Highscreen Colani BlueNote II

Following the success of the Highscreen Colani BlueNote, german retailer VOBIS launched the BlueNote II, which was more than just a minor update.

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• Historic Overview
• Specs
• Gallery
• Downloads

Historic Overview

The Colani BlueNote II inherits the general appearance from its ancestor, so it arrives in the very same deep blue clam shell. Still, VOBIS didn’t just upgrade the CPU alone, but managed to put a lot of new features into this gorgeuous notebook.

When the BlueNote arrived, it came with a 486DX clocked at 33 MHz. The BlueNote II is essentially doubling this, running a DX2 at 66 MHz. The default RAM was upgraded vom 4 MiB to 8 MiB, and the harddrive was changed to a 540 MiB disk, as opposed to the initial 80 MiB and 120 MiB options.

Instead of a trackball the BlueNote II features a trackpoint in the center of the keyboard. The mouse buttons have been relocated from the upper right-hand side of the base unit to the bottom of the wristpad.

In the very same spot, where the original BlueNote featured the mouse buttons, is now the connectors and volume control for the newly integrated SoundBlaster-compatible audio card.

Taking this all into account, the BlueNote II was a more than worthy upgrade when compared to the original BlueNote.

During the mid-90s VOBIS offered its line of computers with IBMs OS/2 preinstalled, because – as rumors have it – they were tired to wait for the next 32-bit operating system to be (aka Windows 95). The MS-DOS 6/Windows 3.11 option could still be ordered if needed, however at an extra charge.
For authenticity reasons, this BlueNote II has OS/2 Warp 3.0 installed.

Specs

The PHINTAGE Collection currently holds a Highscreen Colani BlueNote II.

Vendor	Vobis AG
Model	Highscreen Colani BlueNote II
Released	1994
Original Streetprice
Weight	3.2 KG
Dimensions	28cm x 23cm x 5cm
Builtin Display	Yes, 9.5″ STN Color
Builtin Battery	Yes, 2 Ah
Power Supply	Proprietary 4-pin PSU
CPU	Intel 80486DX2 @ 66 MHz
RAM	8 MiB
Storage	540 MiB PATA 2.5″ hard drive 1.44 MiB 3.5″ floppy drive
Network Support	optional (via PCMCIA adapter)
USB	no
Video Output	1 VGA
Other	1 RS232, 1 Parallel Port, 1 PS/2, 1 Dock Connector
Operating System	IBM OS/2 Warp 3.0
Overall Condition	Some minor scuffs and marks, overall in very good condition Battery worn down Trackpoint defective
Restoration Parts needed	Replacement battery Replacement keyboard with builtin trackpoint

Gallery

Coming soon.

Downloads

There is currently no downloads available.