Compaq Portable
A Compaq Portable with the keyboard detached ready for use. This machine has an aftermarket hard disk and floppy disk drives added. | |
| Manufacturer | Compaq Computer Corporation |
|---|---|
| Product family | Compaq Portable series |
| Type | Portable computer |
| Released | March 1983 |
| Introductory price | US$2,995 (equivalent to $9,680 in 2025) |
| Operating system | MS-DOS |
| CPU | Intel 8088, 4.77 MHz |
| Memory | 128 KB (expandable to 640 KB) |
| Storage | Two 5.25" floppy disk drives or, optionally, one floppy drive and a 10 MB hard drive |
| Display | Built-in 9" green screen monitor |
| Graphics | Unique CGA-compatible video card |
| Weight | 28 lb (13 kg) |
| Backward compatibility | IBM PC compatible |
| Successor | Compaq Portable Plus |
The Compaq Portable is an early portable computer which was one of the first IBM PC–compatible systems. It was Compaq Computer Corporation's first product, to be followed by others in the Compaq Portable series and later Deskpro series. It is not simply an 8088-CPU computer that runs a Microsoft DOS as a PC "work-alike", but contains a reverse-engineered BIOS and Compaq DOS compatible with IBM's PC DOS. The computer is also an early variation on the idea of an "all-in-one".
The Compaq Portable was announced in November 1982 and first shipped in March 1983. It became available two years after the similar, but CP/M-based, Osborne 1 and Kaypro II. Columbia Data Products' MPC 1600 "Multi Personal Computer", the first IBM PC compatible system, had come out in June 1982.