7521

7521

The MTC (Mitac) 7521 was resold by quite a few resellers. Most if not all resellers had their own name for this laptop, but other than Jetta 7700's will have the Mitac model number (MTC 7521) on the label found case bottom that will help identify the laptop as a 7521. Three main sub-models exist - the original 7521, an updated 7521P (sometimes seen as 7521+) and finally the 7521T.

If you can't deteremine what version of 7521 that you own, remove the small plastic cover strip that contains the plastic pushbutton for the on/off switch. To do this, press the small release located on the right side of the laptop and slide the cover panel towards the left. The cover should release after a small amount of travel. The main plastic case area that is revealed will have a white paper label (about 1" x 1/2") and the first few digits will be 7521, 7521P or 7521T.

You lift up the keyboard from the rear edge when the On/Off switch slide panel has been removed to revieal the location of the memory module slot. All revisions of the 7521 uses 144 pin SODIMM SDRAM modules. There is either 64 MB or 128 MB of RAM on the motherboard and the max. memory is 384 or 768 MB, I believe depending upon motherboard revisions.

Sometimes you may need to update the BIOS to use the fastest CPU's and any Mitac BIOS update presents problems in getting the correct BIOS version plus flashing the chip correctly. If you screw the BIOS up then you will have major problems since the BIOS chip is soldered to the motherboard and can't be pulled and sent out for reflashing. Unlike many other brands, Mitac also has a programmable keyboard controller and the keyboard controller has its own BIOS. Again, reflashing to a newer version can cause problems because the keyboard controler is also soldered to the mainboard.

There is a CMOS backup battery located in a socket near the CPU. To replace this battery you must remove the heatsink assembly and then you can pry the CMOS battery out of its socket - do not try to pry this socket from the motherboard! This battery is a few dollar item at most electronics parts stores.

Most of these machines seem to have 14.1" LCD's, but both 14.1" TFT and 15.0" TFT LCD sizes were available.

The floppy drive module is held in place by a single screw in the bottom side of the main case. The hard drive carrier is also part of the floppy drive module. So if you wish to update the hard drive - remove the floppy module to find the hard drive.

The CD-ROM or DVD drive module is also removed via a single screw on the lower side of the main case. Cost for drives are still a problem because the module cost is high if ordered from Mitac and used drive modules rarely are available.

Located on the bottom of the laptop are two removable plastic panels. The larger panel is the CPU fan cover plate. Two screw hold this panel in place and after removing them, you need to slide the panel towards the backside of the laptop to release several retainer fingers. The smaller panel is for the optional modem. A single screw holds this panel in place. I do not know if new modems are still available from Mitac.

Each of these sub-models has its own limitations regarding CPU speed and or other characteristics. All of the 7521 series of laptops were all Socket 370 Intel CPU laptops.

7521

The 7521 has a 100 FSB and came with 64 MB of RAM onboard the motherboard. CPU's no faster than 800 MHz Celerons were claimed by Mitac, however some people have told me that they are using 1.1 GHz P3's. ( not verified by me at present) The 7521 came with 14.1" LCD's only.

7521P

The 7521P has a dual speed 100/133 FSB and has 128 MB of RAM onboard. Main bus speeds are automatically controlled by the main chip set as needed for the installed CPU. Mitac claims 1GHz Celerons were the fastest CPU's for the 7521P. I assume that the "P" will support any 133 FSB Socket 370 CPU, but I don't know if that is true. The "P" could have a 13.3" or 14.1" LCD's.

7521T

The 7521T will operate with a faster PIII CPU that the earlier two revisions and again the bus speeds are automatically controlled by the main chip set. The 7521T can support P3 CPU's up to 1.1 or 1.2 GHz.