Not so long ago, Apple announced the most up-to-date Macbook Pro, and the specs would leave 80s geeks wide-eyed with wonder. Everything from the super retina display, to the intel 6-core and quad-core processors and multifunctional touch bar will leave most drooling at the in-store display, like those kids ogling at the new Nimbus 2000 (a nod to Harry Potter fans).
Portable computing might not have been this glamorous back in the day, but one device definitely gave tech manufacturers something to think about, and the device I am speaking of, of course, is the TRS-80 Model 100 personal computer!
For this week’s TBT episode, we’ll catch up with Radio Shack in 1983 with this masterful invention that gave a whole new meaning to PC.
The beast of a machine
So maybe it didn’t have the super retina display found on laptops today, but this baby still managed to sell 6 million copies worldwide in its time. And that’s because it rocked. Developed by Japanese multinational, Kyocera, it was initially advertised as the Micro Executive Work Station, or MEWS, but as expected the name didn’t catch on. I mean it’s akin to Spiderman being called the Human Spider, just doesn’t sit well with audiences looking for a punch.
It was slim pickings for Kyocera and their MEWS experiment, with sales hard to come by, but they eventually sold it off to Tandy Corporation in the United States, where it was sold through Radio Shack stores, and that’s when it really picked up steam and was ultimately revered as one of the greatest laptops to have ever been built.
Specs
All things considered, this was a pretty sturdy piece of tech. It had a solid LCD display, 240 X 64 pixel addressable graphics, and came complete with a stunning 56-key keyboard that included multi-key functionality.
Weighing in at 1.4 kg (with batteries), this was heavy duty stuff (you could practically use it for bicep curls when you’re not typing up that important document). Some of the features included a text-editor, BASIC software, and 32kb of ROM.
Hardware-wise, you might not find a thunderbolt 3 universal port, but the basic unit did come equipped with a built-in 300 baud telephone (POTS) modem, barcode reader input, cassette-audio tape I/O, and a Centronics-compatible parallel printer port.
Other impressive features were a disk-video interface expansion box and a CRT video adapter that could mirror content onto an external TV. Not to shabby for a laptop in 1983.
Did you know?
The TRS-80 model 100 was not the only personal computing device adopted from Kyocera’s pipeline? Italian model Olivetti M-10 and both the NEC PC-8201 and PC-8300 came through the Kyocera ranks, albeit with minor design and hardware differences. The Olivetti M-10, which was shopped around in Europe mostly, did not hit the million-unit sales mark like its sister the TRS-80, and production was eventually halted.
The legacy
So the question here is, why the model 100 and not the Olivetti? They were both pretty similar when it came to specs and design, but the sales figures were like apples and peaches.
But it was not all so peachy for the model 100. Initial sales were described by Tandy Corp as ‘moderate’ which is sales speak for ‘sucky.’ A columnist for InfoWorld even went as far as to suggest that “it was only journalists” who were on board with buying the machine.
But there’s always a silver lining, and no such thing as bad publicity, and it seems like Radio Shack may have used this journalist-jibe as leverage to improve the company’s reputation with the press. Indeed, they somehow managed to turn the negatives into positives, and the model 100 was cited as being a “remarkable machine” with InfoWorld yet again quoting:
“I’m not used to giving Radio Shack kudos, but the Model 100 is a brave, imaginative, useful addition to the realm of microcomputerdom”
and
“a leading contender for InfoWorld‘s Hardware Product of the Year for 1983.”
Score.
It was mostly praised for how much power it packed in its size, and for its prices too which ranged from $1,099 to $1,399 (8K and 24K respectively). Among other shout outs, BYTE hailed the model 100 as an “amazing machine” with “one of the nicest keyboards” and “equally impressive” built-in software.
This is definitely an important machine, and BYTE magazine could not have said it better, when they later went on to state that “Tandy practically invented the laptop computer.” Who knows, without it, we may not have had the sleek 15-inch Macbook Pro? Or had Steve Jobs’ imagination already conceived portable laptop computers far before Kyocera even got round to designing the Kyotronic 85, later known as the TRS-80 model 100?
