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89 Gadgets From The Glorious ‘80s That Make Modern Technology Look Less Interesting
Today’s digitally reliant technology is good and all, but many would argue that gadgets from decades ago had their own strong appeal. 1980s tech, for one, easily draws fascination, given how colorful the decade was for many who lived through it.
Here are some examples of those devices that have seemingly stood the test of time. We collected these photos from different corners of the internet where people still relish the gizmos and contraptions that were a hit nearly half a century ago.
Some of these were impressive, while others were quite quirky. Some may also make a few readers wonder how we ever lived without them. Enjoy scrolling through this time capsule!
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#1
1980's Gaming Switch
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#2
Remember Foldaway Travel Clocks 70s/80s
#3
Spotted In The Supermarket Today
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 day ago
I LOVE balsawood gliders! When I was a kid, my pediatric dentist had a bunch of them on the wall behind the reception desk. Every time you visited the dentist, if you were good, you got a wooden token. You could turn in your tokens to get a balsawood glider (or other prizes, probably, but I only remember the gliders!) I had to get a retainer and headgear when I was a kid, so I was at the dentist a lot and earned a lot of tokens and bought a lot of gliders XD
The early 1980s were a time of technological innovation. 1983, in particular, had a few new releases that improved people’s lives and gave a peek at what the future would look like.
One of those innovations was the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100. Released in April 1983, this notebook-sized computer packed features we’d see today into one device: long battery life, address books, calendars, and a to-do list app.
#4
Ge Coffee Maker From 1987 Still Going Strong
#5
This 200+ Page Instruction Manual For A Mouse From 1988
Justin Case 1 day ago
Meanwhile, the Apple mouse instruction manual stated, “1: Point. 2: Click.”
#6
My Room As A Teen. Might As Well Have Been An 80s Museum…
Another notable 1983 release was the HP-150, a pioneer of touchscreen computers. While it isn’t the first of its kind, it was the first touch-controlled device sold to the public and businesses.
The HP-150 became the last touchscreen computer Hewlett-Packard sold until 2002, when it launched the Compaq Tablet.
#7
The Floor Scooters I Remember From 80's Elementary Pe
TheWickedOne 15 hours ago
Older than what I am used to but smashed a finger or two with these.
#8
1980s Tech, Still Ticking Away
#9
Who Remembers Filling Up The Waterbed In The 70s And 80s?
Bill Swallow 16 hours ago
I do, I do! Back in 1984 - 1987, one of my housemates (in a basement bedroom) had a queen-sized waterbed.
Computers were a hit in the 1980s because mass-market advertising first emerged that decade. According to the Computer History Museum, these devices also became available for personal use as machine costs fell.
Celebrity endorsements also bolstered marketing efforts. Big names at the time included Bill Cosby, William Shatner, and Dick Cavett, among others.
#10
My Dad Has An Analog Clock In His Truck Right Above The Digital Clock
#11
My Co-Worker Still Owns And Uses A Sony Fm Walkman From The 1980's
#12
Recently Helped A Friend Clean Out Some Stuff, And Got To Acquire Some Things. Any Advice On What To Do With These 4?
The toy industry was also booming in the 1980s. The Teddy Ruxpin toy bear, for one, was the world’s first animatronic toy. It had a built-in microchip that let it speak and move, much like a cartoon character.
According to History.com, it became the best-selling toy in 1985, the year it came out. The Teddy Ruxpin went on to win the same distinction a year later, and eventually had its own animated series.
#13
It Was A Glorious Era Where Every "High-Tech" Clock Radio Featured A Red Digital Display Bright Enough To Be Seen From Low Earth Orbit
#14
Portable Music Players In My Teenage Years
#15
Who Remembers Those Tabletop Arcade Games?
The appeal of these old-school gadgets today goes beyond nostalgia. Most of these devices stood the test of time because of their durability, unlike much of today’s technology, which is not only harder to repair but also relies on software.
80s gadgets may look primitive, even outdated, by today’s standards. However, one could argue that the machinery and physical engineering at the time were unmatched.
#16
My Dad Brought Home An Early ‘80s Fan From Work Today
#17
Remember When The Kodak Disc Camera Was All The Rage?
#18
On This Day, In 1972, Atari Introduced Pong. What First Video Games Did You Like To Play?
#19
My Grandparents Still To This Day Use A 1984 Model Microwave
#20
Did Anyone Catch Any Fish With Ronco's Pocket Fisherman?
