The creation of newfangled devices always has an interesting history. Someone came up with something, then they created a prototype, then faced the first setbacks. Sometimes, by pure chance, it is possible to get out, and in some incredible way a new technical miracle appears before humanity.
The world's first laptop also went through a lot to become the one that settled on the desktops of many of us. We will deal with the history of the formation of this device further.
What is it?
Now hardly anyone does not know, and what it is for. Unless some nationalities in Africa will not be able to deal with this miracle of technology. Most modern people know that this is a personal computer, which is primarily popular due to its ease of transportation. Inside it are all the traditional components that are inherent in a PC.
Before us is the same display, keyboard, analogue of a mouse, sometimes the mouse itself. It is also possible to use disks, flash drives, and more. Internally, the system runs on a processor that has been slightly modified, since the dimensions do not allow large chips to be installed. Also, the video card looks a little different. The RAM memory models are built into the motherboard, and the hard drive has a different format that differs in device size.
The first laptop in the world had similar features, on the one hand, but was not at all like modern devices.
Idea
One can argue for a long time about which device was the first. But all the reflections lead us to Alan Curtis Kay. This American scientist has been studying computing systems for a long time. Since 1970, the researcher joins Xerox. He immediately became one of the developers of the prototype for networked workstations. It is interesting that these developments did not go unnoticed, and in the future they were used by specialists from Apple Computer.
This is how the scientist came close to creating the first laptop. Kay proposed the Dynabook concept. This option already described a device that is now very similar to a laptop. But this option was designed for mobile learning and did not fully embody all the available capabilities of the device.
In general, the idea itself came from Alan Kay back in 1968. Then he proposed to create a mobile personal device that would imitate a notebook. But its capabilities and functions were not supposed to be inferior to full-fledged machines.
Real attempts
In 1976, the world's first notebook, NoteTaker, was released. Alan Kay, Larry Tesler, Adele Goldberg, Douglas Fairbairn worked on it. The prototype was shown to everyone, but not released into production. About ten models were assembled in order to continue further work on the development of this device.
Even then, NoteTaker had a monochrome screen, flip cover, keyboard, floppy drive and mouse. The RAM was only 128 KB, and the clock frequency of the chip did not exceed 1 MHz. The earlier version of Smalltalk became the operating system.
Despite the seemingly conceptual idea, the world's first laptop turned out to be not very mobile. Its weight was 22 kilograms. And although the device worked autonomously and was even used by some employees on the plane, it was still far from the modern model. The fact that Kay did not seize the moment and did not translate his ideas into production turned out to be deplorable for him, since he could make a lot of money.
Lucky try
And instead of him, Bill Mogridge did it. He began to work with this device at the request of NASA. Serial production began in 1982. But he was not in demand for the reason that the power supply was absent in this model.
This first laptop weighed already up to 3 kilograms, which is a huge breakthrough compared to 22. Its thickness was 5 centimeters. In addition, there was a removable rechargeable battery, a bright monochrome display and a built-in modem.
The processor inside from Intel 8086 worked with a frequency of 8 MHz, which was already a breakthrough. RAM - 256 Kb. There was an RS-232 serial port. The modem was running at 1200 bps. Thanks to it, it was possible to use the online software repository and data from the company completely free of charge.
Interestingly, since 1979, when this laptop was developed, it still could not use MS-DOS, since it had not yet been created by that time. But the laptop got it right after 1988, when the new Intel 80386 processor was working inside.
After that, the device became multifunctional and worked with several tasks at once. So, inside it was possible to use proprietary technologies, including a prototype of a modern control panel, a print manager, a text editor, a spreadsheet, a file manager and much more.
Not only the insides of this machine were successful, but also its shell. The case was magnesium, had stable dynamic loads, and accordingly, immediately attracted the attention of the military and NASA. Therefore, first of all, this machine went into circulation by these departments. As a result, the Grid Compass was used as a coordinator and manager of combat units, and it was also sent into space more than once.
For people
Photos of the first laptop in the world point us to another contender for the title of the firstborn. It was the Osborne 1. Despite the fact that it became known later than all the previously mentioned, it is considered the first laptop to achieve commercial success. It was this model that went to the masses in 1981. The American company Osborne stood behind her.
