Is this the grand daddy of HPCs?

Zenith MiniSport Laptop Computer
http://incolor.inebraska.com/bill_r/zenith_minisport_laptop_computer.htm

Sure looks identical with my MP790 ...

A CMOS CPU...

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

killer

Its cpu equals my first IBM compatible PC's

and it just beats the 95LX by over a year. Certainly a good contender for grand father clamshell.

We should review it

The screen and keyboard areas look like an HPC. Which is popular among early laptops. I remember seeing a 486 Compact laptop that had a similar configuration.

But that's only half of it. The other half of the laptop is at the back. The dimensions of the whole thing is more like a conventional laptop.

However the memory arrangements of this Zenith are similar to a CE system, which is cool

Some more pictures (and other old laptops) from google:
http://web.tiscali.it/city/Various_02.htm
http://buy.163.com/2004w08/12640/2004w08_1092103733032_1.html

Edited by takwu 2005-02-20 10:42 PM

hehe ... did I see a little tear (tear of joy?) at the corner of your eyes C:amie?

Takwu, ya, I noticed from your link the back portion ... ... I think those engineers who designed the Zenith would have gotten themselves a MobilePro each!!!

Any of those still available on ebay?

Actually there was one last night!

Bidding has ended for this item. (freereeder is the winner).
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=177&item=5166674733&rd=1

29 bucks. not bad... but i don't know if I want it...

Edited by stingraze 2005-02-21 4:40 PM

its screen wasn't working..

i didn't even bother reading all that bold letters so huge. lol

I dunno, this one has it beat by a couple years: http://www.heimcomputer.de/english/pcs/t1000.html

Of course, one could debate if this would fall more into the HPC or laptop category...

While cruising around the web, I found this little puppy: http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=492

If that screen folded down, that would certainly be a clamshell! I think this is the oldest device I've found that used an infrared keyboard.

Edited by surrealmonk 2005-02-23 6:01 PM

That Toshiba T1000 looks just like the Bondwell that was my first laptop - 720 k dual floppies :-) it actually worked pretty good for an old slow pock. Did lots of word processing on it in fact.

Those huge things are laptops.

THIS is the true origin of the HPC form factor:
http://www.atari-portfolio.co.uk/

And it's featured in the _retro_tech_ section of the current issue of Mobile PC magazine (mobilepcmag.com).

*edit* here's another link with concise description and pictures:
http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/pccomputers/portfolio.html

Edited by takwu 2005-02-23 10:20 PM

Ah yes, the Atari Portfolio... my very first computer was an Atari 800 with a cassette drive, hooked up to a TV for a monitor. Took 7 minutes to load a game, and it made that funky modem-like noise while it was loading. Ah, the 8-bit days...

I almost got an Amiga when my dad was scouting for a PC for my sister. In the end we got a Epson PC2AT286 or something. cost a bomb! shiver ...

I never got to use the older cassette tape drives, though I tot that was pretty neat!

Err... what about to the 'real root' like an early "laptop" called Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100. 1983.

http://www.corestack.com/machines/m100.html