Release of the Macintosh Portable, Apple's Unsuccessful First Attempt at a Portable Computer

The Macintosh Portable was Apple Computer's first attempt at making a battery-powered portable Macintosh personal computer that held the power of a desktop Macintosh.

Released on September 20, 1989, it was received with excitement from most critics but with very poor sales to consumers. Seemingly no expense was spared in the construction of the machine. It featured a black and white active-matrix LCD screen in a hinged cover that covered the keyboard when the machine was not in use. The mouse function was handled by a built-in trackball that could be removed and located on either side of the keyboard. It used expensive SRAM in an effort to maximize battery life and to provide an "instant on" low power sleep mode.

The Mac Portable is Apple's first portable Macintosh computer. Although there were already PC laptops on the market, few were as fast or powerful. The Portable has a 68000 processor running at 16 MHz, comes with 1 MB RAM which can be expanded to 9 MB RAM, has an optional internal 9600 baud modem, and includes a PDS slot (Processor Direct Slot) for direct access to the system processor. This allows for faster and more powerful expansion cards.