The peculiarity of this model was that on one side of the device there was a handle for transportation, and on the other there was a keyboard, which was made on a hinged cover. Inside was a monochrome screen with a five-inch display. Also, the design is equipped with two drives and the ability to connect a monitor or modem.
The operating system became CP / M. Inside there was a text editor, a spreadsheet processor and several language interpreters. The main disadvantage of such a device was its weight - 11 kilograms, while the first laptop received a price tag of $ 1,795. Therefore, despite the spread of the machine to the masses, not everyone could afford this miracle of technology.
Inside was a Z80 processor with a frequency of 4 MHz. There was only 64 KB of RAM. The fate of this company turned out to be tragic. Due to the huge number of competitors rushing to make the devices better, the manufacturer decided to inform the world about the start of sales of the next model before the devices went on sale. This step was unsuccessful, hitting sales of Osborne 1, after which it completely bankrupted the company.
It is interesting that the photos of the very first laptop in the world lead us to the domestic prototype. It was named "Electronics" and was released in 1991. Outwardly, he resembled the then-promoted brands of laptops. Interestingly, its technical characteristics were somewhat better than those of the first American versions. For example, the RAM was already 640 KB.
The problem with this model was that its cost exceeded the average salary in the country, but even if the user had the opportunity to purchase such a car, he still could not do it due to its unavailability. Therefore, almost nothing is known about the technical characteristics, and information about this prototype remained only on paper, since this laptop never came out to the masses.
It began with the founding of Intel in 1968 with its first development - the Intel 4004 processor. At the same time, the idea of creating a portable computer arose, it belonged to Alan Kay, an employee of the American company Xerox. The first device of this type was released in 1979 and called the Grid Compass, it was equipped with NASA space developments. This unit did not have an autonomous power supply. However, already in 1981, the first stand-alone laptop was created, named Osborne 1 in honor of the author Adam Osborne.
The Osborne 1 was equipped with a Zilog Z80 processor with a clock speed of 4 MHz, serial and parallel ports, and 64 KB of RAM. Text was displayed on a 5-inch monochrome CRT display. Osborne 1 had the OS of the same name and the following software: a word processor, a table editor, a database management system and two versions of the BASIC programming language. The computer weighed 11 kg.
Thanks to this development, Adam Osborne's company became the most successful in Silicon Valley, which was a significant impetus for the development of similar systems by other companies. Later, Osborne Computer Corporation made certain mistakes and went bankrupt.
Becoming
In the period from 1982 to 1986, many computers were released, continuing the development of the Grid Compass and Osborne 1. So in 1982, the first laptop equipped with an LCD display (manufacturer - Epson) was released. This Epson HX-20 had two Hitachi 6301 processors, serial port, tape drive and weighed less than 2 kg.
At the beginning of 1983, the Compaq Portable laptop appeared, developed on the basis of the Intel 8088 processor (5 MHz). It had a monochrome nine-inch screen and ran under MS-DOS.
In January 1984, Commodore Computes introduced the first laptop with a color screen. The Commodore SX-64 was suitcase-shaped, weighed about eight kilograms and cost $ 1,000. The machine was equipped with a five-inch color screen supporting a resolution of 320x200 pixels in graphics mode. The presence of S-Video and RCA interfaces, a three-channel sound controller and two ports for connecting game paddles - this is the list of achievements of this model.
In 1986, IBM demonstrated the first laptop based on the Intel 8088 processor, weighing five and a half kilograms. The laptop had 256 KB of RAM, the volume of two disks was 720 KB. The computer was equipped with PC-DOS operating system and LCD display with a resolution of 640 × 200 pixels.
Improving laptops
In 1990, a major breakthrough was made when Intel introduced the Intel 80386 SL microprocessor specifically for notebook computers. This processor helped manage power consumption and laid the foundation for the concept of software compatibility, which has made this company a significant success. Laptops based on this processor had a passive LCD display capable of displaying 16 shades of gray, had 1 MB of RAM, worked under MS-DOS version 5.0, and supported Microsoft Windows version 3.0. The weight was about 3 kg.
The introduction of the Intel 80486 and Intel Pentium microprocessors in 1995 provided the capabilities that consumers needed. The laptops were equipped with color LCD monitors, rechargeable batteries that provide more than 3 hours of operation, and were improved monthly. IBM launched the ThinkPad series, Compaq launched the LTE series, Hewlett Packard launched the OmniBook.
