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Laptop History
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Osborne 1
The computer considered by most historians to be the first true portable computer was the Osborne 1. Adam Osborne, an ex-book publisher founded Osborne Computer and produced the Osborne 1 in 1981, a portable computer that weighed 24 pounds and cost $1795. The Osborne 1 came with a five-inch screen, modem port, two 5 1/4 floppy drives, a large collection of bundled software programs, and a battery pack. The short-lived computer company was never successful. -
Compaq Portable
A more enduring success was the Compaq Portable, the first product from Compaq, introduced in 1983, by which time the IBM Personal Computer had become the standard platform. Although scarcely more portable than the Osborne machines, and also requiring AC power to run, it ran MS-DOS and was the first true legal IBM clone (IBM's own later Portable Computer, which arrived in 1984, was notably less IBM PC-compatible than the Compaq. -
Bondwell 2
Although it wasn't released until 1985, well after the decline of CP/M as a major operating system, the Bondwell 2 is one of only a handful of CP/M laptops. It used a Z-80 CPU running at 4 MHz, had 64 K RAM and, unusual for a CP/M machine, a 3.5" floppy disk drive built in. It had a 80×25 character-based LCD mounted on a hinge similar to modern laptops, one of the first computers to use this form factor. -
PC Convertible
IBM launches its first laptop. IBM was the standard for desktop computers, so laptops had to be IBM compatible to be viable in the marketplace. Even though it was more successful than others, but it was only moderate success. -
T1000 and T1200
Toshiba laptop introduced. Like the IBM portable, the Toshiba T1000 and T1200 included IBM compatibility and MS-DOS. These laptops were lightweight and small, but still not commercially successful -
Compaq SLT/ 286
Compaq SLT/286 introduced VGA graphics. Compaq was the first laptop manufacturer to produce a machine that could display VGA graphics. It was lightweight and battery-powered with an internal hard drive. -
Macintosh Portable
Macintosh Portable was the first Apple laptop. The first Apple laptops were large and bulky and not particularly successful, but marked Apple's foray into the laptop market. -
Apple PowerBook
Apple PowerBook brought Apple into the laptop age. Unlike the Macintosh Portable, the PowerBook was truly portable. The PowerBook also included a palm rest and a pointing device, which became the standard for future laptop designs. -
Windows 95
Microsoft released Windows 95. Because of its power-management functionality, Windows 95 became the default operating system for non-Apple laptops. The release of Windows 95 stabilized several features of laptop design, and brought about the creation of the style of laptops we know today. -
Ipad
After Windows 95 was released, many new laptop companies started, they used similar programming but the look of it changed to more stylish, more colorful and more convenient. Most recently, the ipad was released which was another new side of laptops.