The Development of the computer

• The Main portables in 1975 to Now…

  The desktop has gone through several modifications over 3 years, but they pale in contrast to the revolution in portable computing. From this “portable” 1975 IBM behemoth to the ultra-expensive oddities of the 1980s, in the striped layouts of the 1990s to the machines we use now, this is a visual history of the most crucial and intriguing portable computers ever made.

  Special thanks to Steven Stengel of , that had been kind enough to provide us permission to share several photographs.

• IBM 5100 (1975)

  Though it’d be pretty embarrassing to put this 50-pound behemoth the IBM 5100 gets the distinction of being the very first portable computer — and the forefather of modern notebooks. It was released in September 1975 with a starting cost of $8,975 (16KiB), or roughly $40,000 at 2017 dollars.

  The IBM 5100 featured and utilized a cartridge magnetic tape.

• Osborne 1 (1981)

  The upcoming leap in laptop computing came with the initiation of the Osborne 1 from April 1981. Though it just reinforced single-sided floppy disks, the 25-pound, 64KB machine was a smash hit to the Osborne Computer Corporation thanks to its low cost ($1,795, bundled together with $1,500 worth of free software).

  Byte magazine reported who “it remains to be seen when the business may turn a profit at this price.” Indeed, in 1983, Osborne would announce bankruptcy despite strong sales in 1982 and 1981.

• Grid Compass 1101 (1982)

  The first laptop sold, the Grid Compass 1101 was amazingly innovative. It joined an Intel 8086 chip, 340KB of all bubble memory, a 1200 baud modem and a 320 x 240 pixel display, all in a single, 11-pound package. It conducted its own operating system.

  With a price tag of $8,150 at April 1982 (roughly $21,000 now), the Compass found exceptionally limited use, primarily from the U.S. government.

  Steven Stengel, oldcomputers.net

• The Grid Compass at the Work

  Because of its small size, the Grid Compass moved places other computers couldn’t. Here, astronaut John Creighton is seen whilst onboard the space shuttle Discovery in 18, using the device.

• Epson HX-20 (1982)

  Touted from Epson as being “small enough to fit inside your briefcase,” the HX-20 showcased 16K RAM, 32K ROM, a scrollable LCD screen, a micro cassette drive (50K) and a built-in, 24-character-per-line dot matrix printer. Contrary to the Osborne 1, the HX-20 came.

  The pc started in July 1982 today.

  Steven Stengel, oldcomputers.net

• A 35-year-old computer advertising

• Hewlett-Packard HP-75C (1982)

  The very first portable computer ever made by HP, the 75C came with 16K RAM a display and the BASIC programming language.

  It weighed only 1.5 lbs and retailed for $995 (~$2,500 now) when it was released in September 1982.

  Steven Stengel, oldcomputers.net

• Compaq Portable (1983)

  Reverse engineered by an IBM PC, the Compaq Portable holds the distinction of becoming the first mobile IBM clone — or as PC Magazine named it, “nearly a complete work-alike.” The 28-pound machine had 128K of RAM an Intel 8088 chip and a built-in , screen monitor.

  As it was initially released in March 1983, a Compaq Portable with a single diskette drive began at $2,995 (~$7,500 now); the dual-diskette drive model seen here price $595 extra.

  Steven Stengel, oldcomputers.net

• Tandy TRS-80 Model 100 (1983)

  The Tandy Model 100, RadioShack’s licensed version of the Kyocera Kyotronic 85, was a particularly common computer with U.S. journalists. The 3.1-pound apparatus lasts 18 hours on just four AA batteries.

  Priced at $1,099 for your 8KB model (or $2,700 at 2017 dollars), roughly 6 million units have been sold. The apparatus was given its Product of the Year Award for 1983 by InfoWorld.

• Morrow Pivot (1984)

  The MS-DOS-based Pivot, launching in November 1984 and weighing 9 lbs, gave a new shoulder-strapped form element to portable computing. The bottom level machine came with 128K storage, battery, a floppy drive and built-in 300 baud modem for $1,995 (~$4,600 now).

  Back in 1985, Morrow sold licensing rights to its Pivot to Zenith for a $1.2 million flat fee. Zenith made millions selling its own almost identical version to the U.S. authorities; Morrow went bankrupt in March 1986.

  Steven Stengel, oldcomputers.net

• Kaypro 2000 (1985)

  The aluminum Kaypro 2000, released in 1985, has the distinction of becoming the very first device with a laptop form factor that is modern . The machine that is rocky had a battery, a LCD screen, and a detachable computer keyboard .

  The pc was initially priced at $1,995 (~$4,600 now).

  Steven Stengel, oldcomputers.net

• IBM PC Convertible (1986)

  The very first laptop from computing giant IBM, the PC Convertible (IBM 5140) had an interesting design — its own 640 x 200 LCD screen was detachable, allowing you to attach an external monitor. You may even install a thermal printer ($295) on the own rear.

  Launched in April 1986 with 256K RAM and a 3.5-inch floppy disk (another laptop first), the IBM 5140 weighed 12 lbs and retailed for about $1,995 (~$4,500 now). It sold poorly, yet.

  Steven Stengel, oldcomputers.net

• Toshiba T1100 (1985)

  Besting the IBM PC Convertible from the consumer market was the T1100 laptop line of Toshiba. First arriving on store shelves in 1985, the T1100 boasted 256K RAM and a 640 x 200 monochrome LCD display.

  Back in September 1986, InfoWorld’s Stephen Satchell hailed the organization’s T1100 Plus as a superior machine to IBM’s PC Convertible, noting it “gives twice the computing power of IBM’s laptop for less money.” Truly, the Intel 80C86 chip ran at an improved 7.16 MHz (versus 4.77 MHz) and included sequential and parallel interfaces at no extra charge.