The next breakthrough was marked by the release of the Intel Pentium II processor, which ensured the provision of wide multimedia capabilities to all laptop users.
Modern laptop
Today there are many classes of laptops, we will give a brief description of them:
- Subnotebooks - are compact and feature the same functionality as conventional laptops. Subdivided into two categories:
- SuperSlim (ultra-thin) - portable with a diagonal of no more than 10-11 ″, weight - up to one kg, the keyboard is extremely reduced;
- Slim (thin) - portable with a diagonal of no more than 12-13 ″, weight - no more than two kg, the keyboard is fully functional, but also very compact.
- Desktop computers are high-performance laptops that fully replace a regular PC. Weight is about 3.5 kg or more, the screen is usually 17 ″ or more, full-size keyboard. Taking into account the significant energy consumption during operation, the duration of autonomous work is insignificant.
- Business laptops are as functional as possible and can run on battery power for a long time. They have compact dimensions (matrix 14 "-15"), weighing up to 3 kg, support for additional safety functions. One of the categories of machines is fashion laptops, which are distinguished by their original design.
- Budget notebooks, located in size and weight between business notebooks and desktop notebooks. This is the best-selling class, the main parameter of their choice is the price level.
- UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) is a new class of ultra-light compact models with dimensions a little more than a PDA, with a 5-7 "screen, running under ordinary Windows Vista operating systems.
Man likes to dream. Man loves to dream. And also - he knows how to make dreams come true. And the faster the technical progress goes, the faster the most daring ideas are embodied, and the creators of these ideas, during their lifetime, enjoy the contemplation of efficiently working machines or devices, the very possibility of the existence of which was doubted 20-30 years ago. Such a person, such an innovator was Alan Kay, who will forever remain in the memory of grateful descendants as the "father" of the laptop. (born May 17, 1940) first became closely acquainted with computers in the army, namely at the Randolph training base, where he was fortunate enough to work on a Burroughs 220 computer. This machine functioned on lamps and was developed by the Electrodata Corporation from 1957. Therefore, it was originally called Electrodata Datatron 220, but then Electrodata was bought by Burroughs. After completing his service, Kay studied at the University of Colorado with a degree in Mathematics and Molecular Biology. Carried away in the second half of the 60s by programming in the Simula language, Kay came to a very progressive position about a computer functioning like a living organism. Using his knowledge in the field of biology, Alan described such a computer as a living system, whose cells are individual, but capable of solving problems in association. However, it was not this rather bold assumption that had a decisive significance on the fate of Alan Kay. The main events were two events: a meeting with the "father" of the Logo programming language Seymour Papert and work at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). With Papert Kay not only met, but worked side by side in the artificial intelligence laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Papert tried to "break" the wall separating the mainframes of that time and the people themselves. He worked on creating a way to bring a computer and an ordinary user closer together, so that the latter did not need to study multi-page manuals and learn the programming language (s) to work at the computer. However, for this it was necessary to come up with the idea of a "personal computer", and then - to create the device itself and the necessary software (OS with a friendly interface). An important contribution to the development of the personal computer industry was made by the ideological friend of Papert - Douglas Englebart, who created the world's first computer mouse. In an attempt to bring humans and computers closer together, Alan Kay went even further than one could have imagined in 1968. The era of the first PCs without any graphical interface was just beginning (the notorious Altair 8800 appeared at all in early 1975), and Kay was thinking about creating a laptop - a small portable PC with a friendly interface. As conceived by Alan, his Dynabook(as the concept was named) was supposed to provide access to multimedia information to everyone, without exception, and the children's audience was seen as prevailing. It was no coincidence that Alan Kay was subsequently actively involved in the One Laptop Per Child project, which created a cheap laptop for children in developing countries. In general, communication with Papert was not in vain for Kay, because Logo, created by Papert in 1967, was a high-level programming language intended for teaching children. Dynabook remained a concept, but many of Kay's ideas were then used to create a desktop PC with a graphical interface - the Xerox Alto. Although Kay's thought was wide: in his mind, Dynabook was supposed to be a personal computer no larger than a notebook, with a flat display and the ability to connect wirelessly to a local area network!
