Prologue: the Precedents

I.B.M. came out with its 5100 'portable' (luggable is a better term) computer in 1976, so it was no stranger to the concept. However, it was not the first company in the 1980's to meet with success in marketing the concept.

In 1981, Adam Osborne introduced a 24-pound computer known as the Osborne 1, which operated on the then-dominant CP/M OS. [Osborne 1] For only $1794, one could purchase a fully-fledged personal computer--everything was included except for the printer. Leading applications like Microsoft Basic, the Wordstar word processor, and the Supercalc spreadsheet were bundled (in fact, the software was worth more than the entire system!). The Osborne 1 became a runaway success; unfortunately, the company could not manage its explosive growth and went bankrupt in 1983.

The Osborne 1 was not revolutionary in terms of miniaturisation technology (except for its tiny 5-inch monitor), but as a concept it was something very new. The monitor, the drives, the keyboard--they were all integrated into one package. Soon, hordes of computer manufacturers were producing portables. Initially, they all weighed from 20 to 30 pounds, but eventually there emerged a definite trend towards smaller machines. Q.V. Appendix .

[Tandy 200] In 1982, Hewlett Packard introduced the HX-20, which turned out to be the first notebook. This 16Kb wonder weighed under ten pounds and used rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries. The HX-20 inspired the venerable Radio Shack Tandy 100, which was widely used by journalists. The Model 100 came with a respectable 32Kb of RAM, a 40-column LCD screen, built-in word processor and telecommunications software, and a 300 built-in baud modem. (It would run over 20 hours on 4 AA batteries, which is more than I can say for today's machines.) Model 100 was suceeded by Models 200 through 600.

With these worthy precedents to guide them, I.B.M. and the clone manufacturers began to produce DOS-compatible portable computers.

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