a short-lived line of 486 laptops, released in 1994. Unlike previous ActionNote laptops, which were made by established Taiwanese laptop manufacturers (ASE and Compal), the 700 Series was produced by Jabil Circuit, an American company, and a newcomer to laptop manufacturing. The ActionNote 700 was to be the first laptop Jabil would make.
Epson's contract with Jabil would end up being a disastrous failure. The ActionNote 700's planning began in 1993, and the laptops were meant to ship by January 1994, but the laptops ended up being 10 months late, a long time in the laptop world. Production delays had numerous causes. Jabil's lack of experience certainly played a role, along with Epson changing their mind on what processors the laptop was supposed to use. The largest cause of the delay appears to have been an issue with the plastics on early units Jabil built. The plastic case would crack around the hinge mounts after a very short amount of use. This is a common sight in laptops from this time today, but that's because the plastic grows brittle with age - these were brand new at the time. The issue was eventually traced to the hinge lubricant, which would compromise the plastic's integrity. Jabil corrected the issue, but it caused large delays.
By around November 1994, Epson wanted out of the contract, and the two companies had sued each other by December, both alleging misconduct. According to Jabil at the time, they had shipped around 5000 units to Epson by this point. It's unclear what happened after this, but the ActionNote 700 was very short-lived on the market, and they are incredbly rare today. I've only seen one example out in the wild, here.
Also unclear is the overall timeline. There were two "generations" of this short lived series - the orignal 700 Series (700, 700C, 700CX) and the 766 Series (766, 766C, 766CX). According to Wikipedia, the 700s launched in February 1994, 1 month past the January date Epson wanted. My evidence indicates this date is incorrect (more below). Wikipedia claims the 766 models launched in September, which is closer to that 10 month delay date that Epson claimed. The one in-the-wild example is a 700CX, meaning that those did in fact ship.
I did my own research to try and confirm the release timeline. What I found was consistent with constant delays. The 700/700C/700CX was announced in November 1993, that I can confirm. The next mention I could find of it in magazines was in May 1994, when it was announced again, with it set to release "next month". After this, I found some magazine computer store listings throughout the summer, meaning it was on sale. A print ad from Epson showed up in September. The latest mention I could find of it was in November 1994, in line with the lawsuits and contract cancellation that marked the end of the series.
The 766 models first showed up with a press release in September 1994, so Wikipedia's date there is definitely correct. They also vanished by just a couple months later, in line with the lawsuits. The most info-rich article I could find on the 766 models stated they would ship in October or November. I'm not sure they ever shipped at all. They are the only ActionNotes that Epson doesn't have documentation up for (they even have documentation up for the 700s).
Based on this, I believe both the 700 released around May/June 1994, and the 766 models released around October/November, if they even released at all.
Specifications
| Spec | 700 | 700C | 700CX | 766C | 766CX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Cyrix 486DX @33MHz | Cyrix 486DX2 @66MHz | |||
| Chipset | Unknown | ||||
| RAM | - 4MB Standard - 20MB Maximum |
- 4 or 8MB Standard - 20MB Maximum |
|||
| Hard Disk | - IDE 2.5" - 120, 210, or 260MB Standard |
- IDE 2.5" 260 or 340MB Standard |
|||
| Display Options | 9.5" Passive Matrix Grayscale (64 shades) @640x480 | 9.5" DSTN/Passive Matrix Color (256 colors) @640x480 | 8.5" TFT/Active Matrix Color (256 colors) @640x480 | 9.5" DSTN/Passide Matrix Color @640x480 | 8.5" TFT/Active Matrix Color @640x480 |
| Graphics Chipset | Unknown vendor, 16-bit local bus, 512K VRAM | Cirrus Logic 5426, 512K VRAM | |||
| Audio | PC Speaker Only | ||||
| Main Battery | NiMH, 2.3 Ah, 8.4V | NiMH | |||
| CMOS Battery | Unknown - also has a "reserve" battery | Unknown | |||
| Power Supply | Unknown connector, part numbers A881291 and A881301 | Unknown | |||
| Disk Drives | 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Drive | ||||
| PC Cards | 1x PCMCIA Slot (Type II) | ||||
| Networking | Modem | ||||
| Other I/O | - 1x Serial - 1x Parallel - 1x VGA Out - 1x PS/2 |
Unknown | |||
| BIOS | Phoenix | Unknown | |||
| Pointing Device | Trackball | ||||
References
- Jabil, Epson exchange accusations on contract (Tampa Bay Times) - Lawsuit information
- Managing Fast Growth? Time to Get Humble (Fortune) - Hinge lubricant information
- Epson ActionNote (Wikipedia) - Various information
- Computerworld (November 8, 1993) - Announcement date
- Computerworld (May 23, 1994) - Second announcement date
- Computer Shopper (September 1994) - 700 Print Ad
- PC World (September 1994) - 766 info
Page last updated (MM/DD/YYYY): 11/12/2024
Update Reason: page formatting updated
Back-Navigation
Home < Laptop Portal < Epson < ActionNote 700 Series