Panasonic Advert - May 1982
From Personal Computing
The Link from Panasonic. The portable computer that lets you take the advantages of an office computer anywhere you go.
It's an advert from Matshushita Electric Industrial Co., trading as Panasonic, for its awkward-to-search-for "The Link" portable computer.
Pitched less as a full-on microcomputer than perhaps Sharp's PC-1500, The Link nevertheless offered Microsoft BASIC and up to 52K RAM, which as the advert says was more than many desktop computers of the time. It also supported software in ROM form, and contained three empty ROM slots for expansion.
There was even a range of peripherals available for it, including an acoustic-coupler modem, a $349 TV adapter, and a custom Attaché case for $163[1]. It retailed for $500 for the entry-level model, or $600 for the version with BASIC. That's around £1,840 in 2024.
Date created: 19 January 2024
Last updated: 21 November 2024
Sources
Text and otherwise-uncredited photos © nosher.net 2024. Dollar/GBP conversions, where used, assume $1.50 to £1. "Now" prices are calculated dynamically using average RPI per year.