YEAR: 1992
INITIAL PRICE: 2375 US Dollars
Among the first IBM’s to use the Thinkpad name
As IBM president 1914 to 1956, Thomas J. Watson, Sr. enjoyed using the phrase “THINK!” to motivate and inspire his employees. This simple word has become deeply embedded in IBM’s corporate culture ever since.
Decades later in 1991, the phrase became a product, as the ThinkPad, IBM’s new pen-based tablet running the PenPoint Operating System.
Announced in April 1992, the ThinkPad tablet was only mildly successful, and the name was recycled into IBM’s new notebook line of computers, the ThinkPad model 345C, 700 and 700C. The originalThinkPad tablet became model 700T. Although they were not IBM’s first line of notebook computers, the new ThinkPad series of notebook computers were an immediate hit, and collected more than 300 awards for quality and design.
All three models were released at about the same time, ranging from the cost-effective model 300 to the top-of-the-line model 700C (the C is for “color”). Each was housed in an appealing, black, squared-off clamshell case which was like nothing else on the market at the time.
The ThinkPads originally came with Microsoft DOS 5.0 operating system pre-installed, with IBM OS/2 2.0 (also by Microsoft) as the only other option, but later on Microsoft Windows 3.1 was available as a pre-installed operating system as well.
| SPECIFICATION | |
| Available: | October-1992 |
| Model: | IBM Thinkpad 345C |
| Price: | US$2,375 |
| Weight: | 5.9 lbs |
| CPU: | Intel 80386 SL @ 25MHz |
| Memory: | 4-16MB RAM |
| Display: | 9.5-inch LCD |
| 640 x 480 graphics | |
| Storage: | internal 3.5-inch floppy |
| 80MB hard drive | |
| OS: | MS-DOS 5.0 or OS/2 2.0 |
| Later, Windows 3.1 |
700C in top 25 Greatest PC of all time
