<s>
The	O
Apricot	B-Device
Portable	I-Device
was	O
a	O
personal	O
computer	O
manufactured	O
by	O
ACT	O
Ltd.	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
released	O
to	O
the	O
public	O
in	O
November	O
1984	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
ACT	O
's	O
first	O
attempt	O
at	O
manufacturing	O
a	O
portable	B-Device
computer	I-Device
,	O
which	O
were	O
gaining	O
popularity	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compared	O
to	O
other	O
portable	B-Device
computers	I-Device
of	O
its	O
time	O
like	O
the	O
Compaq	B-Device
Portable	I-Device
and	O
the	O
Commodore	O
SX-64	O
,	O
the	O
Apricot	B-Device
Portable	I-Device
was	O
the	O
first	O
system	O
to	O
have	O
an	O
80-column	O
and	O
25-line	O
LCD	B-Device
screen	I-Device
and	O
the	O
first	O
with	O
a	O
speech	O
recognition	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Apricot	B-Device
Portable	I-Device
was	O
designed	O
to	O
be	O
easily	O
carried	O
in	O
its	O
case	O
,	O
but	O
was	O
powered	O
by	O
mains	O
electricity	O
only	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
consisted	O
of	O
a	O
central	O
unit	O
containing	O
the	O
motherboard	O
,	O
monochrome	O
display	O
and	O
a	O
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
drive	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Apricot	B-Device
Portable	I-Device
was	O
contained	O
inside	O
a	O
hard	O
charcoal	O
gray	O
carrying	O
case	O
and	O
consisted	O
of	O
two	O
main	O
parts	O
:	O
the	O
central	O
unit	O
(	O
with	O
built-in	O
monitor	O
)	O
and	O
the	O
keyboard	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
used	O
by	O
either	O
pointing	O
the	O
track	O
board	O
at	O
the	O
computer	O
and	O
moving	O
the	O
trackball	B-Device
around	O
with	O
one	O
's	O
thumb	O
or	O
rolling	O
the	O
trackball	B-Device
on	O
a	O
flat	O
surface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Apricot	B-Device
Portable	I-Device
contained	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
features	O
including	O
a	O
built-in	O
disk	O
drive	O
,	O
a	O
speech	O
recognition	O
system	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
software	O
bundle	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Portable	O
was	O
known	O
for	O
having	O
the	O
first	O
25-line	O
liquid-crystal	B-Device
display	I-Device
(	O
LCD	B-Device
)	O
screen	O
on	O
a	O
portable	B-Device
computer	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
LCD	B-Device
screen	I-Device
was	O
originally	O
made	O
by	O
Hitachi	O
,	O
however	O
ACT	O
was	O
not	O
satisfied	O
with	O
the	O
speed	O
of	O
its	O
controller	B-General_Concept
chip	I-General_Concept
,	O
prompting	O
the	O
company	O
to	O
design	O
its	O
own	O
faster	O
controller	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Portable	O
could	O
continue	O
to	O
use	O
its	O
LCD	B-Device
display	I-Device
while	O
also	O
driving	O
the	O
colour	O
display	O
,	O
allowing	O
separate	O
information	O
to	O
be	O
shown	O
on	O
each	O
screen	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
single	O
double-sided	O
720KB	O
3.5	B-Device
"	I-Device
floppy	I-Device
disk	I-Device
drive	O
was	O
built	O
into	O
the	O
right-hand	O
side	O
of	O
the	O
enclosure	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
external	O
10MB	O
Rodime	O
3.5	B-Device
"	I-Device
hard	B-Device
drive	I-Device
was	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Apricot	B-Device
Portable	I-Device
was	O
the	O
first	O
portable	B-Device
computer	I-Device
to	O
utilize	O
a	O
voice	O
speech	O
recognition	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Apricot	B-Device
Portable	I-Device
was	O
bundled	O
with	O
both	O
the	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
and	O
CP/M	B-Operating_System
-86	I-Operating_System
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
software	O
including	O
a	O
word	O
processor	O
called	O
SuperWriter	O
,	O
SuperPlanner	O
,	O
a	O
personal	O
diary	O
called	O
ACT	O
Diary	O
,	O
the	O
SuperCalc	B-Application
spreadsheet	O
and	O
ACT	O
Sketch	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Apricot	O
computers	O
used	O
versions	O
of	O
the	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
not	O
constrained	O
to	O
the	O
maximum	O
640	O
KB	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
supported	O
by	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
and	O
true	O
clones	O
,	O
allowing	O
the	O
Portable	O
to	O
make	O
use	O
of	O
768	O
KB	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Portable	O
could	O
run	O
most	O
software	O
for	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Like	O
other	O
Apricot	O
computers	O
,	O
it	O
could	O
be	O
started	O
up	O
from	O
a	O
CP/M	B-Operating_System
-86	I-Operating_System
or	O
Concurrent	B-Operating_System
CP/M	I-Operating_System
boot	O
disc	O
,	O
and	O
would	O
then	O
run	O
CP/M	B-Operating_System
-86	I-Operating_System
software	O
in	O
single	O
-	O
or	O
multi-user	O
mode	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
presented	O
an	O
icon-based	O
interface	O
reminiscent	O
of	O
the	O
Apple	B-Device
Macintosh	I-Device
,	O
allowing	O
the	O
user	O
to	O
manage	O
files	O
,	O
format	O
disks	O
,	O
create	O
new	O
icons	O
,	O
keyboard	O
layouts	O
and	O
characters	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
basic	O
model	O
of	O
the	O
Apricot	B-Device
Portable	I-Device
with	O
256KB	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
(	O
expandable	O
to	O
768KB	O
)	O
was	O
sold	O
for	O
£1695	O
(	O
approximately	O
US$2460	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
additional	O
colour	O
display	O
with	O
128KB	O
RAM	B-Architecture
and	O
a	O
mouse	O
added	O
£300	O
( $435	O
)	O
to	O
its	O
price	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
price	O
of	O
the	O
original	O
model	O
was	O
lowered	O
in	O
1985	O
when	O
a	O
new	O
version	O
was	O
released	O
with	O
512KB	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
