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The IBM Portable Personal Computer 5155 model 68 was an early portable computer
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 microcomputers....
 developed by IBM after the success of Compaq
Compaq

Compaq Computer Corporation was an United States personal computer company founded in 1982, and is now a brand name of Hewlett-Packard Company....
's suitcase-size portable machine (the Compaq Portable
Compaq Portable

The Compaq Portable was the first product in the Compaq portable series to be commercially available under the Compaq brand . It was the first "100%" IBM PC compatible personal computer not manufactured by IBM, and also the first IBM PC compatible portable computer....
). It was released in February, 1984, and was eventually replaced by the IBM Convertible
IBM Convertible

The IBM PC Convertible, released April 3, 1986, was International Business Machines's first laptop computer and was also the first IBM computer to utilize the 3.5" floppy disk which went on to become the standard....
.

The Portable was basically a PC/XT
IBM Personal Computer XT

The IBM Personal Computer XT, often shortened to the IBM XT or simply XT, was IBM's successor to the original IBM Personal Computer....
 motherboard, transplanted into a Compaq-style luggable case. The system featured 256 kibibyte
Kibibyte

A kibibyte is a unit of information or computer storage, established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 2000. Its symbol is KiB....
s of memory (expandable to 640 KiB), an added CGA
CGA

CGA may stand for:* Casual Games Association* Canadian Gemmological Association* Certified General Accountant* Charitable Gift Annuity* CGA Directory of CGA Organizations...
 card connected to an internal monochrome (amber) composite monitor
Composite monitor

A composite monitor is any analog signal video display that receives input in the form of an analog composite video signal through a single cable ? in contrast to multiple-cable or multiple-wire video sources such as VGA cable....
, and one or two half-height 5.25" 360K floppy disk
Floppy disk

A floppy disk is a data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangle plastic shell....
 drives.






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The IBM Portable Personal Computer 5155 model 68 was an early portable computer
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 microcomputers....
 developed by IBM after the success of Compaq
Compaq

Compaq Computer Corporation was an United States personal computer company founded in 1982, and is now a brand name of Hewlett-Packard Company....
's suitcase-size portable machine (the Compaq Portable
Compaq Portable

The Compaq Portable was the first product in the Compaq portable series to be commercially available under the Compaq brand . It was the first "100%" IBM PC compatible personal computer not manufactured by IBM, and also the first IBM PC compatible portable computer....
). It was released in February, 1984, and was eventually replaced by the IBM Convertible
IBM Convertible

The IBM PC Convertible, released April 3, 1986, was International Business Machines's first laptop computer and was also the first IBM computer to utilize the 3.5" floppy disk which went on to become the standard....
.

The Portable was basically a PC/XT
IBM Personal Computer XT

The IBM Personal Computer XT, often shortened to the IBM XT or simply XT, was IBM's successor to the original IBM Personal Computer....
 motherboard, transplanted into a Compaq-style luggable case. The system featured 256 kibibyte
Kibibyte

A kibibyte is a unit of information or computer storage, established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 2000. Its symbol is KiB....
s of memory (expandable to 640 KiB), an added CGA
CGA

CGA may stand for:* Casual Games Association* Canadian Gemmological Association* Certified General Accountant* Charitable Gift Annuity* CGA Directory of CGA Organizations...
 card connected to an internal monochrome (amber) composite monitor
Composite monitor

A composite monitor is any analog signal video display that receives input in the form of an analog composite video signal through a single cable ? in contrast to multiple-cable or multiple-wire video sources such as VGA cable....
, and one or two half-height 5.25" 360K floppy disk
Floppy disk

A floppy disk is a data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangle plastic shell....
 drives. Unlike the Compaq Portable
Compaq Portable

The Compaq Portable was the first product in the Compaq portable series to be commercially available under the Compaq brand . It was the first "100%" IBM PC compatible personal computer not manufactured by IBM, and also the first IBM PC compatible portable computer....
, which used a dual-mode monitor and special display card, IBM used a stock CGA board and a composite monitor, which had lower resolution. It could however, display color if connected to an external monitor or television.

The Portable was not a big seller due to the public's confusion over what it really was: It should have been called the Portable XT, which would have been more accurate. "Portable PC" implied the earlier PC technology, which led consumers to believe it was less advanced than it actually was.

The floppy controller card was the same as found in the IBM XT and supported up to four 360K drives (two internal, two external) but was not compatible with the higher-capacity drives then gaining in popularity, notably the 5.25" quad-density ("1.2MB") drives that were standard in the IBM AT
IBM Personal Computer/AT

The IBM Personal Computer/AT, more commonly known as the IBM AT and also sometimes called the PC AT or PC/AT, was IBM's second-generation IBM Personal Computer, designed around the 6 MHz Intel 80286 microprocessor and released in 1984 as model number 5170....
 and 3.5" 720K drives.

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