In June 1992 Acorn launched their only portable computer. Reportedly based on the A5000 (or maybe vice versa), the A4 has the footprint of a sheet of A4 paper (hence the name) and weighs about 3 kg. The A4 came with a carry case with space for the external power supply, manuals and a mouse. The A4 has an ARM3 CPU clocked at 24MHz, 4MB RAM, 2MB ROM, and a 640x480 16 greyscale screen.

The operating system (RISC OS 3.10) was located in the 2 MB ROM. The 9-inch LCD screen could only display 14 shades of grey, but used a clever dithering system to make more shades apparent.

Serial number 01-AKB64-1011135.

K/Board 84 keys with arrow keys
Text: Max : 132 x 30
Graphics: 47 graphic modes, maximum 640 x 480 with LCD screen and up to 1152 x 896 with VGA screen
Sound: 8 voices (stereo 8 bit)
I/O Ports: VGA, Centronics, RS232 C, stereo sound, Mouse, Keyboard
Drive: 3.5'' disk-drive
Cost: £1395 (2Mb floppy version) up to £1895 (4Mb HD120 version)

Manufacturer: Acorn
Date: 1992

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH22807. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.

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