Compaq computers - bit of history

Their first product, the Compaq Portable, was announced in 1982, which was IBM compatible and cost around $2,995.

Now if we see pictures of what portables were like in the 80's they do seem laughable (in a nice way of course) because they were nothing like the laptops we now enjoy. Back then the systems weighted between 25 and 50 pounds, they were like a normal pc with a CRT display, keyboard and wait for it.... a handle! And there you are folks, your very own 80's laptop which had the size of a small suitcase.

Have you seen pictures of businessmen in the 80's carrying these monsters?

They sure are funny but back then, it was the norm. With the high cost of computers back then, you didn't make fun of people carrying such things from one appointment to the other, if you were a geek in the 80's you would be drooling to have such a system.

Did you know how compaq computers got its name?

Answer: From the words "Compatibility and Quality". Interesting to know.

But they had a dilemma you see, IBM at that time had a good name, or brand, whatever you want to call it, and to make themselves marketable and appealing to the business folk, they had to come up with an IBM compatible BIOS without getting in trouble by IBM.

So what did our 3 genius boys do? They decided to reverse engineer the code. Naughty but nice. And apparently this was ok because IBM mostly used "off the shelf" parts for their PC. So good loophole if you can find one. Legend says it took them about a year and about a million dollars.

The result?

Compaq computers sold a staggering 53,000 (and remember for that time, that was huge!), made 11 million some say and dominated the market. So good for them.

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