Retro gaming has taken off recently, and we’ve even compared Raspberry Pis, PCs, and retro minis to see which one is better at it. However, nothing still beats playing on the original hardware, leading to a small niche market for retro consoles. So, if you want to play games from the early to mid-90s, you'll want to check out the Pocket 386.
This retro laptop comes from the same makers of the Hand 386 handheld retro PC and the Book 8088 compact retro notebook. In fact, it has the same specifications as the former, sporting a 40MHz 386 SX chip, 8MB of DRAM, a replaceable VGA card, and a Yamaha sound card. It also has a larger 7-inch IPS LCD screen with a wider 16:9 aspect ratio, although you can toggle it to 4:3 via the OSD menu if you want an authentic experience.
Although the computer lacks the classic trackpad or trackpoint for mouse control, you can use the arrow keys to move the cursor, and the question mark and shift keys on either side of the up-arrow key for left and right click functionality. Additionally, the laptop has several interface ports, like the PS/2/VGA port, allowing you to add an old-school trackball mouse and CRT monitor to the laptop.
The Pocket 386 will initially ship with Windows 3.11, but you could ask DZT’s Store, the seller of this retro notebook, for a Windows 95 GHO file to upgrade your system. The Pocket 386 is priced at $300, but it currently has a 37% discount, lowering the cost to just $187. It’s available in two colors, black and transparent, and comes with a PS/2 VGA connection, an Lpt port connector, a Serial Adapter + TTL-RS232, and a 12-volt charger. You can also easily access the battery, sound card, and RAM through easy pop-off covers.
The laptop just measures 8.3 x 4.8 x 1.2 inches, allowing you to easily put it in your bag or even pocket it (if you have large pockets). At the time of writing, it had sold almost 400 units and had 49 reviews, with the item getting an average of 4.9 stars on AliExpress. This looks like a legit product, with some retro YouTube channels covering the notebook. RetroTV1 Tech has even tested some retro games on it, like Doom, Wolfenstein 3-D, Commander Keen4, and Test Drive 3.
The laptop is all new, apart from the 386 chip. So, if you’re into retro gaming, now is your chance to get your hands on brand-new retro hardware.
