By “computer” you surely just mean MS-DOS computer.
TRS-80 Model 100 was released in 1983 predating this.
The original Kyocera design was originally released in japan in 1982.
TRS-80 Model 100 was released in 1983 predating this.
The original Kyocera design was originally released in japan in 1982.
For me a portable computer is one that needs a table or lap to use (can't reasonably be used standing up) and replicates the capabilities of a desktop computer in a more compact form. The T1100 is beaten out on that definition by the Osbourne, though arguably that's in it's own 'luggable' category. I think the T1100 is almost certainly the first computer we could call a laptop though.
[edit: And what did we do with such a machine? Created text-editing/printing software for scripts like Devanagari, Urdu, and more.]
Yeah - the Sharp's (optional) built-in thermal printer was much higher resolution (with a 24-dot print head, resulting in around 200dpi IIRC) than most dot-matrix impact printers of that era (8- or 9-pin print heads, 70dpi or so), but the thermal ribbons it used to print on plain paper were hard to come by. You could also use it with thermal paper, but the resulting printouts tended to fade quite quickly (somewhat depending on the environment).
We were thrilled when we managed to get hold of 24-pin impact printers that produced more permanent output, and where we could re-ink the ribbons. Produced camera-ready copy to publish books with those for several years, designing "oversized" fonts that were printed using multiple passes, and then photo-reducing the printed output to boost the effective resolution.
We bought them by the 1000. Each ribbon could only print 5 images, so our customers burnt through them. I bet we made more money on selling ribbons than software :-) Was my fist software development job... so I have a warm spot for that machine.
The keyboard was wider than many modern laptops, so typing would be done with one hand, other under the device.
No one really used it unless on desk, as I recall.
My 10th grade computer teacher had one, so I'm dating myself here...
Man, the envy we all had for it, heh.