All about hand-held and briefcase-portable computers. (book reviews) John Anderson.

It is my unfortunate duty to warn you off All About Hand-Held and Briefcase-Portable Computers by C. Louis Hohenstein. 368 pp. Byte Books, McGraw-Hill Paperbacks, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. $9.95. The book needlessly and unproductively blurs the line between handheld and portable computers, and prodvides a nearly worthless overview that helps neither the portable owner nor the portable shopper. Its highly uneven approach explains things like keyboards as if we had never seen one before, then later on provides an exploded view of the Sharp PC-1500--not to study the architecture, but more or less just for the hell of it.

A quote: "In the hand-held computers we're using as examples, the visual display is usually located above the keyboard, near the top of the computer faceplate." Things deteriorate from there. With a straight face the author compares the $7000 Grid Compass with the $70 TRS-80 PC-1. Generally a mess. McGraw-Hill ought to know better, but then again, nobody's perfect. In any case, stay away from this one. It's a major doggie.

Review Grade: D