The first version did not have the expected success, despite having an excellent processor and also features unknown to its contemporaries, such as the microphone and integrated amplifiers.

This failure was mostly due to the limitations of the operating system and bundled software which did not fully exploit the potential of the computer's design and capabilities.

For this reason, Olivetti decided to present a new version just one year after the first, the Quaderno 33, equipped with the Windows 3.1 operating system.

Despite providing an array of expansion ports – serial, parallel, video out, and a dual-purpose port for modem or PS/2 keyboard and mouse – the sockets were a proprietary Olivetti design requiring special cables at about £10 each (equivalent to £26 in 2023[3]), and to use the fax modem required an extra £80 (equivalent to £209) purchase of the necessary software, this being regarded as rather exploitative.

[2] The keyboard offered a standard layout and additional function keys, with the latter acting as shortcuts to launch applications, although unlike other laptops, the software to support these capabilities was loaded from the hard drive and not from ROM, thus requiring the user to retain the driver files responsible.