This is the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100, considered the world's first laptop computer.
It was announced in 1983 and I had one in March, 1985, when I launched the Metro North Bureau of The Indianapolis News.
The Model 100 retailed for $599 in 1983. Adjusted for inflation, that would be about $1,280 in today's dollars, so the three of us who received them to run our suburban bureaus handled them with extreme care. I remember the IT guy at The News telling me, Mike Ellis and Jerry Graf to treat them like we would a pet, don't leave them in hot cars or freezing environments.
The basic model came with 8K of RAM, but ours were increased to a whopping 24K, and an 80C85 CPU that ran at 2.4 MHz. It had RS-232 parallel ports for a bar code reader and an internal 300 baud modem. The LCD display was 40x8 characters and it ran for 16 hours on four AA batteries and also came with an external 9 volt DC power supply.
For data storage, it had a connection for an audio cassette recorder.
You could also buy an optional Disk/Video Interface that made it possible to connect a TV for a monitor and save data to a huge 5¼" floppy disk. I couldn't get the paper to spring for the D/V I, so after about a year in the bureau, I bought my own.
I remember how incredibly high-tech I felt whipping out my Model 100 in courtrooms, school board meetings, city council meetings and interviews. The reporters for the smaller local papers were positively awe-struck, equipped as they were, with pens and notebooks.
The keyboard had a nice feel to it, but it was a bit noisy, so our IT guy put little dental rubber bands under each key to muffle the sound.
Even though 24K seems like a pathetically small memory capacity, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I ran out of memory while taking notes. In those cases, I just started deleting files that I had already backed up to tape or disk to free up memory for more notes.
The Model 100 weighed 3.8 pounds.
Compare that with my new Dell Inspiron Mini 9, that has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of solid state memory, weighs in at just 2.28 pounds and cost only $250 (about $125 in 1985 dollars).
Check back in another 24 years and see how pathetic the Mini 9 looks.
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