CC BY 3.0 ↗
Osborne 1
- Year
- 1981
- Creator
- Adam Osborne, Lee Felsenstein
- Company
- Osborne Computer Corporation
- Location
- Hayward, California
- Room
- Homebrew ↗
Description
The Osborne 1 is a portable computer that weighs 24.5 pounds and has a handle. Osborne Computer sold it in 1981 for $1,795, with a 5-inch screen, two floppy disk drives, and the WordStar and SuperCalc programs.
Importance
The Osborne 1 was the first portable computer made in large numbers, and its price included software worth almost as much as the machine. Kaypro and other makers soon copied this practice. Its designer, Lee Felsenstein, had earlier been the engineer of Community Memory, one of the first public computer bulletin boards.
Interesting fact
The term Osborne effect names the loss of sales that followed the early news of new Osborne models in 1983.
Sources
- Timeline of Computer History: 1981 ↗Computer History Museum
- Osborne 1 ↗OldComputers.net
- Osborne 1 ↗Wikipedia
- Lee Felsenstein ↗Wikipedia