The two computers had very similar specifications. The
PPC512 had an
NEC V30 that could emulate the
CGA or
MDA The
PPC640 was otherwise identical except that it had 640
KiB of memory, a built-in 2400 baud
modem (unusually fast for its day), and its case was a darker shade of grey. Both versions of the machine had an empty socket on the main circuit board so that an Intel
8087 coprocessor could be installed to permit hardware processing of floating point arithmetic. The PPC included standard connectors for
RS-232,
Centronics and CGA/MDA video, allowing existing peripherals to be used. • Ten C-size
alkaline batteries. (10 × 1.5 V = 15 volts, but the load was such the voltage dropped to nearer 12 volts in use) •
Mains adaptor •
Car cigarette lighter • An Amstrad PC-MD, PC-CD or PC-ECD monitor (These monitors all contained a power supply.) The physical layout of the components was unlike most laptop designs: instead of the lid containing the screen, it contained the keyboard. The
hinges were therefore at the front of the main unit, rather than the back. The LCD was hinged separately and folded down into a recess on the top of the system unit. The one or two floppy drives were located on the right-hand side. When closed, the size of the PPC was 45 cm wide × 10 cm high × 23 cm deep. A bank of six
DIP switches was used to select whether the video hardware emulated CGA or MDA, and whether to use an internal or external monitor. No official
hard drive option or
docking station was manufactured, but both were sold by third-party manufacturers. ==Software==