IBM PC Convertible IBM 5140



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General Technical Information

SYSTEM CPU Special "Low Power" Intel 8088 @4.77 MHZ
CACHE
 N/A
RAM  512K (Max. 512K)
SYSTEM BUS WIDTH
 8 bit
OPTION BUS 1 x IBM proprietary system bus slot
GRAPHICS CGA on built-in monochrome LCD display
FLOPPY DISK DRIVES 2 x 3.5" 720K standard floppy drives
NETWORK N/A
AUDIO PC beeper
OS IBM-DOS 3 and MS-DOS 6.22 (on floppy)
YEAR 1986
SPEED not measured
COMMENTS This is IBM's first laptop model
PRICE 1986
 		$3,500

History and other comments

This computer was rescued from being scrapped. It's a real collector's item since the system type is of the very first of IBM's laptop models. It's interesting that it's not that heavy, the reasons are that it lacks a hard disk and it's made of that strange IBM plastic material that older PS/2 and RS/6000 boxes were made of, too.

Once opened the mainboard looks relatively modern; the components are small and are soldered on top of the circuit board (rather than "through" it). The original system software could still be downloaded from IBM's website, that included IBM-DOS and a bundle of small apps similar to those found in  PDAs. With 512K RAM however it's possible to run even the latest MS-DOS version.
 
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Last updated:  6-1-2005