A newcomer asked whether viewing photos was a problem when I said old laptops had black-and-white LCDs

What happened

A user on X (formerly Twitter) talked with a new employee about old laptops. They said old laptops had black-and-white screens. The new employee asked if it was hard to look at photos. The user did not mention even older computers, which showed only text, or ones that were programmed with just LED lights and switches. Togetter, a Japanese site that collects posts, put the conversation together into an article. Many people then shared their memories of old NEC and other PCs.

Key facts from the posts

• The NEC PC-9801 NC had a full-color LCD. It cost 598,000 yen when it was new, according to one user.
• One user remembered buying a 98NOTE for about 250,000 yen, plus about 100,000 yen for software.
• The 98NOTE showed 8 shades of gray on its black-and-white screen. Color on the NC showed 16 colors at the same time.
• Some users said that showing images on these machines was very hard. One user said the screen was slow to redraw, so enemy bullets in games were hard to see.

Why screens were hard to use

Early laptop screens could show only a few colors or shades of gray. Photos need many colors and smooth tones, so they were hard to show. Computers also had little memory and slow storage. Photos were not always digital files, so getting them onto a computer was a job in itself. Some users said they learned special methods, such as dithering, to make pictures look better with only black and white dots.

Why it matters

The story shows how far computers have come in a few decades. Today, a phone can show millions of colors and sharp photos. People who grew up with fast devices may not know how hard it once was. The posts also show how users of that time built skills to get around these limits.

What to watch

• Whether more retro computer stories go viral as older users share their memories.
• How people of different ages compare their early tech experiences.
• Whether newer users keep interest in how old hardware worked.