Sharp PC5000

In the early 1980s, after IBM introduced the PC, there was a rush to market of a wide variety of clones and work-alike systems. In that lot the Compaq was a notable machine due to its portability. Eventually folks realized that 30+ pounds just wasn't portable and the era of the laptop was born. (Actually, Tandy/Radio Shack had a portable PC available prior to the IBM-PC and several companies had calculator style PCs as well, none with tons of power.)

Sharp's answer to the portable market was one of the first ever clamshell designs featuring a full keyboard and a full 80 column display, albeit only 8 lines of 80 columns.

The Sharp wasn't 100% IBM-PC compatible but it did run MS-DOS and many PC programs (some modified to the screen.)

The Sharp was very unique, however, in that it used bubble memory for persistent storage.

Sharp PC 5000 bubble memory

The bubble memory was packaged in cartridges that plugged into a slot on the machine. These acted as 128KB disks.

The boxed Sharp PC 5000

This Sharp PC (Portable Computer) came with it's original box, packing materials and documents. It is pretty much new.

The Sharp PC 5000 manual

Even the manual is in new, almost unread, condition.

The Sharp PC-5000 is an Intel 8086 based 16 bit machine with 128k of RAM. Expansions would allow for more RAM, an attachable printer and a separate set of 5.25" floppy drives.