Osborne 1: The Granddaddy of Laptops
Profile:
Imagine carrying around 5 MacBook Pros every day, when you went to class. For most people, that’s a lot to be carrying around all day long. In the 1980s, people actually carried around a computer that weighed that much. The Osborne 1 weighs 24.5 lb., which measures out to an estimated 5 MacBook pros. You might be thinking now: what is an Osborne 1? Well, that’s a great question. In this article, I will be discussing the creation history and influence of the Osborne 1, the world’s first truly mobile computer.
Osborne 1 was the first successful portable computer which was released on April 3rd, 1981, by the Osborne Computer Corporation. It weighed about 25 lb. and cost an estimated US$1,795. That means about $5,000 in today’s money. It was running a CP/M operating system and was powered by a wall socket. The Osborne 1 had no onboard battery, but it was still portable because it could be carried around. The features of the machine were special because it was the first to have 2 floppy drives inbuilt, it was backed by a 4MHz processor and 64KB of RAM. It also had a 5-inch display screen. It had a rugged handle and an ABS plastic case.
Osborne 1 was named after its creator Adam Osborne. He was a British-American author, book and software publisher, and computer designer. Adam Osborne’s main goal for creating Osborne 1 was to break the price of computers. A newspaper stated that Osborne 1 “represented an advancement of the price/performance ratio for microcomputers.” Though correct, Adam Osborne liked to focus on the price side more. Its performance was “merely adequate”: “It is not the fastest microcomputer, it doesn’t have huge amounts of disk storage space, and it is not especially expandable.” Beyond the price, advertisements emphasized the computer’s portability and bundled software. Osborne 1 was advertised as the only computer that could fit under an airline seat. Though not originally intended, the Osborne 1 also did become the foundation for portable computers. As time went on, these portable computers got less heavy and smarter.
The Osborne 1 was a huge market hit. In September 1981, the company had hit its first US$1 million sales. They had sold 11000 in their first 8 months since it came out. Though it was successful at first, there were many competitors that has some clear advantages. There was also the Osborne Effect, which is when “somebody selling a product announces its replacement long before that new product is ready for sale. The Osborne effect happens when companies and individuals understandably stop buying the existing product while they wait for the new one to come out.” Though the portable computer itself did not have much success for a great portion of time, I still believe that the product overall was successful. Why? Well, it began a whole new line of portable computers, which eventually led to the ones we have today. Though Osborne 1 was not successful in making sales, it was successful as a path to a whole new world of portable computers.
Critique:
The advancement of portable computers has gone far in the past few decades. Here we will analyze how the Osborne 1 has influenced the laptops we used today. Specifically, we will focus on a popular one used by many: the MacBook Pro (4th gen). Apple unveiled the fourth-generation 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro models during a press event at their headquarters on October 27, 2016. The main difference between this one and the ones before it is featured is the Touch Bar, a new multi-touch-enabled OLED strip built into the top of the keyboard in place of the function keys. The Touch Bar is a button that doubles as a Touch ID sensor and a power button.
There are some similarities that we can see between Osborne 1 and MacBook Pro
- Keyboard
Obviously, both of these technologies have keyboards that allowed the user to type with them.
- Touchscreen
There was a touchscreen for the Osborne 1. I’m sure you could touch the screen on the Osborne 1, but nothing would happen though. The MacBook Pro also does not have a touchscreen. We know this is the case because Apple needs to sell their iPad and if there were MacBooks that were touchscreen, then there would not be such a big difference between them. So, this is actually an interesting similarity to point out.
- Portable
Another similarity between these two is that they were both portables. Though the weight of the Osborne 1 makes me not want to consider it “portable” for our time and age, people surprisingly did carry it around back in the day. This is interesting to think about because we carry our MacBook Pros in our backpacks with us every day, and it is funny to imagine people doing something similar to that with the Osborne 1.
There are, many differences we can highlight between Osborne 1 and MacBook Pro. These differences ultimately show how much laptops have changed over the years.
- Screen
There is a great difference between these two screens, but they both still did have a screen. The Osborne 1’s screen was very tiny, and much could not fit on the screen. MacBooks have 13-inch and 15-inch screens.
- Increase from KB to GB
There is also a great difference between digital storage. Osborne 1 used KB and now we use GB. Imagine having only 64 KB of digital storage to use? We all would not be able to suffice.
How has this impacted the present?
Adam Osborne ended up creating the first in a line of products that will be of great importance to us. Laptops play a big role in our lives today. They are in our homes, at our jobs, and at schools. The invention of the portable computer has made our lives better and easier. How much easier is it now to just pull out your laptop wherever you are and get work done? We have also seen improvements to picture quality, memory storage, and battery life. The Osborne 1 did not even have a battery. It had to be plugged in to use. This is just one way of showing how far we have come with computers. Our technological advancements are growing massively yearly, and it is really interesting to see what we might be using in the next decade or two.
References:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-osborne-1-a-pioneer-in-more-ways-than-one/
http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/504/osborne-1/
https://www.inexhibit.com/case-studies/osborne-1-1981-when-the-personal-computer-became-portable/