• Compaq SLT/286 (1988)

  Enter the first laptop of Compaq. Launched in October 1988, once the company was confident it may put desktop functionality in this little package, the 14-pound SLT/286 needed a 12MHz 80C286 chip, a 20MB (or 40 MB) hard disk and detachable keyboard. It also encouraged yet another a laptop, video first.

  The Compaq SLT/286 began at $5,399 — about $11,000 in the money.

  Centre For Computing History

• Atari Portfolio (1989)

  The PC-compatible Atari Portfolio is the very first palmtop computer that is commercial. It’d 256 KB of ROM and 128KB of RAM. Expansion cards were available for running apps, such as Chess Finance, and Wine Companion. A modem was available.

  This very small pc retailed for only $399.95 at start (~$785 now).

  Vanamo Online Game Museum

• Macintosh Portable (1989)

  The Macintosh Portable was Apple’s first computer. The priciest model ($7,300) came with 1MB SRAM, a 40MB hard disk, a trackball, and an active matrix 640 x 400 LCD screen. Few buyers to the pc surfaced.

  1 quirk: If the battery of the computer failed, then the computer was not able to operate on AC electricity alone.

• Gridpad (1989)

  Arguably the very first successful tablet computer, the 4.5-pound touchscreen Gridpad ($2,370) needed a 10 MHz 80C86 chip, 1-2 MB of system memory and 640 x 400 CGA images. The apparatus was mainly sold to the U.S. Army, which requested it be constructed out of magnesium.

  Less than a decade after, the Palm Pilot, its own redesign was invented by Gridpad creator Jeff Hawkins.

  Steven Stengel, oldcomputers.net

• IBM ThinkPad (1992)

  Although it was not the company laptop, the ThinkPad is one that is most-acclaimed, and IBM’s most well known, best-selling. It started in October 1992.

  Weighing just 5.9 pounds, the IBM ThinkPad retailed for about $2,375 (80MB). A 7.6-pound, 120MB version with a 10.4-inch 256-color active-matrix LCD display — and the now-iconic reddish TrackPoint controller nub — sold for $4,350.

  Steven Stengel, oldcomputers.net

• Apple PowerBook 500 Series (1994)

  The next leap in laptop technology came from the Apple PowerBook 500 Series — they were the very first to feature a trackpad. The PowerBook 520 model was priced at $2,270.

  The 500 Series was also the first with audio and built-in ethernet networking.

• Toshiba Libretto (1996)

  Enter the subnotebook. With a starting weight of 30 oz, the 8.26-inch-long Toshiba Libretto line was hailed as the tiniest Windows PC on its release in April 1996. The Libretto 70 found here offers an Intel Pentium 120 MHz MMX processor, 16MB RAM, a 1.6 GB hard disk and a 6.1-inch TFT display.

  Although tiny, the Libretto completed a enormous price tag: The Libretto 70 was released at $1,999 (~$3,100 now).

• Apple iBook (1999)

  Notable as Apple’s very first consumer portable computer, the iBook that was colorful — with a design obviously motivated by the iMac — started in June 1999. This was the very first mainstream laptop with wireless networking capability built.

  With a 300 MHz PowerPC G3 processor, a 3.2 GB hard drive, 32 MB of RAM and a 24x CD-ROM driveway, the iBook was bought by numerous American schools for pupil use.

• Alienware Area-51M (2002)

  Although you could play games it was that Alienware launched its Area-51M, the first laptop made for gaming.

  At just over $3,000, this laptop didn’t come cheap. But that is because it had been loaded with killer, high-tech technology: a 3.06GHz Pentium 4 processor, 1GB of 266MHz memory, 40GB of storage and a stunning 2048 x 1536 UXGA display.

• Apple MacBook (2006)

  Apple’s MacBook computer line got its beginning in 2006 for this 13.3-inch (1,280 x 800), 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo polycarbonate laptop loaded with 512MB RAM and a 60GB hard disk.

  The base model was an MSRP of $1,099. This updated black version with a 2.0GHz processor and 80GB hard disk retailed for about $1,499.

• Chromebook CR-48 (2011)

  Chromebook, the very prosperous line of computers ever created, supplies a private computing expertise in a simple atmosphere. The little apparatus grew popular with teachers.

  The first-ever Chromebook, this 12.1-inch CR-48 model, was given to developers and beta testers as part of the Google Chrome pilot program in 2010. The very first retail versions have been made by Acer and Samsung ($349), moving on sale in June 2011.

  By 2012, you could purchase a Chromebook for about $ 199.

• Microsoft Surface (2013)

  Considering how connected it had been to the poorly Windows 8 operating system in 2013, then you might be forgiven for believing the Microsoft Surface would be a forgotten and costly flop to your computer giant. But years later, the fourth generation of the tablet/laptop hybrid is selling amazingly well with Windows 10, proving there is a critical market for two-in-ones.

The Main portables in 1975 to now…

The desktop has gone through several changes over four decades, but they pale compared to the revolution in computing. From this “portable” 1975 IBM behemoth to the ultra-expensive oddities of the 1980s, in the striped layouts of the 1990s to the machines we use now, this is a visual history of the most crucial and intriguing portable computers ever made.

Special thanks to Steven Stengel of , that had been kind enough to provide us permission to share several photographs.

Fox Van Allen is currently a writer for CBS Interactive masking gambling topics and engineering, technology lifestyle for TechRepublic, CNET, ZDNet and GameSpot. He’s previously worked as a news and feature writer for a number of different sites, such as Techlicious, Tecca, ” WoW Insider (Joystiq) and Blizzard Watch. Fox is retro gaming, an skydiver and arcade enthusiast, artist, podcaster and live streamer.

source http://www.lighthousecomputersolution.com/the-development-of-the-computer/