Or was some
mistake made at the factory (they ran
out of V20 chips?) and an Intel chip was put in this one? Does anyone else
have a 1400 with an Intel 8088? It this computer possibly worth more than
the one with the V20 (I doubt it)?
Part substitutions like this are very common, especially with very similar
parts like the 8088 and V20. Sometimes manufacturers run into problems
getting the chips they need, and often have to take far more drastic
measures, like coming up with kludge boards, piggybacking parts, hacking
up the traces, etc., just because vendor A is saying "12 weeks" and
customer is saying "next week", all for a $4.00 part.
Also don't forget that NEC was pushing the V20s as cheap replacements
for the Intel 8088s. So TRS may have switched to the V20s. The V20 is also
faster and uses less power than the 8088. Big factors in a battery powered
laptop. Later Intel sued NEC and blocked the sale of V20 and V30s so TRS
may have had to switch back to 8088s.
Joe