We're talking something like $20,000 in today's dollars, depending on how you calculate. The second obvious reason I would guess was its weight. The GRiD Compass weighed 11 pounds.

Chen's project derives from, and pays tribute to, the Grid Compass (styled "GRiD" by its maker, GRiD Systems Corp.). The Compass was probably (again, probably) the first clamshell-style laptop made.

Forgotten Tech The British designer of the world's first laptop has pipped Vivienne Westwood to win the 2010 Prince Philip Designer prize. Bill Moggridge was commissioned by John Ellenby, the founder ...

Moggridge, however, designed the GRiD Compass laptop (1982) around an early flat screen produced by Sharp. This was a yellow-on-black electroluminescent panel that could display 80 characters of ...