In 1977 IBM’s first portable computer was presented to the public, it was the ‘5100’ as it was called, and advertised as a portable in spite of its hefty 50lbs weight with the words: “it is so light”.

It used magnetic tapes for storage, had up to 64K of memory, and the screen is actually a CRT [like your old TV], not an LCD.

It reminded me of my first computer, a Sinclair ZX with 48kb of RAM, contained in a keyboard with rubbery keys and using cassette tape for input and storage of programmes and you connected it to your TV which acted as your screen. You did your own programming of little games and created formulae for use in calculation of your mortgage etc. Great fun at the time and the children also learned to play the games.

Now take a look at the IBM 5100, note that even in those days advertisers liked to use mooing cows in the background:

For the nostalgic at heart here is another historical event, the 1984 Original MacIntosh introduction by no other than Steve Jobs himself, although you’d have forgotten what he used to look like. The video of this event was found in 2004 after having been lost all the earlier years; it was the restored and published on Mac’s 21st birthday in 2005: