The Olivetti M21 is a distinctive luggable computer introduced in 1984, combining IBM PC compatibility with Olivetti’s renowned industrial design. Built around an Intel 8086 processor, it featured an integrated amber monochrome display, detachable keyboard and dual 5.25-inch floppy drives, making it portable for business users of the era. Although heavier than modern laptops, the M21 offered transportable computing without sacrificing expandability, earning a place as one of Europe’s most recognisable early portable PCs.

Details

Manufacturer	Olivetti
Model	Personal Computer M21
Year	1984
Form factor	proprietary
Chassis	luggable
CPU	Intel 8086
Installed RAM	640 KiB
Drives	2× 5.25" 360K floppy
OS	MS DOS 5.0
Condition	Working
Source	eBay order no. 23-14854-87662
Acquired	2026-07-15
Reference	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivetti_M24

Machine

Catalogue model	M21 — Olivetti, 1984

Motherboard

RH-0260 · Motherboard

Olivetti BA121

CPU family

8088-class

Form factor

proprietary

Slots

8-bit ISA

BIOS

Olivetti M24 1.43

Ports

Floppy, Serial, Parallel

Parts

2

RH-0261 · Video

Olivetti GO380

Chip

Motorola 6845

Interface

ISA

Connector

proprietary

Memory

64 KiB

RH-0262 · I/O

FreddyV PicoMEM 1

Chip

RP2040

Interface

ISA

Files

No files for this one yet.

History

2026-08-19

variant: (empty) → M21