Compaq's first computers were portable 'lunchbox' or 'luggable' computers, and as such belong to the Compaq Portable series. These computers measured approximately 1×1 foot on the side, and were approx. 2½ ft wide. As the products evolved, laptops and notebooks were created offing a new level of portability that caused the market to explode.
Some of the portables (the Portable and Portable II) had CRT monitors, while others (the Portable III and the Portable 386) had flat, single-color, usually amber, plasma displays. The portables came/could come with internal hard disk drives on .5" shock mount springs; diskette drives, usually 5 1⁄4" double- or quadruple-density drives; batteries; and/or a dual-ISA expansion chassis, about one full-drive-height wide. Later products included mono and color LCD screens and were battery powered.