Which company introduced the first portable computer, the Osborne 1, in 1981?

Which company introduced the first portable computer, the Osborne 1, in 1981? Osborne Computer Corporation.

The Osborne 1 was developed by Adam Osborne and designed by Lee Felsenstein for Osborne Computer Corporation. It was released in 1981 and is widely described as the first commercially successful portable computer. Its rugged case included a handle and closed around the keyboard, making the machine carryable even though it was far heavier than a modern laptop.

The computer cost $1,795, weighed about 24.5 pounds, and used a Zilog Z80 processor with 64 KB of RAM. It ran CP/M 2.2 and included two floppy drives, a small five-inch display, and a valuable bundle of business software. It had no battery and needed a wall socket, so “portable” meant luggable rather than mobile in today’s sense.

The Osborne 1 sold rapidly, but the company later suffered from announcing more powerful successor models before they were ready. That collapse in demand is remembered as the “Osborne effect.”