Leading Edge (company)

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This article is about the computer manufacturer. For the magazine, see Leading Edge.

Leading Edge Hardware Products, Inc. was a computer manufacturer in the 1980s and the 1990s. They were based in Westborough, Massachusetts.

1 History
2 Products
3 Notes
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Leading Edge was founded in 1980. In 1984, they began to use Daewoo parts, and in 1989, they were acquired by Daewoo, as part of their recovery from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.^[1] In October, 1995, Daewoo sold the company to Manuhold Investment AG, a Swiss electronics company. Leading Edge had sold 185,000 of its PC clones in the United States in 1994, but in 1995 sales fell from 90,000 in the first half to almost none in the second half.^[2] By 1997 the company was defunct.^[3]

[edit] Products

The first known computer to be produced by Leading Edge is the Model M, released in 1982. By 1986 it sold for $1695 (US) with a monitor and two floppy drives. It used an Intel 8088-2 processor, running at a maximum of 7.16 MHz on an 8 bit bus, compared to 6 MHz for the IBM PC-AT on a 16 bit bus. The 'M' stands for Mitsubishi, their parts provider.^[4]

They also produced the Leading Edge Word Processor. It was described as easy to use, created automatic backup copies, and loaded in 256 K of RAM, described as a "large" amount. With the program in memory, both floppy drives were available for storage. It was introduced in 1983, and sold in 1984 for $100. (U.S.)^[5]

They began producing the Leading Edge Model D in June, 1985, when they began to use Daewoo parts. That model was described as "the quality is good and the price is right." It was a Consumer Reports "Best Buy." It was IBM compatible, using the same Intel 8088 8 bit processor as the IBM PC, with two floppy disc drives, 256K of RAM, and an amber monitor. The machine sold for $1495 (US)^[6] They sold 125,000 in the first 13 months, then reduced the price to $1295 (US).^[7] When IBM started offering 20 meg hard drives as standard for its newer PC-XT's, Leading Edge offered a 30 meg hard drive standard.^[8] They later released a Model D86 (an Intel 8086), Model D2 in 1988 with a 65 meg hard drive for $2495(US) and a 10 MHz processor (an Intel 80286)^[9] and Model D3 (an Intel 80386). In 1994, they offered the Wintower 486 Multimedia PC, with 66 MHz processor, 8 meg ram, 340 meg hard drive, 2 floppies, CD ROM, modem, sound card and monitor for a "street price" of $2600 (US).^[10]

[edit] Notes

^ "Deal by Daewoo," New York Times, June 1, 1989, pg. D4
^ Steve Lohr, "Frustrated users sue PC maker over busy signals on "help" line," New York Times, 6 February 1996, pg. D10
^ [1] David O. Dabney, "Power Down:Apple Buys Its Own Clones," Weeklywire.com, 15 September 1997, refers to " the now defunct Leading Edge PC clone company"
^ Peter H. Lewis, "Peripherals: Leading Edge: One name, two computers," New York Times, March 18, 1986, pg. C5
^ "Word processing," New York Times, 28 October 1984, pg. AS 24.
^ "A thrifty and practical computer from Korea," New York Times, July 16, 1985, pg. C4
^ Nicholas D. Kristov, "Low-priced cars and electronics from South Korea flooding the U.S.," New York Times, 31 August 1986, pg. A1
^ Eric Sandberg Diment, "Race for hard drive horsepower heats up," New York Times, 9 September 1986, pg. C4
^ L.R. Shannon, "A powerful XT clone," New York Times, March 17, 1988, pg. C9
^ [2] Angela Gunn, "Not on the cutting edge - Leading Edge Products' WinTower 486 multimedia PC - Hardware Review - Evaluation," Home Office Computing, July, 1994. retrieved 31 October 2006