Compaq Portable series
Encyclopedia
Compaq
Compaq Computer Corporation is a personal computer company founded in 1982. Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it was acquired for US$25 billion by Hewlett-Packard....
's first computers were portable
Portable computer
A portable computer is a computer that is designed to be moved from one place to another and includes a display and keyboard. Portable computers, by their nature, are generally microcomputers. Portable computers, because of their size, are also commonly known as 'Lunchbox' or 'Luggable' computers...
'lunchbox' or 'luggable' computers, and as such belong to the Compaq Portable series. These computers measured approximately 1×1 foot on the side, and were approx. 2½ ft wide. As the products evolved, laptops and notebooks were created offing a new level of portability that caused the market to explode.
Some of the portables (the Portable
Compaq Portable
The Compaq Portable was the first product in the Compaq portable series to be commercially available under the Compaq Computer Corporation brand . It was the first IBM PC compatible portable computer...
and Portable II
Compaq Portable II
The Compaq Portable II was the third product in the Compaq portable series to be brought out by Compaq Computer Corporation. Released in 1986 at a price of US$3199, the Portable II was much improved upon its predecessors - It included an 8 MHz processor, and was lighter and smaller than the...
) had CRT
Cathode ray tube
The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
monitors, while others (the Portable III
Compaq Portable III
The Compaq Portable III is a computer released by Compaq Computer Corporation in 1987. It was advertised as being much smaller and lighter than the previous portable x86-PCs, however it was still quite large by today's standards...
and the Portable 386
Compaq Portable 386
The Compaq Portable 386 is a computer released by Compaq Computer Corporation in 1987. Its street price upon its release was for a model equipped with an Intel 80386 CPU, RAM, , floppy, , and a colored gas-plasma display. Power is supplied using a mains electricity outlet, no battery...
) had flat, single-color, usually amber
Amber (color)
Amber is an orange-yellow color that got its name from the material known as amber. Due to this, amber can refer not to one but to a series of shades of orange, since the natural material varies from nearly yellow when newer to orange or reddish-orange when older.-Amber:Amber is a pure chroma color...
, plasma display
Plasma display
A plasma display panel is a type of flat panel display common to large TV displays or larger. They are called "plasma" displays because the technology utilizes small cells containing electrically charged ionized gases, or what are in essence chambers more commonly known as fluorescent...
s. The portables came/could come with internal hard disk drives
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
on .5" shock mount springs; diskette drives, usually 5 1/4" double- or quadruple-density drives; batteries
Battery (electricity)
An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...
; and/or a dual-ISA
Industry Standard Architecture
Industry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
expansion chassis, about one full-drive-height wide. Later products included mono and color LCD screens and were battery powered.
Machines of the series
- Compaq PortableCompaq PortableThe Compaq Portable was the first product in the Compaq portable series to be commercially available under the Compaq Computer Corporation brand . It was the first IBM PC compatible portable computer...
– Compaq's first computer; first 100% IBM PC compatibleIBM PC compatibleIBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to... - Compaq Portable Plus – Compaq's version of the PC-XT with built in hard drive
- Compaq Portable 286
- Compaq Portable IICompaq Portable IIThe Compaq Portable II was the third product in the Compaq portable series to be brought out by Compaq Computer Corporation. Released in 1986 at a price of US$3199, the Portable II was much improved upon its predecessors - It included an 8 MHz processor, and was lighter and smaller than the...
- Compaq Portable IIICompaq Portable IIIThe Compaq Portable III is a computer released by Compaq Computer Corporation in 1987. It was advertised as being much smaller and lighter than the previous portable x86-PCs, however it was still quite large by today's standards...
- Compaq Portable 386Compaq Portable 386The Compaq Portable 386 is a computer released by Compaq Computer Corporation in 1987. Its street price upon its release was for a model equipped with an Intel 80386 CPU, RAM, , floppy, , and a colored gas-plasma display. Power is supplied using a mains electricity outlet, no battery...
- Compaq Portable 486Compaq Portable 486The Compaq Portable 386 is a computer released by Compaq Computer Corporation in 1992. Its street price upon its release with a was . For a model with the price was , but was not available initially in may 1992. Both models are equipped with an Intel 80486DX2 CPU, DRAM , floppy, , . ...
and Compaq Portable 486c - Compaq SLT laptop series
- Compaq LTECompaq LTEThe Compaq LTE was a line of laptop computers made by Compaq, introduced in 1989. The first models, the Compaq LTE and the Compaq LTE 286, were among the first computers to be the size of a paper notebook, spurring the use of the term "notebook" to describe a smaller laptop...
notebook series - intially co-developed with Citizen Watch Company and later with Inventec - Compaq AeroCompaq AeroThe Compaq Aero was popularized as a line of computer handhelds produced by Compaq Computer Corporation. It was succeeded by the iPAQ line. The Aero name was first used for small sub-notebooks Compaq produced in the mid-90's, the Contura Aero 4/25 and 4/33c....
subnotebook series - Compaq Contura value notebook series
- Compaq ConcertoCompaq ConcertoThe Compaq Concerto was a laptop computer made by Compaq, introduced in 1992. Compaq Concerto was probably the first Tablet PC manufactured on a larger scale.-Specifications:The two original Concerto models differed primarily in the processor speed...
pen table convertible
Sources
- Recycled Goods product descriptions
- Steve Leach - former Compaq portables division product manager