Everyone has more or less heard about Dynabook. However, almost no one is familiar with the story. It is this machine that should rightfully be considered the first portable computer in the world. Yes, NoteTaker was not launched into production, but about 10 functioning prototypes were assembled. NoteTaker was brought to life at the same California center PARC in 1976. The laptop was created by a team of Larry Tesler, Adele Eva Goldberg, Douglas Fairbairn and Alan Kay. The NoteTaker configuration included a 1 MHz processor, 128 KB of RAM, an integrated monochrome display, a floppy drive, and a mouse. The operating system used was a Smalltalk version written for the Xerox Alto computer, the first PC with a Graphic User Interface (GUI). Of particular note is the NoteTaker form factor. The keyboard of this laptop was built into a flip cover that covered the monitor and floppy drive. This form factor gained acceptance in early notebooks such as the Osborne 1 and Compaq Portable. By the way, NoteTaker weighed 22 kg, in fact twice as much as the above computers. NoteTaker was also a full-fledged laptop because it could work autonomously (from batteries). According to Alan Kay himself, some of the Xerox employees had the pleasure of running Smalltalk (the world's first object-oriented programming language) on NoteTaker in an airplane. Surprisingly, Xerox failed to make money from NoteTaker. Osborne Computer Corporation, for example, sold up to 10,000 Osborne 1 notebooks a month on its best days. It can hardly be said that NoteTaker was ahead of its time. By the early 80s of the last century, the market was actually ripe for laptop computers, both the military and businessmen were eagerly awaiting them.
In 1979, a laptop was created, also claiming the title of the first portable computer. At least the serial production of this laptop was established, although it went on sale only in 1982, i.e. after Osborne 1. However, these two laptops were not competitors, because the GRiD Compass 1101 was ordered by the US aerospace agency for its own needs. And, indeed, the GRiD Compass 1101 was actively used by astronauts on shuttles in the 80s and 90s of the last century. The GRiD Compass 1101 was created by William Moggridge. The first models of the GRiD Compass 1101 did not have the ability to work autonomously. The GRiD Compass 1101 configuration consisted of the following elements: an Intel 8086 processor with a clock frequency of 8 MHz, 340 KB of disk space (memory on cylindrical magnetic domains was used, known as Bubble Memory), an electroluminescent display with a resolution of 320x240 pixels, a modem with a speed of 1200 baud / s, and durable magnesium alloy body. The use of Bubble Memory, by the way, gave this laptop a lot of reliability, since there were no moving parts in the Bubble Memory like in the HDD. The disadvantage of Bubble Memory was its low operating speed, so this type of storage (promising at the beginning) gave way to the hard drives that are common today. The operating system for GRiD Compass 1101 was GRiD-OS, under which a limited number of specialized programs were launched. However, GRiD-OS was a powerful, self-contained system that provided the ability to work with text, databases and tables. Files, if necessary, could be password protected. Note the advanced form factor - the GRiD Compass 1101 raised the upper part of the case (though not all of it), opening up access to the screen, just like in modern laptops. The GRiD Compass 1101 was priced at $ 8,150. In practice, it was the ideal laptop for the military, as Mogridge himself spoke about more than once - light (about 5 kg), durable and productive. But the laptop for everyone else was created by Adam Osborne.
By the early 80s of the last century, Adam Osborne was no longer a newcomer to the computer world. As an engineer, he helped create the very first Intel 4004 microprocessor. However, his laptop, "modestly" named, overshadowed Adam's earlier accomplishments. The biggest advantages of the Osborne 1 were its light weight (10.7 kg) and the ability to work autonomously. The biggest criticism was, perhaps, a small five-inch display. It was monochrome and only supported text output in 24 lines with 52 characters per line. Unfortunately, Osborne was unable to address the issue of powering the larger display. The rest of the Osborne 1 had good characteristics. The processor used was a Zilog Z80 operating at a frequency of 4 MHz. The size of the RAM was 64 KB. There were two floppy drives for five-inch floppy disks at once, whose capacity could be 91 KB or 182 KB (floppy disks with double density could be used only after an appropriate upgrade). There was a special compartment where you could install a modem, there were also parallel and serial ports. The operating system CP / M version 2.2, text editors (WordStar) and spreadsheets (SuperCalc), a database management system dBase II and two versions of the BASIC programming language (CBASIC and MBASIC) were offered as software. Osborne 1 appeared in April 1981 and was offered for a "ridiculous" amount of $ 1,795. Due to the fact that the Osborne 1 display did not support graphics, it was possible to play text adventure games like Deadline or Colossal Cave Adventure on this laptop. You could buy various peripherals for Osborne 1: a Star-made dot matrix printer, an external monochrome screen, a 300 baud modem and something else, for example, a double density floppy drive. As mentioned above, Osborne Computer Corporation had a thunderous start. The commercial success of Osborne 1 gave an incredible impetus to other companies that began to create similar laptops in the hope of snatching a decent share of the young but promising market for themselves.
