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PC-9801 M

From NEC Retro

PC9801M logo.png
PC9801M2.jpg
PC-9801 M
Manufacturer: NEC
Release Date RRP Code
PC-9801 M
JP
(M2) 		¥415,000415,000
PC-9801 M
JP
(M3) 		¥838,000838,000

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The PC-9801 M

Hardware

The PC-9801 M is thought to have been released in response to Fujitsu's FM-16β computer, which promised high density (2HD) 5¼-inch floppy disk support (formatted to 1MB). At the time, the PC-9801 F and PC-9801 E could only handle double-density (2DD) disks formatted to 640KB, so the main selling point of the M was to include 2HD drives as standard.

However, the M was not as successful in the marketplace as the F, as while the drives could read and write 2HD disks, they were incompatible with 2DD disks, thus breaking compatibility with earlier PC-9801 machines. The FM-16β it was competing with struggled for different reasons, namely including CP/M as its operating system of choice rather than the then-more popular MS-DOS.

In addition, the PC-9801 M has double the amount of RAM (256kB vs. 128kB) of the PC-9801 F1/2. Two models were sold; the launch model M2 with two disk drives, and the later M3 which swapped one drive for a 20MB hard drive.

Different disk formats was enough to split the PC-9801 software market, and in many cases led to both F and M versions of games.

Technical specifications

PC-9801 M2

  • Main processor: µPD8086-2 clocked at 5-8MHz
  • Graphics processor: 2x µPD7220 clocked at 2.5MHz
  • RAM: 256KB
  • Text VRAM: 12KB
  • Graphics VRAM: 192KB
  • ROM: 96KB
  • Floppy Disk drive(s): 2× 5¼-inch 2HD (1MB formatted)
  • Sound: Internal "beeper"
  • General Expansion Slot(s): 3 slots
  • Other Slot(s): 1× RAM slot (C-bus Standard)

PC-9801 M3

  • Main processor: µPD8086-2 clocked at 5-8MHz
  • Graphics processor: 2x µPD7220 clocked at 2.5MHz
  • RAM: 256KB
  • Text VRAM: 12KB
  • Graphics VRAM: 192KB
  • ROM: 96KB
  • Hard Disk drive(s): 20MB (SASI)
  • Floppy Disk drive(s): 1× 5¼-inch 2HD (1MB formatted)
  • Sound: Internal "beeper"
  • General Expansion Slot(s): 2 slots

List of games

Gallery

  • PC-9801 M2

  • PC9801M3.jpg

    PC-9801 M3

Promotional material

  • M2 JP flyer

References



PC-9800 series hardware
PC-9800 series Desktop hardware
PC-9801 (1982) | PC-9801 F (E) (1983) | M (1984)

V30 Computers: U | VF | VM (21) | UV (21) | CV (1985-1988)
286 Computers: VX | UX | RX | EX | DX | UR | UF (1986-1991)
386 Computers: RA | RS | ES | DA | DS | CS | FS | FX | US (1988-1992)
486+ Computers: FA | BX | BA | BX2 | BS2 | BA2 | BA3 | BX3 | BX4 | BX4-P (1993-1995)
Other: DO | DO+ | GS (1989-1990)

PC-9800 series Laptop hardware
V30 Computers: PC-9801 LV (1988)

286 Computers: PC-9801 LX (1989)
386 Computers: PC-9801 LS (1988) | PC-9801 T (1990-1991)
V50 Computers(9801 Incompatible): PC-98LT (1986) | PC-98HA (1993)
Other: PC-9801 P (1993)

PC-9800 series Notebook hardware
V30 Computers: PC-9801 N (1989)

V30HL(286) Computers: PC-9801 NV (1990-1991) | PC-9801 NL/(R)(A) (1992-1994)
386 Computers: PC-9801 NC (1991) | PC-9801 NS/(E)(T)(L)(R)(A) (1990-1994)
486 Computers: PC-9801 NA/(C) (1992) | PC-9801 NX/C (1993)

PC-9800 series Workstation hardware
286 Computers: PC-98XA (1985) | PC-98XL (1986)

386 Computers: PC-98XL² (1987) | PC-98RL (1990)

PC-9800 series Peripherals
Not sure how to organize this one
stuff
Okay so I have no idea how best to do this
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