Outbound Laptop

An innovative portable Mac

Resources
The Outbound Laptop was one of, if not the first, portable Macintosh compatibles, beating even Apple's own Mac Portable to market. Because Outound could not legally sell the Macintosh ROM's, Outbound users had to purchase a true Apple Macintosh to get the ROM's. The Macintosh Plus or SE was not a complete waste of money, however, as the Outbound could be reconnected to the Mac to make use of its screen, keyboard, and peripherals.

The Outbound Laptop features a detachable keyboard that used an infrared connection to communicate with the laptop. It also used the Isopoint trackbar, one of the best cursor control devices ever invented. The Isobar pointing device consist of a metal tube located just below the keyboard. It can roll forwards and back, or slide left and right. With one's hands in the usual position on the keyboard, one need only move one's thumb slightly to use it.

In the early 90's, I had a graphic design firm as a client and remember one of the senior designers having an Outbound Laptop.

All text and images are copyright © 1998-2002 Roger Sinasohn
Unauthorized use or duplication is strictly prohibited.
The Outbound Laptop open and ready to go.
The Outbound Laptop

A side view of the Outbound Laptop ready to go.
The Outbound ready for use.

The Outbound Laptop's detachable keyboard.
The Outbound's keyboard

A close-up of the Outbound's incredible mouse replacement.
The Outbound's innovative pointing device.

The Outbound Laptop had a bay for a 3.5
The Floppy Drive bay

The Outbound Laptop featured (from top to bottom) an external LCD port, Mac Printer port, Mac Serial port, and Host Interface/SCSI port/Floppy Drive port.
The Outbound's ports

The infrared ports on the keyboard (left) and the system unit (right).
The keyboard's infrared ports

The Outbound came with a great carrying case made from cordura nylon, with the Outbound logo.
A great carrying case

Mfr: Outbound
Location: Boulder, Colorado, USA
Model: 125
Processor: 68000
Speed: 15mhz
Op. Sys: MacOS
Bits:
Internal: 16
Data: 16
RAM:
Min: 1MB
Max: 4MB
ROM: 128K or 256K
Input: 63-key IR keyboard, ISOpoint trackbar
Display: 9" Mono, 640x400
Storage:
Cassette:
Floppy Disk: 1.4MB 3.5"
Hard Disk: 40MB (optional)
Ports:
Serial: 2
Parallel:
Keyboard: ADB (also InfraRed)
Joystick:
Other:
Expansion: Host Port to connect to host Macintosh
Introduced: 1989
Discontinued:
Cost:
Physical:
Size: 12.3"x7.8"x3.6"
Weight: 9.3lbs.
Power:
Voltage:
Connector:
Polarity:
Peripherals:
Notes:
Uncle Roger's Classic Computers
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