Surprisingly, in the fall of 1983, Osborne Computer Corporation was declared bankrupt. The story of Adam Osborne’s company can serve as an object lesson in how poor marketing can ruin an already established business. Osborne, frightened by the dominance of IBM-compatible computers, hastened to announce a new laptop for his company called Vixen, which was supposed to guarantee compatibility with software for the IBM PC. This announcement dramatically reduced demand for the Osborne 1 and its 7-inch successor. As a result, Osborne Computer Corporation did not have enough funds to survive. And the baton of Osborne 1 was picked up by Kaypro II.
The laptop can be called a successful clone of Osborne 1. It was released by Non-Linear Systems very quickly - in 1982. This company, specializing in digital instrumentation, was founded in 1952 by Alan Kay's namesake, Andrew Kay. The minus of the Kaypro II can be considered a metal case, which made the structure heavier and could cause inconvenience when carrying or working. The Osborne 1 hull was plastic. But the display of the Kaypro II had a diagonal size of as much as 9 inches. It was green, phosphoric, and had 24 lines of 80 characters each. Inside the laptop was a Zilog Z80 processor with a clock frequency of 2.5 MHz. The RAM was 64 KB. There were also two built-in 5-inch floppy drives and two ports: parallel and serial. CP / M plus CBASIC was offered as OS. The Kaypro II was priced at $ 1,595. Already in July 1983, Non-Linear Systems changed its name to Kaypro Corporation. By this time, the Kaypro 4 with 380 KB disk drives and the Kaypro 10 were presented, the latest model had a built-in 10 MB hard drive. The Kaypro Corporation was doing so well that in the same 1983 it was included in the five largest manufacturers of personal computers in the world. But nothing lasts forever under the moon. Having released many different laptop models by 1990, including versions with MS-DOS, the Kaypro Corporation went bankrupt. Andrew Kay himself is now the head of the company Kay Computers, which sells computers based on Intel processors, so it is calmer and more reliable.
November 1982 saw the turn of the first laptop fully compatible with the IBM PC platform. Compaq Computer Corporation became known to all in the future. This company was formed in February 1982 by three senior managers of Texas Instruments. Compaq had to invest heavily in two teams of programmers to make it compatible with the IBM PC. The first group parsed in detail the original BIOS code "a IBM and wrote down their findings and observations. The second group read the notes of the first and based on them created their own, no less original code, thus Compaq avoided direct copying of someone else's BIOS" a, and at the same time - possible litigation. Despite being priced at $ 3,590, the Compaq Portable was an overwhelming success, with 53,000 sold in 1983 alone. The company's management chose MS-DOS as its operating system for a reason, focusing on the growing popularity of the IBM PC. The "heart" of Compaq Portable was the Intel 8088 processor with a clock frequency of 4.77 MHz. The amount of RAM was 128 Kb (the maximum possible size is 640 Kb). The display was monochrome 9-inch. There were two built-in 5-inch floppy drives for 320 KB floppy disks. A graphics card and a parallel port were also available.
In early 1986, Compaq released a laptop. It was smaller and lighter than its predecessor and, of course, more powerful. Inside the Compaq Portable II was an Intel 80286 processor and a 10 MB or 20 MB hard drive. The price ranged from $ 3499-4999.
IBM, which made a breakthrough in the desktop market in 1981, presented a mobile version to the world community only in February 1984. And it really was a desktop modification, because the model used the same motherboard as the IBM desktops. For this reason, half of the eight card slots were empty. IBM engineers clearly failed to outperform the Compaq Portable. Their machine weighed more, cost more ($ 4,225), and had the same processor. The pre-installed memory was 256 KB. You can recall that back in 1975, IBM already released something similar, namely the IBM 5100 microcomputer with a built-in monitor. Some IBM 5100 is considered as the first portable computer, but it can hardly be considered as such. Firstly, the IBM 5100 weighed almost 25 kg (the weight of the IBM Portable PC 5155 is 13.5 kg). Second, the design concept of the IBM 5100 did not include a flip cover that, when closed, would allow the computer to be carried like a normal case. In general, even the IBM Portable PC 5155 can be called an "under-laptop" by many of the above parameters, especially since it did not provide batteries for autonomous power supply.
