The Executive Partner (stylized as the Exec. Partner; model number FT-70) is an IBM PC-compatible

portable computer A portable computer is a computer designed to be easily moved from one place to another and included a display and keyboard together, with a single plug, much like later desktop computers called '' all-in-ones'' (AIO), that integrate the ...

that was introduced by the

Panasonic Corporation formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...

in 1985. The portable computer is AC-powered exclusively, weighs between 28 and , and features a built-in printer. The Executive Partner was one of the first affordable portable computers with a

plasma display A plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display that uses small cells containing plasma: ionized gas that responds to electric fields. Plasma televisions were the first large (over 32 inches diagonal) flat panel displays to be release ...

Specifications

The Executive Partner is a

in a clamshell form factor that measures . Depending on the configuration, the computer weighs between 28 and . Two models of the computer were released: one with dual 5.25-inch floppy drives and the other with one such floppy drive and a

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magneti ...

. All models in the Executive Partner range feature an

Intel 8086-2 The 8086 (also called iAPX 86) is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel between early 1976 and June 8, 1978, when it was released. The Intel 8088, released July 1, 1979, is a slightly modified chip with an external 8-bit data bus (allowin ...

microprocessor running at user-switchable clock speed of 7.16 MHz or 4.77 MHz—the latter being the standard clock speed of the original IBM PC. The stock Executive Partner comes with 256 KB of RAM, expandable to 640 KB. Users must upgrade all the RAM at once if they are to upgrade to 640 KB because of the non-interoperability of the 64-kb chips of the 128 KB RAM with the 256-kb chips of the 256 KB RAM. The computer has one

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expansion slot, supporting only certain cards 6 inch in length maximum. An expansion box offering slots for three full-length (13 in) cards was offered as an optional accessory. The portable features a flat-panel gas plasma display measuring 11 in diagonally and the display housing holding the plasma panel being only 2 in thick. Because of the heavy current draw of the computer's plasma display, the Executive Partner is powered through mains AC exclusively. The plasma display produces a neon-orange image that was said to exhibit less glare than contemporary

cathode-ray tube A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms (oscilloscope), pictu ...

s and

LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but in ...

s. A special hinge mechanism prevents the display housing from slamming into the keyboard half of the chassis and potentially breaking the fragile glass layers of the plasma display. The graphics adapter supports CGA video; in graphics mode, it can display up to 640 by 200 pixels, while in text mode it can display up to 80 columns by 25 lines. The Executive Partner features a built-in printer with two optional print heads: a

thermal A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...

head and an ink-ribbon

dot matrix A dot matrix is a 2-dimensional patterned array, used to represent characters, symbols and images. Most types of modern technology use dot matrices for display of information, including mobile phones, televisions, and printers. The system is al ...

head. The former requires special thermal paper, while the latter can use standard loose-leaf paper. The Executive Partner can print up to 60 cps in draft mode and 30 cps in near-letter-quality mode. The printer can feed out up to 80 inches of paper before jamming due to lacking a tractor-feed mechanism. It can print up to 132 columns of text per row.

Development and release

released the Executive Partner in late July 1985, supported by a network of 78

value-added reseller A value-added reseller (VAR) is a company that adds features or services to an existing product, then resells it (usually to end-users) as an integrated product or complete "turn-key" solution. This practice occurs commonly in the electronics or IT ...

s and numerous retail outlets. It was released a year after Panasonic's somewhat heavier

Senior Partner A partner in a law firm, accounting firm, consulting firm, or financial firm is a highly ranked position, traditionally indicating co-ownership of a partnership in which the partners were entitled to a share of the profits as "equity partners". The ...

portable computer, which also features a built-in thermal printer. A hard drive–based model of the Executive Partner was released in late December 1985. At US$2,595, the it was one of the first relatively inexpensive portables to feature a gas plasma display. Grid Systems had released a gas-plasma laptop—the GridCase III—earlier in the year, for nearly double the street price.

Reception

InfoWorld ''InfoWorld'' (abbreviated IW) is an information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a web-only publication. Its parent company today is International Data Group, and its siste ...

