March 20, 2008 12:00 PM PDT
The Osborne 1 is generally recognized as the world's first self-contained portable computer. But it is only portable in the sense that it can be moved--the concepts of laptops and notebooks was still years away in 1981. You can get the full back story for the Osborne 1 at Oldcomputers.net.
The case is pure plastic and apparently nearly indestructible. The top of the Osborne 1 doubles as the bottom depending on whether you are carrying it or about to open it up.
The Osborne 1 keyboard is just your basic keyboard of the day. However, notice the number pad to the right--one of the primary markets for PCs in these early years were accountants and other financial personnel. For those folks, a number pad was extremely important.
Photo by Mark Kaelin/CNET Networks
