Twinhead Slimnote P5/60T (586C)
The Slimnote P5/60T (also known as the Slimnote 586C) is a Pentium-based laptop that was released in 1994. This laptop was one of the very first Pentium laptops, being based on the desktop Socket 4 architecture rather than the later TCP and Socket 5 laptops. This laptop's release timeline is a bit unclear, and it was only on the market for a short time. Twinhead announced this machine in December 1993, with it being planned for release in February 1994, which did not happen. An April 1994 issue of PC Mag reviewed a late prototype of the Slimnote P5 and stated that it would ship in...March, which was before the magazine issue was published. This also did not seemingly happen, with it appearing again in an August 1994 issue of Computer Shopper. By this time, it was called the Slimnote 586C and was seemingly a final product that was shipping to customers. Twinhead's FCC records also show a June 27th filing for a Pentium laptop. Despite this, I couldn't find any Twinhead marketing materials for this laptop. Their website (which included a page on their product history, going all the way back to 1990) suspiciously fails to mention this laptop anywhere. I do think it released for a short time, but I think it was very shortly discontinued in favor of the 486-based Slimnote 5, which released very shortly afterwards. The Slimnote P5 was based on the older design of the Slimnote 486E and in general, the Slimnote 5 was a much better product that was received much better, while of course being less expensive.
Twinhead clearly struggled to deliver this product given the delays, and the feature omissions it had. The Slimnote P5 lacked an internal pointing device, only had a single Type II PCMCIA slot, didn't have a sound card, and ran for less than an hour on battery. It also had a loud fan inside to keep the Pentium cool, a feature you just didn't see in laptops at this time.
With an estimated release of August 1994, the Slimnote P5 would have been the second Pentium-based laptop to make it to market, with first place going to the Nan Tan 3600, which released in May. The 3600 was seemingly a much more complete and practical product, as it saw a much larger-scale release, and they aren't that rare today.
Specifications
| Spec | Details |
|---|---|
| CPU | CPU Type: Socket 4 Intel Pentium @60MHz |
| Chipset | Unknown |
| RAM | Type: Unknown Standard: 8MB Maximum: 16MB |
| Hard Disk | 2.5" IDE Uses proprietary adapter?: Unknown Standard: 340MB (Toshiba) |
| Display Options | 9.5" Active Matrix Color LCD @640x480 (NEC) |
| Graphics Chipset | Unknown VL Bus VRAM: Unknown |
| Audio | PC Speaker (I think) |
| Main Battery | NiMH |
| CMOS Battery | Unknown |
| Power Supply | Unknown |
| Disk Drives | Unknown |
| PC Cards | 1x PCMCIA Slot (Type II) |
| Networking | None (I think) |
| Other I/O | - 1x Parallel - 1x Serial - Others? |
| BIOS | Unknown |
| Pointing Device | None |
Gallery
December 1993 announcement. I can't find any evidence that the Northgate system existed beyond this announcement, so I assume it never released.
PC Mag April 1994 review.
PC World review.
PC Computing review.
Page last updated (MM/DD/YYYY): 12/11/2024
Update Reason: page created
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