Compaq Portable Plus

The Compaq Portable Plus developed the original luggable with a factory-installed hard disk while retaining its 8088 processor, built-in CRT and IBM PC-compatible architecture.

Adding fixed storage made Compaq’s portable far more practical for business software and demonstrated how quickly PC compatibles were moving beyond floppy-only configurations.

Notable Features

• Integrated hard disk in a luggable PC-compatible
• Nine-inch monochrome CRT and detachable keyboard
• Compatible with the established Compaq Portable software base

Historical Significance

• Adding fixed storage made Compaq’s portable far more practical for business software and demonstrated how quickly PC compatibles were moving beyond floppy-only configurations.

Collector’s Notes

• Surviving hard disks are a major preservation concern, and exact capacities should be checked against the installed configuration.
• Memory, storage, displays and expansion hardware should be documented because configurations often changed during a system’s working life.

Specifications

Technical Information
Name	Compaq Portable Plus
Manufacturer	Compaq
Launched	Tuesday, November 1, 1983
Launch Price	$4,995
Country	United States
CPU	Intel 8088
Units Sold
Form Factor	Luggable all-in-one
Power	Mains AC
Networking	Via expansion card
Operating System	Compaq MS-DOS
Expansion / I/O	ISA expansion; parallel and display connections
Keyboard	83-key detachable keyboard
Storage	10 MB hard disk and 360 KB 5.25-inch floppy drive
Sound	PC speaker
Colours	Monochrome
Graphics	IBM-compatible MDA text graphics
Display	Built-in 9-inch green phosphor CRT
ROM	Compaq BIOS
RAM	128 KB standard; expandable to 640 KB
CPU Speed	4.77 MHz