The first (and last) Soviet portable personal computer in the form factor "laptop" serial production was produced at the plant "Integral" in Minsk from 1991 to 1994. Known under the in-plant article "PC-300", it was released under the trademark "Elektronika"- this is how the Ministry of Electronic Industry of the USSR called almost all electrical appliances.
"Electronika MS 1504" had dimensions of 306×312×68 mm and weighed 5 kg. Here are its technical specifications:
- Computer type: IBM PC/XT
- Operating system MS DOS
- CPU: KR1834VM86, a clone of Intel 80C86, clocked at 4.77 MHz and 7.16 MHz in turbo mode.
- Processor digitization: 16 bits
- RAM: 640 kilobytes
- Video controller: CGA (640×200 dots)
The price of the device at the beginning of sales was 1000 rubles, or $550.
The creation of Soviet engineers was dedicated to one of the issues of the magazine "Electronika Industry", which was published by MEP SRSR.
On the basis of the PC 300 portable computer, using a color graphic CGA-monitor, an EPSON dot-matrix printer and a mouse-type manipulator, it is easy to organize a professional workplace, providing the user with more free space on the desktop than when using a "standard" desktop computer with equal capabilities.
- "Electronic Industry" No. 3, 1990.
As in the whole history of Soviet technology, copying Western samples was not lacking here. "Electronika MS 1504" almost completely repeats Toshiba T1100 in the PLUS modification.
Toshiba T1100 advertising brochure
Engineering and Technology History Wiki
The Japanese developed the Toshiba T1100 in 1984 as an innovative product to capture the US market. It differed from competitors' devices of the previous years by its remarkable lightness (4.1 kg) and design: it was the first portable computer in the clamshell form that is still typical of notebooks today.
Toshiba T1100 in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Victoria and Albert Museum
The model cost $1899 and was extremely successful. Almost immediately after Toshiba, the Americans released their first laptop: in the spring of 1986, IBM PC Convertible appeared on sale, which could not surpass the popularity of its Japanese counterpart.
IBM PC Convertible in the collection of the National Museum of Science and Technology, Milan
Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci
Both American and Japanese products were already obsolete at the time of the release of the PC-300, so the Soviet clone did not last long either. The successor to the "Electronica MS 1504" was supposed to be "Electronica 901" with a 10-megabyte hard disk and 1 MB of RAM, but it was released less than a thousand units because of the too high price - 25000 rubles.
"Electronika MS 1504" on Violity
Now all these are artifacts of a long and rich history of technology development, occupying places of honor on the shelves of private collections and museum collections.
Bidding for a copy of the rare "Electronika MS 1504" on Violity will continue for about another week, don't miss the opportunity to join.
