Nextbook 9200`

Anyone know about this beastie? This was the closest I could find on it:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130713081555/https://reportdesert.blogspot.com/ (https://web.archive.org/web/20130713081555/https://reportdesert.blogspot.com/)

Way towards the end the blogger claims to have bought one for 500 euros. Is it true? Was there one ever made?

AFAIK it was a i486 laptop that was pre-insalled with NS 3.X, not 100% sure if it was sanction by NeXT or marketed by them in anyway.

Possibly reviving one of the oldest threads on the board, I just wanted to document this  Usenet review of the NextBook 9200 (https://ftp.nice.ch/peanuts/GeneralData/Usenet/news/1994/_Hard94-II.html) from 1994, from a gentleman named Roberto in France.

Quote
* AS TESTED:

  486DX4/100Mhz
  515Mb removable Hard Disk (IDE on localbus, by IBM)
  20 Mb ram
   1 Mb Video Ram
  central 25mm trackball (connected as PS/2)
  full-sized wrist-resting area
  easily removable keyboard (two clips, no screws)
  PCMCIA IV (one III and one II)
  Dual Scan color  (LocalBus: *fast*)
  Microsoft Sound System on board (so it says on the doc,
  and so it runs under windows) featuring microphone, speaker,
  (+ micro, speaker and line-in jacks)
  2 1800mAh NiMH batteries (useable independently)
  Weight: less than 6lbs

  Price as tested: 4.600$ + 50$ NS installation + 50$ FedExp shipping

  Shipping time: a few days (arrived perfectly in time)
 
* EXPANDABILITY:
 
  up to 36Mb ram with a ram card (not PCMCIA)
  localbus docking station with easy two-buttons flip-in flip-out
  hard disk put in a case that can be removed easily by pushing a button
  1 Ps/2 port, 1 serial port, 1 parallel port, 1 PCMCIA IV (1 III + 1 II).

GENERAL IMPRESSION:   excellent   machine, excellent design.    Finally  a
     properly well placed large  trackball, with two easily usable buttons
     forged in an ergonomic shape. I can use the  trackball with my thumbs
     without  removing  the fingers from  the  keyboard.  More lightweight
     than  anything comparable I  tried before (it   is less than 6lbs, in
     this config!). Very practical batteries: two  packs below and on each
     side of the  central trackball.  Each  one is a  1800mAh.  I go  very
     easily over 2 hours of work with a moderate use of the floppy disk.
     You can work with one while the other is charging, or you can bring a
     third one over a long trip for long lasting power.
     Due to the 3.3v technology, no noisy fan, and no burning laps!
     Under NextStep, the PS/2 trackball performs extremely smoothly.
     (I had a serial mouse before ... forget it).


VIDEO:  Dual Scan technology.  The quality  is naturally inferior than the
     active matrix but is much better than the  monochrome. The quality of
     the dual scan is reasonably good, even if there is some shadow effect
     if you do  not properly set up  the contrast and brightness. This  is
     done in hardware   using  a special  function  key that  works  under
     NextSTep  too!
     The chipset is a Cirrus Logic 6440 with 1Mb Vram and maximum external
     resolution of 1024x768x256.  If  anybody can have  a copy of the docs
     for writing the driver ... it should be pretty similar to the one for
     the 5440 ...! I will also try and see what that driver will give, but
     I need an external monitor to test with ... :-)
     Under Windows  (WHEN the  color  driver for portables?),   colors are
     beautiful (640x480x256).
     I can survive without an active matrix.

SOUND: WORKS under NextStep with the SoundBlaster 8bit driver you find on
     cs.orst.edu
     I have my Rooster.snd now :-)

KEYBOARD: Same as on the 8200 series. The feel is reasonable.
     All the keys are where they are supposed to be. (Including F1-F12 keys.)

SPEED: General feeling: *fast*. One minute sharp from boot: prompt to
     login window up and running. Windows open _fast_ .

      * Using the RenderMan package: rendering Elephant.rib is
        43 seconds (user+system).

        To compare: on a DX2/66, I got a 64 seconds time (user+system).
                    on my 25Mhz NextStaion, I got 104 seconds (user+system).
        Draw your conclusions :-)
      
        To compare on your machine:
          cp /NextDeveloper/Examples/RenderMan/Elephant.rib /tmp
          cd tmp
          /bin/time /usr/prman/prman Elephant.rib
    
      * TeX is _blazingly_ fast: on  the full source  of my book on
        isomorphisms of types (239 pages including graphics ...), 
        here are the comparative results
        with a SS10 with 64Mb ram and a pretty fast SCSI disk
    
        9200   90   real        45   user         2.4 sys  (first run)
              ***too late to try :-( will post romorrow*** (after several runs)
    
        SS10  134.7 real        64.7 user         1.4 sys  (first run)
               86.7 real        41.4 user         1.2 sys  (after several runs:
                                                            cache?)
    
        (yes, it is not a mistake... the NextBook is almost *faster*!)


TRACKBALL: EXTREMELY usable. Design similar to the Apple (25 mm). FINALLY.

NOISE: The is floppy drive is *silent*: apart from seeking, you do not
      notice it!

HEAT: The only heat spots are the NiMH batteries under charge. There is a
      tiny fan that simply is not possible to hear :-) Again, FINALLY.

BATTERY and POWER: NiMH.  The  battery goes easily above  2  hours.  POWER
     SAVING   IS BUILT IN  HARDWARE,  so  it  works under NextStep  too!!!
     (screen   dimming etc...) (I  did not  try  the disk  down option yet
     ...)...  The adapter is light  and relatively small (almost identical
     to Toshiba's). Inputs 90-250    V,  50/60 Hz and    outputs 19V/1.8A.
     Charge only  when the NoteBook is  off.  But you  can get an external
     charger for 50$.

SUPPORT: friendly, fast reply. They install NS, even academic.

The 9200 was made by Sager, who often ran ads in Computer Shopper, MicroTimes, and other local Bay Area/nationwide free publications. It's unclear if they marketed the 9200 as a NeXT-specific solution or just a machine that happened to be well equipped for it (that plus a VAR install of the OS would go a long way). At least some 3rd-party ads positioned the "NP9200" without any kind of NextBook branding and as just a well-equipped DOS laptop:

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