Atari Portfolio: Pioneering palmtop PC
In a 1989 television episode of Computer Chronicles, Stewart Cheifet drove into the camera frame in an MG to start up the episode and said, “A small car and a small computer,” and held up an Atari Portfolio. In this blog post, we’ll explore what was so exciting about a computer that fit in your hand, something we take for granted today.
Handheld computers weren’t exactly unheard of in 1989. But until the Atari Portfolio, handheld computers had been single-purpose devices. You could get one to store your contacts, one to translate English words into another language, a handheld dictionary / thesaurus, and even a handheld Bible.
The Portfolio broke new ground because it put a general purpose DOS PC into that form factor. The Atari Portfolio wasn’t quite powerful enough to replicate all of the functions of all those special purpose handheld devices, at least not all at once. But it hinted at a time in the future when a similar device would be. In the meantime, it gave you a wide choice of software to carry with you. In the meantime, a Portfolio worked well as a personal organizer and could run other DOS programs in a pinch, while only costing $100 more than a Casio personal organizer.
The rise and fall of palmtops had some echos with the rise and fall of netbooks between 2007 and 2013. It didn’t replace your regular PC, but it facilitated taking some of your work with you on the go.
