Kaypro 4 '84 (81-015)

Announced on February 10, 1984.

Both the Kaypro 2 and 4 received major updates as the New Year came in 1984. The three significant updates for the Kaypro 4:

• The floppy drives were updated to half height drives, they were still Double Sided Double Density. This required an update to the design of the case for the smaller drives. The new drives were also direct drives and in general were much more reliable than the proceeding full height drives.
• The mainboard was updated to the universal board that would be shared among the new CPM machines for the rest of Kaypro’s production. This board usually was only populated with the circuitry required for that particular model. It appears that a Kaypro 10 board sometimes was used, likely when they didn’t have the correct board on hand.
• The screen graphics from the Kaypro 10 became a part of the Kaypro 4. This is implemented as an additional chip on the main board.

All of these updates made the Kaypro 4 become more like the earlier Kaypro 10 just without the hard drive.

Kaypro 4 Welcome Packet

Release

A new, improved Kaypro 4 personal business computer has been introduced by Kaypro Corporation for 1984. It contains many of the features previously designed into the company's more advanced models.

The enhanced Kaypro 4 microcomputer will sell for $1995 and incorporates a built-in modem for telecommunications and data bank accessing. The improved display features a clearer, cleaner type font, graphics capability, blinking cursor, dual intensity and highlighting.

One major innovation to the Kaypro line will be the addition, for the first time, of a built-in 300-buad modem. This automatically adapts the enhanced Kaypro 4 for communications and electronic mail applications, as well as real-time accessing of available data banks.

In addition, the enhanced Kaypro 4 will process information faster at 4 MHz, and will incorporate many of the advanced display features proven popular in the Kaypro 10 microcomputer. The new screen will appear notably clearer, the type fonts will be clearer and cleaner (5 x 7, vs. 8 x 16 pixels), and other features including screen highlighting, dual intensity display segments and blinking cursor have been incorporated into the enhanced Kaypro 4.

One of the more popular new features of the Kaypro 4 will be the addition of on-screen graphics. This is made possible be the changeover to an improved monitor screen capable of 100 by 160 pixels of display resolution.

For word processing applications, the enhanced Kaypro 4 will feature the industry standard 80 columns of display width. However, the display will be one line higher, and will display 25 lines of copy on the screen.

The enhanced Kaypro 4, selling for $200 more than the earlier version, is priced at $1995.
("New Kaypro 4 for 1984 is Faster, Press Release, February 10, 1984)

Mainboard

The primary board used is the Universal Mainboards.

The article below might lead you to believe that the early K4 '84 used the 81-180 C Mainboard but the evidence shows that they went to Universal board (81-184) directly. Which is supported by the italicized portion below. (Italics are not in the original text.)

If you're wondering whether your Kaypro II is really 4, just wait. Kaypro Corp is changing things all around again. Only this time the Kaypro 4 and 10 will share the same processor board and the II will have a 4 board. OK?

The new Kaypro 4 uses the Kaypro 10 board and two non-Tandon half-wide drives. ...

The Kaypro II will have the original Kaypro 4 board and ROM. In fact, the present Kaypro II and 4 systems have a simple monitor sign-on that says "Kaypro" rather than Kaypro II or Kaypro 4. That way they can use the exact same board and ROM. The only thing you have to do to this version of the Kaypro II to turn it into a 4 is change the drives to double sided 48 tpi units.

The new Kaypro 4 will actually have some features that the 10 won't have (at least for a while). It will have a new CTC timer and a modem built in. However, they aren't quite ready to ship the new 4. They are still cleaning up the software and the FCC has not yet certified that they pass the radiation restrictions.
(Micro Cornucopia, Feb 1984)

End of production

The KAYPRO II is dead, long live KAYPRO.

The KAYPRO II and the KAYPRO 4 have been discontinued.
(Kugram, Mar-Apr 1985)