Sharp Advert - August 1986
From Personal Computer World
The business computer that's a real mover
Here's another celebrity advertising endorsement for a microcomputer, this time featuring World Cup-winning footballer Bobby Charlton, where it's tempting to think that the legendary player knew as much about computers as William "Captain Kirk" Shatner did when he advertised for Commodore, i.e. not much.
Referred to as the "lunchbox", on account of its shape and the fact the keyboard acted as a lid, the PC-7000 was an almost-fully IBM-XT-compatible micro using Intel's 8086 which came with two 5¼" floppy disk drives and 320K of memory.
It was also notable for using the world's first backlit LCD screen[1], which in common with many of the first LCD portables was a 640x200 (CGA) pixel display, which thanks to the square pixels used in LCD panels gave it a very widescreen or letterbox presentation.
Although billed as a portable, the PC-7000 weighed in a 18.8 pounds, or 8.5 kilogrammes, which puts it firmly in the luggable category. Plus, it needed to be plugged in. It did however come with a natty leather shoulder bag to carry both it an an optional thermal printer around in.
At launch in the US, it retailed for about $1,800, or around £4,370 in 2024.
Date created: 04 September 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.
