First Laptop

It came to market more than three decades ago, but the specifications of
RadioShack’s® TRS-80 Model 100 computer are still pretty sweet. The world’s
first laptop computer weighed just 3 pounds and had a battery that lasted 20
hours. It came preloaded with a rudimentary word processor and a basic
spreadsheet program. The system’s storage was 100 percent solid state (no
spinning disk) and expandable. The computer booted instantly. There was even
a serial interface and a telephone modem, allowing the computer to connect
and exchange information with another computer in the same room or on the
other side of the world. There was also a cassette interface for storing data on
audiotape.
The Model 100 was designed for computing on the go. It quickly became a
popular tool of journalists and others who needed to pack light, travel to a
remote location, and write; more than 6 million units sold, with prices starting
at $1,099.
The built-in word processor allowed the user to type, edit, and dump the
current document to the phone line, but not much else. There was a Microsoft
BASIC interpreter and a telecommunications package for connecting to remote
systems, an address book, and a to-do list organizer. The computer booted
quickly because its applications were burned into read-only memory. Its solid-
state storage was nothing more than a few static random access memory
(SRAM) chips with a battery to prevent them from forgetting their data: the
Model 100 could be purchased with 8 kibibytes of RAM, expandable to 24
kibibytes. The computer’s display was an 8-line, 40­character liquid-crystal
display that showed black-and-white text, with limited graphics support.
Inside the Model 100 was an 8-bit Intel 80C85 microprocessor. The computer’s
operating system and applications all fit within 32 kibibytes of read-only
memory (ROM); much of the code in the ROM was personally written by Bill
Gates.
Meanwhile, a healthy aftermarket of peripherals, software, and books evolved
for the Model 100, which sold until 1986, when it was replaced by the slimmer
Model 102.
SEE ALSO BASIC Computer Language (1964), Microsoft and the Clones (1982)
The RadioShack TRS-80 Model 100 had a flat-top design and sold more than 6
million units.