IBM 5140 "Convertible"
IBM has a much more successful model in terms of portability IBM 5140 "Convertible"... Outwardly, it looks very much like the GRiD Compass 1101. The car was released in April 1986 and had excellent performance. In particular, the IBM 5140 "Convertible" had two internal 3-inch (!) Floppy drives with a capacity of 720 KB, as well as batteries and an LCD display with a resolution of 640x200 pixels. The operating system was PC-DOS 3.2. The weight of the model was only 5.5 kg. The starting price was also pleasing to the eye - $ 1995. The "chip" of the IBM 5140 "Convertible" was the ability to remove the LCD display and then connect the CRT monitor. These upgrades, of course, cost extra money and added weight and size to the laptop.
We saw above that the prevailing form factor of laptops in the first half of the 80s was "suitcase". Those. a part of the case with a keyboard was opened, giving the user access to the display. When closed, such laptops were carried using a pen, like suitcases or huge cases. From a modern point of view, the one that was used in the GRiD Compass 1101 looked like a more progressive form factor - the upper part of the case with a display was opened. However, in this case, too, the decision was half-hearted. Therefore, I would like to finish the review of laptops of the 70s - the first half of the 80s of the last century with a model whose form factor already in 1985 fully corresponded to the modern one. In the Ampere WS-1, the upper part of the case opened completely, and the electronic "filling" was placed in the lower part. This design gives one important advantage - the space for the display is increased. Unfortunately, the Ampere WS-1 was a thing in itself. It was created by the Japanese company Nippon-Shingo and did not enter the US market without passing the US FCC certification. True, this laptop nevertheless got to the European market. In addition, the Ampere WS-1 did not use MS-DOS or BASIC, which were common at that time, but rather a very peculiar Big-DOS with a built-in APL language (Array Programming Language, the version for a laptop was called APL-68000). Created in the early 60s by Ken Iverson, APL was later used in the IBM 360 mainframes. APL is characterized by its concise syntax, for example, one line of code in APL could take as many as ten in BASIC. It is worth taking a look at the configuration of the Ampere WS-1. The processor was chosen Motorola MC 68000 with a clock frequency of 8 MHz. RAM size - 64 KB (512 KB maximum), ROM size - 128 KB. The resolution of the monochrome LCD-display was 480x200 pixels. The keyboard was curious, it contained special keys for working with the APL language. In addition, the developers have placed eight function buttons at the bottom of the display. Among other "delights" was a built-in cassette recorder. The expansion bay allowed you to install a 3-inch floppy drive or hard drive. Autonomous power supply was provided by nickel-cadmium batteries. Well, the Ampere WS-1 weighed only 3.6 kg. Despite the obvious progress made in the first half of the 1980s, laptop computers remained the little brothers of desktops for a long time. Suffice it to say that only in October 1990 Intel announced its intention to release the first mobile processor - Intel386 SL. Today we see a different picture - laptops are pushing desktops out of their usual places. Modern laptops are powerful, ready to run the most advanced apps and video games, compact, and don't cost crazy money. For such an evolution, notebooks took only "nothing" - about 20-25 years. And next to it, a new generation of computers is rapidly growing - netbooks, even more compact and, perhaps, no less promising. Well, the more interesting it will be to write the history of netbooks in 10 years.
The laptop is increasingly replacing the desktop computer in our homes. Its mobility and ability to connect to wireless Internet significantly expands the boundaries of its use. However, the very first laptop appeared a little over 30 years ago, and its dimensions did not differ much from modern counterparts.
Who invented the laptop
The creation of the first laptop in the world was carried out by the ubiquitous Americans. In the middle of the twentieth century, the size of the average computer reached an entire room filled with equipment. At the same time, an uninitiated person could not easily, as now, use it.
Solving other problems facing the developers, experts fought over the problem of bringing computers closer to the average consumer, which was considered very difficult at that time. In 1968, the creator of the laptop, Alan Kay, came up with a very daring idea, he proposed creating a portable device that would be no more than a notebook. Moreover, its capabilities should be no less than those of huge machines, and a friendly interface should be understandable to any user.
