MP400 ROM upgrade

[Chris Hall]

Need ROM upgrade chip for MP400. Any seller must be willing to ship internationally.

This chip upgraded MP400 from CE 1.0 to 2.0 compatibility, and I believe it is no longer available commercially, even from NEC.

I find the 400 is still great for taking notes while moving around on the job.

Chris

[Pilot]

I agree -- I do miss the smaller size of my MP450 and think it was a great little machine for its time. I didn't even mind the small keyboard so much, and got used to typing pretty fast with just two fingers.

You're right in that the upgrade is no longer available from NEC. I do find it on eBay from time to time, but that seems very rare lately. When I would see it on eBay, it would be about $50-75, which more than what entire MP400/450's go for on eBay. More than I see the CE 2.0 upgrade ROM by itself, I typically see it included with a MP450. That might be something to consider as well, because the MP450 has a backlight option that that the MP400 doesn't have.

If you don't mind a size increase, you may want to make the jump to a MP700. It will give you the same b/w screen, long AA battery life, but an almost full-sized tough-typeable keyboard (not to mention CE 2.0). You can also upgrade the internal RAM to 32mb on the MP700, whereas I believe the MP400/450 is limited to the stock 4mb, and the MP400/450 does not have a CF card slot. This can be a pain because if you're using the PCMCIA card for memory expansion (like with a CF card adapter), then you cannot use a modem in there. The MP7xx/8xx systems all come with a built-in modem. Might be something you want to consider. You can always sell your MP400 on eBay, and the price you would pay for the MP700 would probably be about what you would get for you MP400 if you sold it plus the price of the ROM upgrade. When I was playing the Mobilepro upgrade game, I actually made a profit!