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Zenith Eazy PC

From Alfawiki
Zenith Data Systems
IndustryComputer hardware
Founded1979; 47 years ago (1979)
Headquarters
United States
ProductsComputers, including the Eazy PC

The Eazy PC (presented as eaZy pc) is an all-in-one PC compatible with the IBM PC standard, produced by Zenith Data Systems (ZDS) starting in 1987. This compact system, compatible with the XT architecture, is powered by an NEC V40 processor and was created to serve as an affordable and straightforward home computing solution—a notable departure from ZDS’s earlier focus on corporate, academic, and governmental markets.

Design and Hardware

The Eazy PC combines the CRT display and main unit into a single all-in-one chassis, with the power supply integrated inside the monitor. It features a 14-inch grayscale screen utilizing warm white phosphor, capable of displaying CGA graphics at up to 640×200 pixels. The vertical resolution is effectively enhanced to 400 pixels through double scanning, providing crisper text output.

The mainboard enclosure measures approximately 13 by 11 by 3.5 inches. Floppy disk drives—either one or two 3.5-inch drives with 720 KB capacity—are accessible on the right side of the unit. A separate keyboard connects via a 5-pin DIN connector located on the left side. The rear panel includes a DE-09M serial port for a mouse, a DB-25F parallel port, and a proprietary 64-pin option connector designed for external expansion modules.

At its core is an NEC V40 CPU running at 7.16 MHz, which can be throttled down to the XT standard speed of 4.77 MHz. The system comes equipped with 512 KB of RAM by default, expandable up to 640 KB through an add-on module. The BIOS firmware was developed and provided by Vadem. The motherboard incorporates extensive use of large scale integration (LSI) circuits alongside low-power CMOS components—technologies adapted from ZDS’s line of portable computers. Housing the power supply within the monitor permitted a more compact mainboard enclosure.

Zenith Data Systems released three variants:

  • Model 1 (EZ1): Equipped with one 720 KB floppy drive
  • Model 2 (EZ2): Featuring two 720 KB floppy drives
  • Model 3 (EZ3/EZ20/Model 20): Including one floppy drive plus a 20 MB hard disk

These configurations were fixed at the point of sale; any upgrades or additional drives required servicing by ZDS. Models 1 and 2 utilized lower wattage power supplies that could not support hard drives, and their internal design prevented user-installed hard disk upgrades.

Expansion Capabilities

Distinct from most PC compatibles of its time, the Eazy PC did not include internal ISA slots for expansion cards. This design choice, combined with LSI and CMOS technology, kept power consumption low enough to eliminate the necessity for a cooling fan, resulting in quieter operation. Additionally, the motherboard lacked a socket for a floating-point unit, such as the Intel 8087 coprocessor.

Official aftermarket accessories from ZDS included a mouse, an internal real-time clock module, and two types of external expansion units housed in metal cases that connected via the rear option port—extending the depth of the chassis by . One external module provided an additional 128 KB of RAM to reach the maximum supported memory of 640 KB. The other module offered this same memory expansion along with a 9-pin serial port and a built-in modem supporting speeds of 300/1200 bit/s, featuring an RJ11 connector. Only one such external module could be connected at any given time.

Software

The Eazy PC shipped pre-installed with MS-DOS version 3.21, accompanied by GW-BASIC and MS-DOS Manager version 1—a character-based windowing file manager considered an early forerunner to DOS Shell. When run as a terminate-and-stay-resident program, MS-DOS Manager consumed at least 111 KB of memory, which limited the ability to run larger software packages like MultiMate Advantage unless the optional 128 KB memory expansion was installed. Reviewer Lewis Perdue noted compatibility issues when running certain applications directly from floppy disks, reporting errors and system freezes that suggested the Eazy PC did not fully replicate IBM PC behavior.

Development and marketing

The Eazy PC was created through a collaboration between Zenith Data Systems (ZDS) and the original design manufacturer Vadem, based in San Jose, California. ZDS revealed the product at the Spring COMDEX event held in Atlanta in June 1987, with commercial availability commencing a month later.

ZDS marketed the Eazy PC as an "entry-level computer" targeted at "new or inexperienced users" as well as "business professionals who need to work from home." This initiative represented ZDS's initial foray into appealing to individuals unfamiliar with personal computing. Previously recognized for producing high-performance machines—particularly Portable computer models—and serving government and institutional clients, ZDS set the Eazy PC's price range between $999 and $1699 depending on its specifications. An additional expansion module combining memory, serial ports, and a modem was offered for $399, which some critics deemed a necessary accessory.

Production of the Eazy PC ceased in early 1990. By September 1990, discount retailer Damark was still selling the hard drive-equipped variant for $669.

Reception

Daniel Brogan from the Chicago Tribune evaluated several IBM PC-compatible systems by measuring their performance on an actuarial calculation involving pension liabilities for 1,000 employees. The Eazy PC placed second-to-last in this test, finishing just under 51 minutes—approximately 20 minutes faster than the Leading Edge Model D but more than 20 minutes slower than the AT&T 6300.

Perdue critiqued the Eazy PC for being "insufficiently simple for beginners and lacking power for professional users," expressing strong dissatisfaction with its limited upgrade potential. Apart from word processing tasks, he found it unreliable when running popular IBM PC software and noted its absence of local area network support, which diminished its suitability for educational or corporate environments. Although the memory-plus-serial-plus-modem expansion unit performed adequately, it suffered from unstable chassis connections due to short thumbscrews. He also disparaged the grayscale display quality of the integrated monitor, which required frequent contrast adjustments when switching applications. The sole advantage he acknowledged was its rapid setup time—functional within roughly 10 minutes.

Conversely, PC Magazine columnist Robert Aarons commended the Eazy PC's design, highlighting that its system board enclosure resembled an elegant monitor stand and praising ZDS for producing a PC clone devoid of conventional design clichés. He described the monitor as "the most visually pleasing display you will encounter." Despite lagging behind comparable CPU/RAM configurations in processing speed and featuring one of the slowest hard drives in its category (second only to IBM's PS/2 Model 25), Aarons regarded it as a cost-effective option for college students, casual home users, and low-demand office settings. Cristine Bye from the Calgary Herald valued the monitor’s phosphor color but observed some text fuzziness. Robert Lander of Your Computer praised ZDS’s early adoption of 3.5-inch floppy drives and admired both the industrial design and build quality of the monitor and keyboard. Similar to Perdue, he criticized limited expansion capabilities; like Aarons, he found the Model 3’s hard drive sluggish during write operations. Robert Scibilia from Popular Mechanics likened the Eazy PC to the Macintosh, describing it as "a straightforward all-in-one computing device that performs its functions with minimal complexity."

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External links

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