| NEC VERSA E-SERIES | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The NEC Versa E was a line of detachable screen notebook PC's released by NEC in 1994. These were an update on the original NEC UltraLite Versa and meant to improve and enhance the user experience as there were several misgivings about the original units.
The NEC Versa E was the new "top of the line" model and was sold along side the original UltraLite Versa for a short time before the original line was discontinued. Updates included a new "VersaTrak" Trackball right beneath the spacebar - just drop your thumbs down, and there it is. It also featured a new motherboard redesign that was a little more modular, improved plastics, a brighter, sharper Active Matrix panel on color models, and offered Touch, although this seems a bit "unofficial" because NEC put the phone# for information on the Pen/Touch expansion in the original Versa E user manual. Model#s were as follows...
THE NEC/AT&T CONNECTION - THE AT&T SAFARI 3180 
Of course, AT&T Followed suit releasing an AT&T Safari 3181 model in 1994, modeled after the Versa 50E. The model to the left is a color model. All the same information applies, lighter gray bezels for the keyboard and screen, logos that are either in grayscale or color to indicate if the screen is a color or monochrome screen, an
PERFORMANCE, SPECS, AND COMMON INFORMATION IN IT'S DAY The NEC Versa E had a very respectible reputation when it came out as it was still out-classing most notebooks in the same genre with itself, and the main problems/complaints about the original UltraLite Versa had been addressed - the biggest two being that giant "Brick" power supply and the lack of a trackball built into the computer itself. The DX2 SL CPUs used in the first two releases were very strong contenders, but nothing too unusual. By that point, NanTan had their FMA3540 model that had a 486 DX2-66 in it, AT&T also had their Safari 3151 (later called the Globalyst 200) with a 486 DX2 SL-50 CPU just like the Versa 50E. It also seems to me, due to the high cost, with base models costing almost $2500-3000, most of these laptops were issued under lease from a company. I've seen a 75E issued by Caterpillar originally, and my 40EC came from Ford Motor Company. The Versa E-series seemed to sell the most as I see a LOT of them still out there. Some people get a stupid idea that these are worth as much as $200 but that's total shit. A Versa E should not cost more than $75, they're that common, and you can even still find parts for them, likely due to their widespread disribution in corporate America. You can still buy motherboards, screens, and other assemblies rather easily.Performance, Reliability, Durability in the Common Age The NEC Versa E-series is one of the best vintage 486 laptops you can get for the money, if you don't listen to the idiots who charge $100-200 for them. The Versa E sold so mny I see at least 2-3 pop up on e-bay every six or so months, usually one or two for a stupid amount of money. Mine cost $35, I would not ever pay more than $75, and $75 would be for a NEC Versa 75EC. This means if you can snag one for a good price, get it. They always work, even when they are broken they TRY to start up. Mine had a bad motherboard and power supply board at first and it managed to boot up six or seven times on that flaky board. Now I'm running mine on it's second motherboard and third power board I fixed myself. My problems were all incurred from my various experiments in grafting in hardware and testing others. The only things you might need to fix are motherboard fuses and/or jumper wires. The entire motherboard and power assembly dumps and lacks electrolytic capacitors so that's likely a big reason these don't fail. Performance is comparable to a mid-level 486 DX2-66 desktop system, and the fact most of these came with an active matrix screen makes that a very comfortable system to use. I've run some pretty advanced 486 and pentium games on mine including Diablo, Doom, Quake, GTA, GTA London, Destruction Derby, and so on, and most of those performed at least satisfactory if not very good on this system. The only downside is no sound card, but once there's a option for that on the indie vintage remake market, these will be some pretty nice retro-gaming rigs. COMMON ISSUES WITH USED EXAMPLES The NEC Ultralite Versa is theh most delicate of the Versa models. Common problems are as follows...
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