| NEC VERSAPAD | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 
In 1992, 21 years before Microsoft Windows 8, or the Surface, Lenovo Yoga, HP Revolve, or Dell XPS 13 - the Computer industry tried to move towards pen/touch computing. Yeah, this was not some genius idea from the Satya Nadella/Steve Ballmer fronted Microsoft of 2013 to take out the Android/Apple Tablet market - oh no - the PC industry tried the FIRST TIME in 1993! Back then you had such interesting devices as the Apple Newton, the Compaq Concerto, the Dauphin DTR-1, and of course, the NEC VersaPad! An elusive yeti of a 486-based pen/tablet computer of the early 1990's.
Initially introduced as the "NEC UltraLite Autograph" - the NEC VersaPad was based on the NEC UltraLite Versa 25, but built into a "Tablet" form factor for primary use with a touch screen and stylus. While all of the 1st generation detachable screen Versa models were designed in a way they could be turned into a literal Convertible Tablet/Notebook ala Microsoft Surface or Lenovo Yoga a full 20 years before those ever came into being ~ the VersaPad was intended to be a full time tablet, almost like a Windows based iPad of the 1990's. This makes it a very cool (not to mention quite rare) piece of retro-computing history. Model#s were as follows...
|
