CAMXTOOL Retro Pocket 386 CPU XT PC Laptop Computer 8088, Mini Laptop Compatible with Windows3.1 MS-DOS System, OPL3 Sound Card, VGA Graphics Card, LCD Screen Integrated Mouse Notebook Computer

New old tech. A lot of fun to tinker with so far. Using an existing 486 I had, I installed DOS 6.22 to a new 4GB compact flash card, copied the custom system files over to the new flash, set the config.sys and was ready to go. Have period correct keyboard/monitor/mouse connected which all work perfectly. And have ordered a PicoGus 2 and 8bit ISA expansion card for it. I'll be using these to add GUS and Sound Blaster audio to the system, as well as the MPU 401 interface to my MT-32. Lastly, I plan to dual boot DOS 6.22/Win3.11 with OS/2 Warp 3. Fun indeed!

It's fun and an old school looking computer, the look and feel are just classic. Just make sure you know what you're getting - some of the other reviews can be misleading. Type in "win" on DOS start up to get to Windows. I would give it 5 stars but I never could get the external mouse to work.

Pocket386 Unit powered on exactly once, and now will only show no signal in any subsequent power on. No post code beeps, but also didn't beep but did post on initial power on. Batter charges OSD works, but otherwise the unit does nothing. Tried hooking to external monitor and it did not work either, and no indication that there is any activity from the unit other than from the screen electronics. Likely that the bios, CPU or VGA has died.

What an amazing device packed with potential! You can use this thing as far as your imagination can take you. From coding and compiling, using old versions of current software, as well as the main attraction of running DOS games natively on a "modern" system. I haven't really been able to put it down since I've had it. It's so cool and really a dream come true. It's everything I've ever wanted since I was a kid! A small version of the big home PC we used to have! The only problem I've had with it was a minor frustration. If the battery gets too low it resets the BIOS settings. When this happens it disables the mouse and re-enables the floppy drive. You need to hold the delete key upon startup to enter the BIOS and change the settings back. The battery lasts a fair amount of time as well. It drains much faster when running complicated software as expected. I'd say on a full-charge, with a game running, you can get about 1.5 hours. For office applications and such you get about 3 hours battery life.

Too slow to play many good dos era games. Old drivers (even for the units system). Be aware it's a 386 SX and at a minimum it should be a DX plus it could use a better sound card not just a midi device. Supposedly there is a driver that can better play sounds for this device but have not set it up or even found those drivers. While I loved my 386 dx back in the day this Sx is just too slow. I hope they will make a 486 in the future. I should also note for me it was painful to get new games and software.added to device. The usb drive did not recognize any of my usb type drives no matter the size or format. I ended up buying a compact flash usb reader, transfering games and programs directly to compact flash drive the putting the drive back into the 386. Just painful and this should be fun. Sadly it is not. I will keep for another week to try out a few more programs but this is likely a return.

This pocketbook works as advertised. I like that fact that cables are included for external connections such as keyboard monitor and mouse. It works well for everything that I have run on it. The blue color on some of the keys is a little difficult to read but it's for num lock and numeric keys which I do not use. I do have one wish and that would be for a built in clock so I don't have to enter every time it boots. In summary this little pocket book works well and is reasonably priced.

This is real hardware, it's some sort of industrial version of a 386-compatible CPU. It does indeed run DOS and it is quite good at running games from the 1980's and into the early 1990's. Once you start venturing into mid-1990's you will find that the system is under spec'd for that era in terms of its capabilities and processing power. The keyboard is very small and difficult to type on. But at least you have a portable system. The built-in USB disk emulator makes it more practical than using actual vintage hardware. For playing most games, a small keyboard probably doesn't matter, but you're not going to be comfortable using this for WordPerfect for DOS. I'm running Turbo C++ and Turbo Pascal on mine. It's quite the nostalgia trip. I think this is for people that aren't happy with simply using DOSbox or PCem. And you like a little challenge and frustration in your life in order to make the hobby feel worth the effort. ;-) Build quality is ... not a perfectly manufactured commercial product. This is clearly a device that was built as a labor of love. They've ordered plastic injection that is somewhat toy like. It works, but you can definitely tell it is not quite as durable as a professional laptop, even one from that era. But a plastic clamshell that opens and closes and holds all the electronics together it functions perfectly fine. I just wouldn't drop it on a hard floor ... I also have the older Book 8088 which has a nicer keyboard than this, but a worse display. I kind of wish there was a product that was the best of the Retro Pocket 386 and the old Book 8088. Perhaps one day it would appear.

A bit disappointed and while I appreciate their efforts to try to bring back a retro system, it's just a mess to set up. Having come from that era, I was excited to have a system that I could run old DOS programs on. The instructions are a mess and trying to get ANYTHING to copy over to the system was impossible. Didn't matter if I formatted in FAT16, FAT32, ExFat, etc. Tried the smallest 1gb SD card, tried USB drives, nothing. Ultimately, decided to return it.