'' Tony Lima found the Executive Partner heavy like its predecessor, quipping: "It is portable—if you happen to be

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

". Lima enjoyed the plasma display, calling the picture "rock steady, and while the red-orange color is disconcerting at first, you will probably adapt to it fairly quickly". He found the letter quality of the thermal printer satisfactory but noticed that the printer mechanism moved slower than was advertised. Lima concluded his review stating that, while "competitively priced for a computer and printer combination" in 1985, the Executive Partner was not a "particularly dazzling value", naming the

HP Portable Plus The Hewlett-Packard HP 110 (aka HP Portable and HP 45710A) is an MS-DOS compatible portable computer released in 1984. It uses a Harris 80C86 running at 5.33 MHz with of RAM. It has an 80 character by 16 line monochrome () li ...

as a competitor with more features. Like Lima, Jon Pepper of ''

PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...

'' called the Executive Partner weighty but praised the plasma display as "extremely readable, especially if you have been laboring over a Tandy 100 or another first-generation LCD portable computer". Pepper called the Executive Partner's keyboard "comfortable during prolonged touch-typing" and called the compatibility factor with IBM PC software problem-free. A late 1986 article in the same magazine called the computer "simply too big to be called a true laptop" but wrote that the display was "beautiful and readable under any lighting conditions ... scroll ngwithout a flicker".

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em, refs= {{cite journal , last=Pepper , first=Jon , date=December 10, 1985 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Udw3QWX2LQ8C&pg=PA132 , title=Panasonic Executive Partner , journal=PC Magazine , publisher=Ziff-Davis , volume=4 , issue=25 , pages=132–135 , via=Google Books {{cite journal , last=Pepper , first=Jon , date=July 1986 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5hdeC0k_JHwC&pg=PA139 , title=Panasonic Exec. Partner FT-70 , journal=PC Magazine , publisher=Ziff-Davis , volume=5 , issue=13 , pages=138–140 , via=Google Books {{cite journal , last=Willmott , first=Don , date=December 23, 1986 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5hdeC0k_JHwC&pg=PA139 , title=DOS-to-Travel Updates: On the Road Again , journal=PC Magazine , publisher=Ziff-Davis , volume=5 , issue=22 , pages=142–144 , via=Google Books {{cite journal , last=Howitt , first=Doran , date=July 22, 1985 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AS8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22 , title=Gas Plasma Price Breakthrough , journal=InfoWorld , publisher=CW Communications , volume=7 , issue=29 , pages=21–22 , via= {{cite journal , last=Lima , first=Tony , date=September 23, 1985 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hi8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA47 , title=Panasonic Executive Is Reliable Partner , journal=InfoWorld , publisher=CW Communications , volume=7 , issue=38 , pages=47–48 , via=Google Books {{cite journal , last=Staff writer , date=December 2, 1985 , url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A661096/GPS?sid=wikipedia , title=Panasonic Expands Computer Line , journal=Computer Retail News , publisher=UBM LLC , issue=130 , page=99 , via=Gale {{cite journal , last=Staff writer , date=July 1, 1985 , url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A618898/GPS?sid=wikipedia , title=Panasonic Unveils New IBM-Compatible Transportable , journal=Computer Systems News , publisher=UBM LLC , issue=218 , page=16 , via=Gale {{cite journal , last=Paznik , first=Jill , date=July 3, 1985 , url=https://archive.org/details/sim_mis-week_1985-07-03_6_27/page/18/ , title=New Panasonic Transportable Claimed to Pack a Big Wallop , journal=MIS Week , publisher=Condé Nast Publications , volume=6 , issue=27 , page=18 , via=the Internet Archive {{cite journal , last=Staff writer , date=July 8, 1985 , url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A652836/GPS?sid=wikipedia , title=Panasonic Links New PC through Partner Name , journal=Computer & Software News , publisher=Lebhar-Friedman , volume=3 , issue=27 , page=2 , via=Gale {{cite journal , last=Wolfe , first=Lou Anne , date=July 3, 1985 , url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/258943565/ , title=Panasonic Has Microcomputer with 2-inch Thick Screen , journal=Journal Record , publisher=Dolan Media , location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma , via=ProQuest Computer-related introductions in 1985 IBM PC compatibles Executive Partner Portable computers X86-based computers