A COMPUTER IN YOUR HAND
Handheld chess computers also became quite popular in the 1980's,
when circuitry became small enough to allow a tiny chess set to play a
reasonable game. Small “pegboard” sets (with pressure sensitive boards)
became common; these were later supplanted by handhelds with touchsensitive LCD screens replacing the physical board:
Handheld machines are still produced but usually aren't very strong
opponents when compared to tabletop units, typically weighing in at
about the chess strength of a moderate club player.
Tabletop and handheld chess computers are slowly being replaced
by chess software programs which are run on personal computers (or
on newer handheld devices like cell phones). Although the computers
on which these programs run are more expensive than tabletop chess
machines, PCs are also more versatile (they can run thousandss of
different programs besides chess), and the chess software itself is
cheaper than most tabletop models and usually offers scores of features
which dedicated chess computers don't (or can't) offer.
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