They were slower in performance and lacked features compared to most competitor products, but they were lower in price.

In June 1993 Zenith Data Systems announced an alliance with Packard Bell.

[3] The Packard Bell Statesman was a rebrand of the Zenith Z-Star notebook computer series.

While the Statesman was being advertised by Packard Bell, the Z-Star series was also still being sold by Zenith.

[7] On the bottom of the unit, the motherboard had an empty socket for a Cyrix FasMath co-processor, which could improve floating-point math performance.

The RAM was on a proprietary SIPP package that could only be upgraded to 12 MB maximum if the user had compatible modules.

The maximum capacity hard drive compatible if the user wanted to upgrade was 500 MB.

One interesting feature of the keyboard is that the J key also acted as a mouse, working similar to IBM's ThinkPad TrackPoint.

[1] The Statesman received fair reception, with most reviewers giving positivity for the low price and high battery life, but mainly criticizing the performance and screen quality of the model line.

It was noted that the 200M's worst feature was its monochrome display, being "cloudy and a bit dim for our tastes".

[14] PC World also reviewed the 200C, saying the color display is only a "marginal, although an improvement on the monochrome version".