#21
Casio Pocket Television TV-30
#22
My 80s Computer Station
#23
For Over 30 Years, Garfield Novelty Landline Phones Have Been Continuously Washing Up Upon A 15-Mile Stretch Of A Beach In France
#24
The Clapper
#25
Who Else Used These When Coming Into Work?
#26
Bill Swallow 16 hours ago
Thinking about this and the other ton of kit that has been shrunken into the wafers we call 'smartphones'. Truly, we do not just live in an age of miracles - they have become so commonplace that we have become jaded and sneer at them.
#27
Modern Computer vs. 1980's Computer
#28
80's Fisher-Price Tape Recorder
#29
Found In My Attic
#30
Nissan Nrv-II (1983)
#31
The Clear Craze Of The 80's And 90's When Everything Was Clear From Staplers, Phones And Gameboys
#32
An 80's Camcorder I Found In My Parents' Attic. It Still Works!
#33
Found In The Wild Today At Walmart
#34
This Is How Old I Am
#35
My Friend's Condo Has A Non-Working Intercom System From The 1980s
#36
Jerrold Remote Control - If You Had Cable TV In The 80s, Chances Are Good That You Channel Surfed With This Hardwired Beauty
#37
Rgb Crt Projector Circa 1979 - My Sony Kp-5000
#38
I Found This Old Nintendo Gaming Console From 1982 In My Parent's House
#40
Found A Sealed 1985 “Macwrite * Macpaint” Sorting Through My Dads Old Bookshelf
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 day ago
I wanted this program SO bad, but we had a PC back then, not a Mac, and my dad worked for IBM so there was no way we were getting a Mac, lol. I still did learn to "mouse-draw" with MSPaint, and to this day, I struggle with modern tablets/stylus drawing methods XD
#41
The Seiko Uc-2000 Wrist Device Attached To The Other Optional Component: The Uc-2100 Dock With Qwerty Keyboard, 1984
#42
Technics (1982)
Laszlo Larthlanc 1 day ago
For consumer products, Technics made some very nice stuff. Their cassette decks had such nice sound, especially with Type II High Bias / CrO2 tape. In my experience, which I'll admit could have been limited, that deck/tape combo was the closest thing to CD quality.
#43
Anyone Remember This?
#45
Fisher-Price Walkie Talkies From The 80s, With Morse Code
ILoveMySon 14 hours ago
I found these at a garage sale when my son was young. They were great and worked well. He and his friends loved them.
#46
My Client Has Had This Phone Since 1980 And Still Uses It Daily
#47
Laser Discs
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 day ago
We had a whole laserdisc system when I was a kid! We mostly had the ones with music and lyrics on it (karaoke) and I used to spend hours playing the songs and singing along. I do a mean rendition of "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" and "Blue Bayou" XD
#48
This Is The Macintosh Portable, Apple's First Battery-Powered Mac From 1989. It Weighs 16lbs (7.3kg), Roughly The Weight Of Six Modern MacBook Air's
driedgrapes 16 hours ago (edited)
It's mostly forgotten that Microsoft helped Macintosh out so they could keep going so Microsoft wouldn't get in trouble for a monopoly.
#49
Video Chat Didn't Happen Overnight. In 1988 This Was A Huge Breakthrough That Didn't Seem To Catch On
Ace 1 day ago
It wasn't new in 1988 either. And now that we can all do this all the time, how often do we actually do so? I always liked the Thunderbirds ones, which only ever displayed the head and shoulders of the talker, bloody clever idea, but even at such a young age I always wondered how they managed to get the camera pointing from a different angle to the device they were talking on.
#50
Found A Completely New 80s Sinclair Zx Spectrum!
Bill Swallow 16 hours ago
I wonder if the capacitors are still good or are just waiting to explode when power is applied?
#51
#53
Laszlo Larthlanc 1 day ago
They went for receiver and amplifier wattage back then, total harmonic distortion be damned. Bang & Olufsen made a 15 watt amplifier meant to be used with B&O speakers that produced sound with incredibly low THD and was just as loud -- if that's what you wanted -- as the Marantz or Sony Superscope monsters.
#55
Sony Watchman Portable TV. Who Was Fortunate Enough To Have One Of These?
Rick Murray 1 day ago
I had one. Quality so d**n good you could read the 2am teletext on it. Sadly the vertical drive failed so it became a bright horizontal line across the screen, and due to the miniaturisation a TV repair place took one look at the insides and said "nope".
#58
Laszlo Larthlanc 1 day ago
I remember when Magnavox was the go-to name for TV and pre-stereo HiFi. Why did so many home entertainment giants wither and die?
#59
Bill Swallow 16 hours ago
Novelty Song, 'Car Phone' (to the tune of 'Convoy'), by Sheeler & Sheeler.
