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Compaq Portable series
The Compaq Portable series was a series of portable computers that comprised Compaq Computer Corporation's first products. Initial entries in the series sported the "luggable" form factor; late entries were smaller and were termed "lunchbox computers". These computers measured approximately 16 inches (410 mm) deep, 8 inches (200 mm) tall, and approximately 20 inches (510 mm) wide. As the products evolved, laptops and notebooks were created offering a new level of portability that caused the market to explode.
Some of the portables, such as the original Portable and the Portable II, had CRT monitors, while later the Portable III and the Portable 386) had flat, monochrome, usually amber, plasma displays. The portables came/could come with internal hard disk drives on 0.5" shock mount springs; diskette drives, usually 5-1⁄4" double- or quadruple-density drives; batteries; and/or a dual-ISA expansion chassis, about one full-drive-height wide. Note this was before the term "ISA" became a standard. The Compaq Portable 486 included mono and color LCD screens and were battery powered.
The Compaq Portable is an early portable computer which was one of the first 100% IBM PC compatible systems. It was Compaq Computer Corporation's first product, to be followed by others in the Compaq Portable series and later Compaq Deskpro series.
The Compaq Portable was announced in November 1982 and first shipped in March 1983, priced at US$2,995 (equivalent to $9,500 in 2024) with a single half-height 5¼" 360 kB diskette drive or $3,590 for dual, full-height diskette drives. The 28 lb (13 kg) Compaq Portable folded up into a luggable case the size of a portable sewing machine. Compaq sold 53,000 units in the first year with a total of $111 million in revenue, an American Business record. In the second year revenue hit $329 million setting an industry record. Third year revenue was at $503.9 million, another US business record.
The computer was an early all-in-one, becoming available two years after the CP/M-based Osborne 1, one year after the Kaypro II, in the same year as the 8088 and MS-DOS-based (but not entirely IBM PC compatible) Dynalogic Hyperion, and a year before the Commodore SX-64. Its design was influenced by that of the Xerox NoteTaker, a prototype computer developed at Xerox PARC in 1976. Other portable "work-alikes", that were not PC compatible clones include the Seequa Chameleon, and Corona Data Systems' Model PPC-400, and Eagle Computer's Eagle Spirit Portable. They were all short-lived competitors.
IBM responded to the Compaq Portable with the IBM Portable PC, developed because its sales force needed a comparable computer to sell against Compaq.
The Compaq Portable has basically the same off-the-shelf hardware as an IBM PC, transplanted into a luggable case (specifically designed to fit as carry-on luggage on an airplane), with Compaq's BIOS instead of IBM's. All Portables shipped with 128k of RAM and 1-2 double-sided double-density 360 KB disk drives.
The machine uses a unique hybrid of the IBM MDA and CGA which supports the latter's graphics modes but contains both cards' text fonts in ROM. In text modes, the 9x14 font is used on the internal monochrome monitor, and the 8x8 font is used on an external monitor. (The user switches between internal and external monitors by pressing Ctrl+Alt+>.) The user can use both IBM video standards, for graphics capabilities and high-resolution text. The same graphics hardware is also used in the original Compaq Deskpro desktop computer.
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Compaq Portable series AI simulator
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Compaq Portable series
The Compaq Portable series was a series of portable computers that comprised Compaq Computer Corporation's first products. Initial entries in the series sported the "luggable" form factor; late entries were smaller and were termed "lunchbox computers". These computers measured approximately 16 inches (410 mm) deep, 8 inches (200 mm) tall, and approximately 20 inches (510 mm) wide. As the products evolved, laptops and notebooks were created offering a new level of portability that caused the market to explode.
Some of the portables, such as the original Portable and the Portable II, had CRT monitors, while later the Portable III and the Portable 386) had flat, monochrome, usually amber, plasma displays. The portables came/could come with internal hard disk drives on 0.5" shock mount springs; diskette drives, usually 5-1⁄4" double- or quadruple-density drives; batteries; and/or a dual-ISA expansion chassis, about one full-drive-height wide. Note this was before the term "ISA" became a standard. The Compaq Portable 486 included mono and color LCD screens and were battery powered.
The Compaq Portable is an early portable computer which was one of the first 100% IBM PC compatible systems. It was Compaq Computer Corporation's first product, to be followed by others in the Compaq Portable series and later Compaq Deskpro series.
The Compaq Portable was announced in November 1982 and first shipped in March 1983, priced at US$2,995 (equivalent to $9,500 in 2024) with a single half-height 5¼" 360 kB diskette drive or $3,590 for dual, full-height diskette drives. The 28 lb (13 kg) Compaq Portable folded up into a luggable case the size of a portable sewing machine. Compaq sold 53,000 units in the first year with a total of $111 million in revenue, an American Business record. In the second year revenue hit $329 million setting an industry record. Third year revenue was at $503.9 million, another US business record.
The computer was an early all-in-one, becoming available two years after the CP/M-based Osborne 1, one year after the Kaypro II, in the same year as the 8088 and MS-DOS-based (but not entirely IBM PC compatible) Dynalogic Hyperion, and a year before the Commodore SX-64. Its design was influenced by that of the Xerox NoteTaker, a prototype computer developed at Xerox PARC in 1976. Other portable "work-alikes", that were not PC compatible clones include the Seequa Chameleon, and Corona Data Systems' Model PPC-400, and Eagle Computer's Eagle Spirit Portable. They were all short-lived competitors.
IBM responded to the Compaq Portable with the IBM Portable PC, developed because its sales force needed a comparable computer to sell against Compaq.
The Compaq Portable has basically the same off-the-shelf hardware as an IBM PC, transplanted into a luggable case (specifically designed to fit as carry-on luggage on an airplane), with Compaq's BIOS instead of IBM's. All Portables shipped with 128k of RAM and 1-2 double-sided double-density 360 KB disk drives.
The machine uses a unique hybrid of the IBM MDA and CGA which supports the latter's graphics modes but contains both cards' text fonts in ROM. In text modes, the 9x14 font is used on the internal monochrome monitor, and the 8x8 font is used on an external monitor. (The user switches between internal and external monitors by pressing Ctrl+Alt+>.) The user can use both IBM video standards, for graphics capabilities and high-resolution text. The same graphics hardware is also used in the original Compaq Deskpro desktop computer.