30 Retro Tech Pictures Of Cool Gadgets That Seem Ancient Now
I’m a child of the 80s, so I’ve seen a lot of tech come and go. Technology has progressed so fast that many of the cool gadgets we’d buy in the 80s and 90s would be obsolete in a year or two.
Now all of these nostalgic pieces of technology are so outdated you couldn’t even sell them anymore. All we can do is look back at them and remember when we broke out bank to buy something awesome that seems like it might as well be 1000 years old to today’s kids.
Honestly, most of today’s generation wouldn’t even know what most of these are, let alone how to use them.
1. Philips Video Telephone prototype (1973)
2. The developers of Windows 95 look like a grunge band
3. Wireless internet with the Motorola MicroTAC and HP 100LX
4. Sharp MR990 Synth Boombox with a detachable ‘Melody Computer’ (1985)
5. The holidays make me think of the Bang & Olufsen 4500 System from the movie Christmas Vacation
6. Magnavox 3” Personal View pocket TV (1988)
7. Oldsmobile Incas concept car (1986)
8. Cadillac Allante, designed by Pininfarina (1987)
9. The Logitech T-CD2-6F TrackMan (1991)
10. Epson PX-8 Geneva (1984)
11. Before Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, we had NASA’s Virtual Interface Environment Workstation (VIEW)
12. The Dell Inspiron Mini Nickelodeon Edition ($329 in 2009) was a netbook for kids but saw more demand from nostalgic adults.
13. AIWA AD-F990 (1983)
14. I still think the Sony VAIO PCG-505 (1998) is one of top 5 best looking laptops ever designed.
15. Today’s the 24th anniversary of the iPod. I still have my first one.
16. The Toyota SV-3 (1983) concept car
17. Apple Adjustable Keyboard. The left-side numpad and arrow keys feel chaotic.
18. Sharp QT27 (1986)
19. People used to watch TV on their Sega Game Gears. The TV tuner was $74.99 in 1991.
20. Bang and Olufsen Beocord 8000 Cassette player (1980)
21. The IBM Thinkpad 700T (1992) was one of the first tablets to use a stylus, ran on an i386 processor and used a solid state drive.
22. I’m ready for this Y2K fashion trend to make a comeback.
23. The Aeronix Zipit (2005) was a $99 device that only had AIM, MSN and Yahoo Messenger
24. All I want is a tiny laptop with a mechanical keyboard. Ambra (1994).
25. NISSAN 300 ZX (1984)
26. The coolest guy on the beach.
27. Nissan Com Com concept car (1985)
28. I’d love a setup like this. Marantz (1985).
29. Apple prototype from MacWorld magazine (1995)
30. Psion Series 3 (1991). If we’re talking about foldable phones, I want this one.
