Toshiba T1100 — why a laptop without a hard drive was named an IEEE milestone of electronic engineering?
A laptop, which was intended “for mobile professionals”, with up to 8 hours of battery life, with an $1899 price… in 1985. How was it possible? This is a hero of this story, Toshiba T1100 Plus:
Let’s check how it works.
Specs
In the 80s, computers already were an important part of everyday life, and it was obviously nice to have a portable computer that you can take with you, with all the files, documents and personal data. Well, at that time mobile computers were not ‘portable’ but ‘luggable’, and the reason was obvious, the first portable computer, the Osborne I, was looking something like this:
This machine, released in 1981, was, by the way, the first commercially successful mobile computer, but of course, in reality, with a 24.5 lb (11.1 kg) weight it was far from portable. But the progress was going further, and already in 1985 Toshiba engineers made the laptop, which could be easily placed in the bag. How did they do that? Several components were crucial for this:
- Display. Heavy and bulky…
