Sony MSX computers

The Sony HB-10P was one of Sony's first MSX models.

I don't know the spec's so I can't say anything useful about it. The letters 'HB' mean 'HitBit' by the way...

The HB-75D, which you see here, has the nicest computer keyboard I ever touched (except for the awful function- and cursorkeys).
It has a firmware calendar/database, of which the data can be stored on cassette or Sony's 4kB SRAM cartridge.
This SRAM cartridge is addressable as a device in BASIC, so you can store your programs on it!
The picture is of the GERMAN version of this complete and cool looking MSX-1 (so the keyboard is QWERTZ).

The hardware this girl is presenting is the Sony HB-201 MSX computer together with the KV-14G2 color television.

The HB-201 has a cool black/white design with a few bright orange keys, also the descending edges make it stand out.

It's a great gaming machine because of the PAUSE button, which will totally shut-down the computer, and the mini-joystick that can be attached to the cursor keys (as shown).

This Sony HB-501P is one of the more rare machines. It has a built-in datarecorder and not many MSX's have that!

Furthermore, it has a PAUSE button and a mini-joystick just like the HB-201. I guess this was Sony's top-of-the-line MSX-1 computer.

The Sony HB-F700P (Also in German F700D version.) was at the time of its release very popular for it's 256kB RAM on which you could play cracked 2Mbit gamecartridges. ^^;

It's a good MSX2 and about as popular as the Philips NMS 8250. Unfortunately the Disk-ROM of a standard HB-F700P is kinda slow. You can speed-up the diskdrive by disableing the read/write-verify, but still...

(Luckily, it's very easy to remedy this. Just buy yourself a new Disk-ROM at your local MSX hardware enthusiast for about $12 and your drive will be on par with the Philips'.)

Here's another pic of the Sony HB-F700P I found on the net.
It's small and black&white, but it will have to do. ;)

Sony made a lot of MSX machines specifically for professional purposes. This is one of them.

The HB-F900 is a terrific machine, 256kB RAM, 2 built-in diskdrives and in black too, while most Sony MSX2's are white.
But it really takes of together with the HBI-F900 AV Creator. You'll have a complete audio and video-mixing studio right at home!

Get rid of your Philips NMS8280 and start drooling over this baby! (God, how I want one :)

Sorry for the bad picturequality (a bit deformed too), but this is the Sony HB-F900 without the HBI-F900 AV Creator.

This Sony HB-T7 was especially designed for communication purposes. It has a built in modem capable of speeds up to 1200 bps, which was pretty damn fast at the time of its release!
It also has a built-in RS232C interface to connect an external modem.

The downside is the 64kB RAM, but ofcourse that's only a small problem. This machine was only released in Japan.

This is the Sony HB-F1XD MSX2 computer. You can immediately see the resemblance to the HB-F1XDJ MSX2+ below.

Although the looks and the name are almost the same, internally there are ofcourse BIG differences.

Unfortunately, this computer was only sold in Japan (like so many MSX's...) :(

The Sony HB-F1XDJ is a typical MSX2+ machine, that means only 64kB RAM, as usual in Japanese MSX's and build-in MSX-MUSIC.

This model was later replaced by the HB-F1XV with a few minor changes.

The hardware PAUSE-button, the SPEED-CONTROLLER (slow-motion) and the REN-SHA-TURBO (auto-fire for both joysticks and spacebar) are nice features for playing games.

This is the same model, just without the flashy sticker.