Ad for ’70s Portable Computer Shows Cumbersome Was Once Cool
Wow, has technology come a long way.
You will be reminded of that while watching this 1977 commercial for the IBM 5100, a revolutionary computer for its day in that you could take it with you because, as the spot mentions, it's only 50 pounds. Yeah, 50.
Imagine how ticked off you'd be today if you had to lug a computer that weighs the equivalent of two toddlers. You'd be blasting IBM for not being cutting edge and saying the laptop is only good for working your pecs.
We love this commercial, though. There's something amusing about watching all these professionals discuss how the 5100 makes their work so much easier knowing laptops today are used by grandparents trying to figure out how to send messages to their grandchildren on Facebook and horny folks desperate to download a secret Angelina Jolie nude scene that winds up infecting their entire computer with a virus.