#60
The 80s Just Called
#62
Alcatel Telic Minitel M2 & M2+ (1988)
Rick Murray 1 day ago
I have a Minitel! Actually I have three - M1 (basic and a bit crappy), M2 (better but large) and a Magis (nice design but flickery screen). Over the summer holiday I had the crazy idea of hooking a microcontroller to the phone socket to inject pulses at specific frequencies in order to make the Minitel think it was connected to a remote service. It worked! (only on the Magis, because that has a simpler modem that doesn't monitor for the presence of line current).
#64
Citroën Karin (1980)
#65
Marantz Pms-6000 Turntable Boombox (1982)
#66
Is This An Original Factory Made Tps-L2 Or Is It Custom Made? I've Never Seen One With The Walkman Branding While Also Having The Lettering At The Top Of The Player
#67
Having A Turbo Button And Keyboard Lock On Your PC! (80s/90s)
Ian Robinson 3 hours ago
The Turbo button was actually pretty badly named, well I say badly but really it's just marketing. It was designed to slow your computer down to a clock speed of like 8 or 10Mhz or such, so that games, mainly, would play correctly.
#68
Children Of The Early 80s Will Remember Seeing These Everywhere
#71
Found This Gravis Gamepad In A Box Of Old Broken Keyboards
#73
The Koalapad (1983) Was A Graphics Tablet Released In 1983 For The Apple II, Trs-80, Atari 8-Bit Family, Commodore 64 And PC
#74
Who Remembers Playing This Game Growing Up In School ??!!
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 day ago
"Wolfy has dysentery! Wolfy has díed!" The best part was getting to write something slightly obscene on the tombstone, so the next kid who played got a good laugh when they found the tombstone XD
#75
Laszlo Larthlanc 1 day ago
I still have an HP Brio with a Pentium II processor and a 5.25-inch 8 GB Quantum Bigfoot hard drive, and it still works. It runs Windows 95. (But it lives in storage. Undoubtedly needs a new 2032 motherboard/CMOS battery.)
#76
#78
Laszlo Larthlanc 1 day ago
Olivetti just makes some of the most beautifully designed products, whatever they happened to be.
#79
Commodore Sx-64 (1983)
This $995 computer was a briefcase-size "luggable" of the Commodore 64 and is considered the first full-color portable computer
crashthegreenhat 1 day ago
I still have one, with the original keyboard cable. I really need to finish the LCD screen mod.
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Ace 1 day ago
Makes me feel old, the fact that I was already an adult, working with/on computers, before any of these things came out. Not only do I remember them, I remember the hype that some things got the scorn that others were met with, the incredibly-limited llifespan of nearly all of them, not so much designed to be obsolete but guaranteed to become so within a year or so, as the next great thing genuinely will be that much of an improvement.
Rick Murray 1 day ago
As a Brit, disappointing no mention of the BBC Micro/Master that was a ubiquitous fixture in schools across the country (and later the Archimedes, but by then there was competition from PCs).
Robert T 16 hours ago
Still have both my Acorn Electron (bought in 1983) and my Archimedes (bought very late 80s). My final year degree project was to port a object-orientated version of Pascal that ran on a compiled virtual machine (similar idea to Java, but predates it) from 68000-based Mac to the ARM-based Archimedes. Parts of it were written in machine code (not even assembler!).
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BarkingSquirell 20 hours ago
This post makes me realize how truly underprivileged I was as a child/teenager, but also how I somehow managed to make it adulthood unscathed.
Ace 1 day ago
Makes me feel old, the fact that I was already an adult, working with/on computers, before any of these things came out. Not only do I remember them, I remember the hype that some things got the scorn that others were met with, the incredibly-limited llifespan of nearly all of them, not so much designed to be obsolete but guaranteed to become so within a year or so, as the next great thing genuinely will be that much of an improvement.
Rick Murray 1 day ago
As a Brit, disappointing no mention of the BBC Micro/Master that was a ubiquitous fixture in schools across the country (and later the Archimedes, but by then there was competition from PCs).
Robert T 16 hours ago
Still have both my Acorn Electron (bought in 1983) and my Archimedes (bought very late 80s). My final year degree project was to port a object-orientated version of Pascal that ran on a compiled virtual machine (similar idea to Java, but predates it) from 68000-based Mac to the ARM-based Archimedes. Parts of it were written in machine code (not even assembler!).
Load More Replies... BarkingSquirell 20 hours ago
This post makes me realize how truly underprivileged I was as a child/teenager, but also how I somehow managed to make it adulthood unscathed.
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