Panasonic Executive Partner

The Executive Partner is a portable computer in a clamshell form factor that measures 21.25 by 16 by 5 inches (54.0 by 40.6 by 12.7 cm).[2]^: 47 Depending on the configuration, the computer weighs between 28 and 30 pounds (14 kg).[2]^: 47[3]^: 135 Two models of the computer were released: one with dual 5.25-inch floppy drives and the other with one such floppy drive and a hard drive.[2]^: 47[4] All models in the Executive Partner range feature an Intel 8086-2 microprocessor running at user-switchable clock speed of 7.16 MHz or 4.77 MHz—the latter being the standard clock speed of the original IBM PC.[2]^: 47 The stock Executive Partner comes with 256 KB of RAM, expandable to 640 KB.[1][4] Users must upgrade all the RAM at once if they are to upgrade to 640 KB because of the non-interoperability of the 64-kb chips of the 128 KB RAM with the 256-kb chips of the 256 KB RAM.[2]^: 47 The computer has one ISA expansion slot, supporting only certain cards 6 inch in length maximum.[5]^: 140 An expansion box offering slots for three full-length (13 in) cards was offered as an optional accessory.[6]

The portable features a flat-panel gas plasma display measuring 11 in diagonally and the display housing holding the plasma panel being only 2 in thick. Because of the heavy current draw of the computer's plasma display, the Executive Partner is powered through mains AC exclusively. The plasma display produces a neon-orange image that was said to exhibit less glare than contemporary cathode-ray tubes and LCDs.[7] A special hinge mechanism prevents the display housing from slamming into the keyboard half of the chassis and potentially breaking the fragile glass layers of the plasma display.[6] The graphics adapter supports CGA video; in graphics mode, it can display up to 640 by 200 pixels,[3]^: 133 while in text mode it can display up to 80 columns by 25 lines.[7]

The Executive Partner features a built-in printer with two optional print heads: a thermal head and an ink-ribbon dot matrix head. The former requires special thermal paper, while the latter can use standard loose-leaf paper. The Executive Partner can print up to 60 cps in draft mode and 30 cps in near-letter-quality mode. The printer can feed out up to 80 inches of paper before jamming due to lacking a tractor-feed mechanism. It can print up to 132 columns of text per row.[8]

Panasonic Corporation released the Executive Partner in late July 1985,[7] supported by a network of 78 value-added resellers and numerous retail outlets.[6] It was released a year after Panasonic's somewhat heavier Senior Partner portable computer, which also features a built-in thermal printer.[9] A hard drive–based model of the Executive Partner was released in late December 1985.[3] At US$2,595, the it was one of the first relatively inexpensive portables to feature a gas plasma display. Grid Systems had released a gas-plasma laptop—the GridCase III—earlier in the year, for nearly double the street price.[10]

InfoWorld's Tony Lima found the Executive Partner heavy like its predecessor, quipping: "It is portable—if you happen to be King Kong". Lima enjoyed the plasma display, calling the picture "rock steady, and while the red-orange color is disconcerting at first, you will probably adapt to it fairly quickly".[2]^: 47 He found the letter quality of the thermal printer satisfactory but noticed that the printer mechanism moved slower than was advertised. Lima concluded his review stating that, while "competitively priced for a computer and printer combination" in 1985, the Executive Partner was not a "particularly dazzling value", naming the HP Portable Plus as a competitor with more features.[2]^: 48

Like Lima, Jon Pepper of PC Magazine called the Executive Partner weighty but praised the plasma display as "extremely readable, especially if you have been laboring over a Tandy 100 or another first-generation LCD portable computer".[3]^{: 132–133} Pepper called the Executive Partner's keyboard "comfortable during prolonged touch-typing" and called the compatibility factor with IBM PC software problem-free.[3]^: 134 A late 1986 article in the same magazine called the computer "simply too big to be called a true laptop" but wrote that the display was "beautiful and readable under any lighting conditions ... scroll[ing] without a flicker".[11]