Kaypro 16

Release

InfoWorld Feb 18, 1985

"Kaypro is also going after the I.B.M. PC XT market with its new Kaypro 16 model, more than $1,000 cheaper than a comparably equipped XT. Kaypro also throws in free word processing, spreadsheet and database software to sweeten the deal. A Kaypro 16 with 256K random acess memory, a 10-megabyte hard disk and 320K floppy disk, and a letter quality printer costs $3,295."
(New York Times, March 12, 1985)

"The Kaypro 16E family is a series of transportable IBM PC work-alikes based on a 4.77 MHz 8088 processor. They are available in two versions, each with three levels of memory expansion. The Kaypro 16/2E comes with two 360K floppy drives and an ATlike keyboard, while the Kaypro 16E has a 10-megabyte hard disk, one 360K floppy drive and the standard K16 keyboard.

A standard K16 system has 256K of memory and can be purchased with or upgraded to either 512K or 640K. The same multivideo card used in the KPC is now used in the Kaypro 16E family the "E" is for enhanced video. A Kaypro 16E comes in a standardsize Kaypro chassis."
(Profiles V3 N6)

News

Kaypro Corporation has reduced prices on the Kaypro 386 line of supermicros, the Kaypro EXTRA! EXTRA! complete desktop publishing systems, the Kaypro 16E, and the 162E. ...

All configurations of the Kaypro EXTRA! EXTRA! desktop publishing system have been reduced by $500. The Kaypro 16E, a transportable IBM PC-compatible computer with 768K of RAM and a 20 megabyte hard disk, now retails for $1,595. The dual floppy Kaypro 162E is available for $1,395.
(Profiles, September 1987)

"CP/M systems were on the way out. Everybody was switching to IBM-compatible systems. We had to rush one out the door to keep our dealer base happy. That was in 1984. It was a generic MSDOS system, it didn't run all the IBM-compatible software. We stuffed it inside our CP/M case."
(Andrew Kay, Computer Shopper, August 1989, pg 420)

While Sperry turned away from the I.B.M. standard, a personal computer maker that had struck off on its own, the Kaypro Corporation, introduced its first I.B.M.-compatible model, the Kaypro 16. "It's what our dealers asked for," said Henry Hester, a company spokesman, although company officials said they would continue to market the older line.

Kaypro's new machine sells for $3,295, including 256,000 characters of internal memory and a floppy and hard disk drive. But it weighs 35 pounds, more than competing models from I.B.M. and Compaq, and far more than the kneetop I.B.M.-compatible machine the company officials once promised by September. Yesterday they said that machine, developed by Mitsui, a Japanese company, had been delayed from six to eight months because of troubles with its flat screen display.
(New York Times, November 15, 1984)