Toshiba stuffs an entire PC into a dot matrix printer — Toshiba Jimucon SJ-9500 packs a mysterious CPU, 8GB RAM, and two 240GB SSDs

Toshiba Jimucon SJ-9500 (Image credit: Toshiba)

On November 8, Toshiba Japan (Toshiba Tec) debuted the latest in its series of Jimucon AIO printer PCs, the Toshiba Tec Jimucon SJ-9500— per the PC Watch post and the original release it cites, this AIO PC comes with a built-in ink matrix printer, a slot to store the included keyboard, and even a backup battery, all to further facilitate its intended use as a Japanese business PC. From word processing to Point of Sale (POS) systems, a setup like this can do quite a lot in the office— the 15-inch, 1024 x 768 LCD screen is more than enough for those tasks.

The Toshiba Tec Jimucon SJ-9500 is outfitted with dual 240 GB SSDs— one for active use and the other seemingly for backup mirroring purposes, according to the original release. These specifications, combined with just 8 GB of RAM and even an unspecified CPU, point toward this PC being targeted at standard office work that PCs have been great at for decades rather than high-end video editing or cutting-edge graphics. This series of Toshiba Tec "Jimucon" PCs have been sold in Japan since 1982, so this model likely works well for them— and this unit's stated sales targets are relatively modest at an expected 1000 units per year.

As admittedly niche as this AIO PC is, we have to admit it's cool to still see PCs in such specialized form factors made by companies like Toshiba. If designs like the Toshiba Jimucon SJ-9500 are popular, they could come to the States. Shipping them internationally would probably be expensive, though, considering each unit weighs about 50 pounds. Compact in size these setups may be, but lightweight they are not.

Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrote for various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack.

4 Comments Comment from the forums

bit_user

Reminds me of the old school word processors, from the 1980's. They were something of a hybrid between an electric typewriter and a PC, often featuring a small screen you could use for editing, before actually printing it out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_processor_(electronic_device)#
I never used one, thankfully.
Reply
millermatic

And then there's the Wang WLTC from 1985. An actual PC with a printer. Which came in at 29lbs - including the optional drive:

https://www.wangmuseum.nl/other-wang-equipment/

Reply
Findecanor

I expect that this type of device is most often found in warehouses, delivery terminals, and the like, used for producing delivery notices, invoices and whatnot.
Reply
SHaines

bit_user said:
Reminds me of the old school word processors, from the 1980's. They were something of a hybrid between an electric typewriter and a PC, often featuring a small screen you could use for editing, before actually printing it out.
I never used one, thankfully.
There's a decent chance I owned that model. I was a writer in my younger days and used to type away at that thing at all hours in my flophouse rented room with the bathroom down the hall. Good times.
Reply