In 1992, Apple was still in its “Job-less” phase, kicking around innovative ideas way ahead of its time, before Steve Jobs returned to bring order to chaos. At the time, Apple Newton wasn’t the only stylus product that the company wanted to release to the public.
In fact, Apple was very close to producing what could only be described as a MacOS powered Surface tablet, within the context of its time, of course.
The Macintosh PowerBook Duo was the inspiration behind the PenLite, a tablet computer running a full desktop version of MacOS, essentially channeling both the PowerBook Duo and the Newton.
Little is known about the actual specs of this device, especially considering the CPU and memory limitations imposed by the minimalist design, but rumor had it that the only reason why Apple did not ship the device, was that the company wanted to avoid releasing to many different products with a stylus.
Incidentally, that very same stance has been consistent in Apple, through decades, which is why Apple won’t be making MacBooks with a main touchscreen display, at least for the time being.
The PowerBook Duo has had its share of cameos in movies and TV, namely the 1995 cyber action thriller The Net, starring Sandra Bullock, in which the actress is seen using the laptop extensively through the motion picture.
Thought closer to a production model than a concept, PenLite never had a realistic chance at becoming a successful product, within its decade, not only due to hardware limitations, but software as well, not to mention the lack of a proper wireless network infrastructure, such as what we take for granted today.
While cellular connectivity was somewhat available in the early 1990s, the costs were exorbitant, with a very limited availability of services, and extremely spotty coverage.
Of course, being that PenLite ran MacOS, the device would have still been useful as far as working on text documents, spreadsheets, and even some light gaming, but considering the limited battery life and stylus capabilities, which were still lightyears behind anything resembling Apple Pencil, it’s not surprising that Apple pulled the plug on PenLite rather quickly.
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