Osborne I - The First Portable Computer
By James Grahame
OhGizmo is running a piece on the Osborne I. This $1795 machine weighed in at 24.5 lbs and just fit under a standard airline seat, qualifying it as a 'portable.' It ran the CP/M operating system and was one of the first machines to come bundled with a huge array of software (Microsoft BASIC, SuperCalc spreadsheet, and WordStar).
Osborne earns a place in the Retro Thing Computer Hall of Fame for putting themselves out of business by pre-announcing a new 'executive' model many months before it was ready to ship. The result? Everyone said, "Ohh... I'll hold off buying until the new one's out." Predictably, sales plummeted and they filed for bankruptcy in 1983.
Osborne I portable computer (ohGizmo)