Compaq Portable series

The Compaq Logo as used on the first Compaq portables.

Compaq's first computers were portable 'lunchbox' or 'luggable' computers, and as such belong to the Compaq Portable series. These computers measured approximately 1×1 foot on the side, and were approx. 2½ ft wide. As the products evolved, laptops and notebooks were created offing a new level of portability that caused the market to explode.

Some of the portables (the Portable and Portable II) had CRT monitors, while others (the Portable III and the Portable 386) had flat, single-color, usually amber, plasma displays. The portables came/could come with internal hard disk drives on .5" shock mount springs; diskette drives, usually 51⁄4" double- or quadruple-density drives; batteries; and/or a dual-ISA expansion chassis, about one full-drive-height wide. Later products included mono and color LCD screens and were battery powered.

Machines of the series

• Compaq Portable – Compaq's first computer; first 100% IBM PC compatible
• Compaq Portable Plus – Compaq's version of the PC-XT, available with built-in hard drive
• Compaq Portable 286 – Compaq's version of the PC AT in the original Compaq Portable chassis; equipped with 6/8-MHz 286 and a high-speed 20-MB hard drive
• Compaq Portable II – smaller and lighter version of Compaq Portable 286; it was less expensive but with limited upgradability and a slower hard drive
• Compaq Portable III
• Compaq Portable 386
• Compaq Portable 486 and Compaq Portable 486c
• Compaq SLT laptop series
• Compaq LTE notebook series - initially co-developed with Citizen Watch Company
• Compaq Contura value notebook series
• Compaq Contura Aero subnotebook series
• Compaq Aero handheld series
• Compaq Concerto pen table convertible

Sources

• Recycled Goods product descriptions
• Steve Leach - former Compaq portables division product manager