The History Of Laptops ” Ways In Which Laptop Computers Developed
The possibility of a portable computer has been thrown around in computer circles for a long time. Many computer engineers did not think the idea was viable and the private sector did not really believe that the general public would ever be interested in such a computer. A number of ‘portable computers’ were released, among them the Dynabook, but these were basically meant for children to play with. The first true laptops were still far in the future.
The first computer that could really claim title to the term laptop was the Osborne 1. It was released during 1981 by the Osborne Computer Company. When closed up, the Osborne 1 looked very much like a sewing machine case – nothing like our laptops of today therefore.
The Osborne needed AC power to run, although it had an optional backup battery. There was no hard drive. Information was stored on 2 x 5. 25 inch floppy drives. These were situated to the left and the right of the screen. An advanced feature for the time was that it had a modem port. The screen width was only 5 inches (7. 5cm) and it was only capable of displaying 52 characters in one line. It was tough, it was certainly not ‘advanced’ in our terms, but it was the world’s first commercial laptop.
During 1982 the first Compaq portable computers were released. They weighed as much as the Osborne and were no smaller. Their major selling point was that they utilized a new operating system that was taking the world by storm – MSDOS.
The first truly mobile computer was the Epson released during 1983. The fact that it was equipped with a nickel battery meant you were no longer limited to using it where you had AC power available. In many respects it was only a high-tech calculator – it could only display 80 characters on the screen – but notwithstanding that it created a lot of interest from buyers.
The Gavilan Mobile Computer of 1983 had the revolutionary feature that, when you closed it, the screen could fold over the keyboard. It also used nickel-cadmium batteries with a battery life of as long as 9 hours.
The first IBM attempt at building a laptop was the 5155 released during 1984. It came standard with 640k RAM and was fitted with 2 x 5. 25 inch floppy drives. It still had no graphics support though – you could only use it to create text.
The graphics riddle was solved by Compaq when they released the first laptop with a graphics card in 1988 – the SLT/28. It came standard with a 286 processor and a 1. 44 floppy drive. Its major drawback was its weight – at 5. 5kg (14 pounds) it took quite a lot of effort to carry around.
During the 1990s the laptop market became increasingly crowded. Laptops became smaller and ever more powerful. Hard drive capacities increased with every new model. The trend continues up to this day and what the laptops of tomorrow will look like, nobody could really predict.
Andrew Johnson is an expert in computer consumables. If you would like further information about varieties of laptops or are looking for a reputable computer retailer please visit http://www.ebuyer.com
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