Epson HX-20 "notebook"

I was commenting on reddit how I used to type in BASIC programs back when learning the craft.

I then recalled that I had an old “laptop” that only did BASIC.

After some searching, I found it:

It was an Epson HX-20, pictured below (photo from wiki):

Oh man, it was cool.

The first significant development towards laptop computing was announced in 1981 and sold from July 1982, the 8/16-bit Epson HX-20.

And:

The HX-20 was the first laptop to be called a notebook.

It came in a hard plastic case and had manuals, including a book of code examples (which I typed), many of which created lists or pictures that could be printed.

I had a PC at this time, my own PC that was awesome, but even then I knew this thing was “cool” (to me).

The keys were where springy, not clicky. Like too springy.

It had a built-in tape drive and dot-matrix printer.

Actually, the pic above is not right, it does not have the tape drive, this is more like it this (from here):

And:

Note the tape drive on the top right. Also note the hard plastic case.

As I said, all it did was basic.

I wish I kept it. Would I ever use it? Probably not.

Vintage-cool computing.

It seems you can get them on ebay for few hundred or a thousand dollars. Ouch.

As I recall, I got via my dad, who said the were put in a dumpster at his work (circa mid-late 1990s).