NEC | 1993 | i486DX2 @ 66MHz | 3.6MB RAM | Color via DA15 (VGA, 24KHz)
My favorite of the "A-Mate" series of PC-9821s, the original PC-9821Ap is something I find quite charming.
It isn't as painful to recap as the As2/Ap2, I haven't had it die on me due to GAL failure like the As3/Ap3, and I've never paid more than $30 for one on Yahoo Auctions.
While this model of computer does suffer from the "game gear" capacitors that plague '93-'94 NEC computers, those flat pseudo-chip electrolytic capacitors that notoriously leak all over the insides of Sega Game Gears, it doesn't actually have too many of them. On top of that, they all go to pretty obvious traces-if-not-places.
This system came with a few goodies. It has a NESA high-resolution board enabling a video mode which was found on the late N5200/earlier professional PC98 models. It was also "recpaped" by the previous owner but if you take a look at the last photo you'll see that they did a poor job. I'm currently redoing their work and will update this page when I'm finished! They sadly ruined some of the pads which will require me to do some degree of bodge work.
| Front | Back | Hi-Res Board | "Recapping" |
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