Created: 10 October 2026 · Last edited: 11 October 2026

In November 1995, Sharp entered the netbook race with the first of the Mebius line. The Mebius AV1 had an 11.3" colour display with an SVGA resolution that Sharp advertised as being 40% brighter than their previous displays. This, in combination with an Intel Pentium P54C processor, clocked at 75 or 90 MHz, 16 MB of RAM (expandable to 64 MB), 540 or 800 MB of built-in hard disk, a CD-ROM, positioned it at the top of the high-end 10–11-inch portable computers.

Two versions were released in November 1995: the 575CD / PC-A320 and the 590CD / PC-A330, followed by the 575CD-95 / PC-A325 and the 590CD-95 PC-A335 in December. In terms of hardware, they differed in processor clock – 75 MHz on the PC-A320/325 vs 90 MHz on the PC-A330/335 – and onboard storage: 540 MB on the former and 800 MB on the latter. Software-wise, the November versions were running on Windows 3.1, whereas the December versions had Windows 95.

Yes, the Mebius AV1 was considered portable with its 3.3 kilograms of weight and 295 × 225 × 56 mm dimensions. The competition, having the same RAM/ROM/CPU, in the face of the 11.3" SVGA Toshiba DynaBook GT-R590 which also weighed 3.3 kg and the 10.4" Compaq LTE 5100 varied between 3.32 and 3.35 kg.