In 1978, a device as close as possible to Kay's ideas was presented by William Mogridge at the request of NASA. It was named “Grid Compass”.
“What was the first laptop?” You ask. Its body was made of magnesium alloy, and the display was located on a flip cover and was luminescent. The information was stored on cylindrical magnetic disks. In the year of its creation, it had a huge capacity for those times - 340 kilobytes.
However, ordinary users believe that 1981 should be considered the time when the first laptop was created. After all, it was in this year that Adam Osborne presented his creation to the general judgment. His brainchild had a consonant name with the surname of its creator and was called Osborne 1.
Domestic computer industry
In the Soviet Union, there was also a laptop, its price was much higher than the average salary, but it was not realistic to buy it even for a lot of money. That is why data on the domestic model can be obtained only as reference information, since it was not available to the broad masses.
The first domestic laptop had the uncomplicated name "Electronics", like all products in the country, under the case of which capacitors or transistors were hidden. The MC 1504 entered serial production in 1991. Its appearance and technical characteristics are a complete copy of the flagship model T1100 Plus from Toshiba.
Naturally, the parameters of "Electronics" were significantly different from the American pioneer. The RAM was already 640 kilobytes, and the CGA video adapter was capable of a resolution of 650x200 pixels.
It is interesting that sometimes it is worth delving into old news, there you can sometimes find very interesting information. Tell me what you know about the world's first laptop? For example, I had no idea that last year the world's first laptop celebrated its 30th anniversary. Did you know? Want some history?
April 1981
Adam Osborne, who at one time founded a computer company, and did not philosophize too much with its name (Osborne Computer Corporation), it was in April 1981 that he was the first in the world to put a laptop on public display. The model was also called without abstruse frills - Osborne 1. The first laptop in the world weighed neither more nor less, as much as 11 kilograms, it took another three months to refine it and bring it up to standard, or rather to the store shelves.
Who was the first? 
But, to be objective, the world's first laptop is NoteTaker. A computer with this name is the brainchild of several engineers at once: it was designed by Alan Kay, modified and shown to people the finished product by Doug Fairbairn, Larry Tesler and Adele Goldberg. Only this laptop did not hit the market, therefore, did not reach the consumer. My opinion is that it is still worth giving the palm to a laptop that ordinary users could use, that is, Adam Osborne's Osborne 1 computer.
What was the first laptop
Looking at the technical characteristics of the Osborne 1, you can just laugh, but you have to understand that this laptop was on sale more than thirty years ago. Now it is difficult for me to judge what kind of processor it is: Zilog Z-80A, but its frequency was then only 4 MHz and it was enough. And other characteristics have the same "frivolous" parameters according to our concepts:
64 Kb RAM
Two 5.25 ”floppy disks, 91 Kb floppy disks
Monochrome built-in display (8.75x6.6 cm), with the ability to connect an external monitor
One modem port, one RS-232C, one Centronics
69-key keyboard
Lack of expansion slots
Lack of battery power.
The laptop OS was standard, no different from the operating systems of desktop computers, the software package included a WordStar text editor, a SuperCalc spreadsheet, a database management system - dBase II, and two software tools - MBASIC and CBASIC. The novelty was relatively inexpensive - $ 1,795.
At the right time - in the right place
Adam Osborne was very sensitive to the moment when to bring the world's first laptop to market. It was precisely such a portable model, which can be conveniently placed under the seat in the cabin of a scheduled passenger aircraft, that the consumer lacked. Osborne Computer Corporation was inundated with orders for two whole years; production facilities could barely cope with the release of the required number of laptops.
The production strategy must be chosen correctly
By September 1983, Osborne's company suddenly went bankrupt. What led to this? Wrong strategy in general. Considerable funds were invested in the production of the first model, most of them were borrowed funds, and the company developed and launched two more models on the market. Moreover, models with improved characteristics. What did it lead to? Well, of course, to the fact that the demand for the first model immediately fell, and the company had to declare its bankruptcy. By the way, textbooks on entrepreneurship called this market suicide the "Osborne Effect."
Output
I think the conclusion is obvious. Even if you were the first to release a thing that is very necessary for the consumer, do not rush to improve it, first work out the credits. Do you agree with me?
