--- title: Apple Laptop Macintosh Portable Computer Debut 1989 description: Proof that Apple has come a long way canonical: https://time.com/3398919/apple-first-portable-macintosh/ author: Alex Fitzpatrick article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-20T15:00:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:45:43.336Z article:section: History og:title: Apple Laptop Macintosh Portable Computer Debut 1989 og:description: Proof that Apple has come a long way og:url: https://time.com/3398919/apple-first-portable-macintosh/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06b31c1b082cc05a/6986a42fd0b6f20c623062cc/portable1.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Apple Macintosh portable computer, 1989. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Apple Laptop Macintosh Portable Computer Debut 1989 twitter:description: Proof that Apple has come a long way twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06b31c1b082cc05a/6986a42fd0b6f20c623062cc/portable1.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Apple Introduced Its First 'Laptop' 25 Years Ago and It Was Totally Awful  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](https://time.com/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Sep 20, 2014 3:00 PM UTC  An early Macintosh portable computer An early Macintosh portable computerScience & Society Picture Library / Getty Images  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](https://time.com/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Sep 20, 2014 3:00 PM UTC **Correction appended, Sept. 22, 2014, 10:55 a.m.** Twenty-five years ago Saturday, on Sept. 20, 1989, Apple released its first “portable” Macintosh computer — and “portable” belongs in quotation marks, because Sisyphus might as well have been made to lift this thing up a hillside for eternity. Coming in at a hefty 16 pounds — that’s more than five MacBook Airs, and about four of IBM’s rival product at the time — Apple’s [Macintosh Portable](http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/specs/mac%5Fportable.html) had a price tag to match its weight: $6,500 got you the machine, loaded with super-modern features like an “active-matrix screen” and a “cursor-control device called a trackball,” as TIME described it in the Sept. 25, 1989, issue. The computer could also only run on a wall outlet when batteries were installed, unlike desktop computers. “Apple is taking pains to call the machine a portable rather than a laptop, but computer industry wags have already dubbed it a ‘luggable,'” reads TIME’s article about the Macintosh Portable, revealing that tech writers’ penchant for adorable nicknames (“wearable,” “phablet” and so on) is well-rooted in our trade’s history. “Even so, experts believe the Mac is likely to be a walkaway success.” Clever pun, but we (or those experts!) were way off base: Customers greeted the Macintosh Portable like a sour apple; PCWorld would eventually [deem](http://www.pcworld.com/article/125772/worst%5Fproducts%5Fever.html?page=5) it the 17th worst tech product ever made. **_Read the most recent TIME cover story about Apple here:_** [Never Offline](http://time.com/3326576/never-offline/) **Correction:** The original version of this post incorrectly stated the power needs of the original Macintosh Portable. ### These Vintage Computer Ads Show We've Come a Long, Long Way  1974  1976  1976  1977 Picasa 3.0  1977  1978  1978  1980  1980  1981  1983  1983  1983  1984 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3398919/apple-first-portable-macintosh/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3398919/apple-first-portable-macintosh/"},"headline":"Apple Introduced Its First 'Laptop' 25 Years Ago and It Was Totally Awful","datePublished":"2014-09-20T15:00:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:45:43.336Z","description":"Proof that Apple has come a long way","url":"https://time.com/3398919/apple-first-portable-macintosh/","keywords":["Technology","Tech","Apple","laptop"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06b31c1b082cc05a/6986a42fd0b6f20c623062cc/portable1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Fitzpatrick","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-fitzpatrick/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06b31c1b082cc05a/6986a42fd0b6f20c623062cc/portable1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Apple Macintosh portable computer, 1989.","caption":"Apple Macintosh portable computer, 1989.","creditText":"Science & Society Picture Library / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/technology/","name":"Technology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3398919/apple-first-portable-macintosh/","name":"Apple Introduced Its First 'Laptop' 25 Years Ago and It Was Totally Awful"}}]}] ```