Portability. Why is it one of humanity's modern needs? Everywhere you look things are getting smaller and slimmer. And if they are not getting smaller, they're certainly integrating more features. Take watches for example. Twenty years ago a watch was a watch. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it. About ten years ago companies began building all kinds of stuff into them: phone books, alarms, calendars, calculators etc. Today, you even have watches that run operating systems like Linux, while some companies have invented watches that could be used as remote controls. In the end, some of them are useful, but many are just made to intrigue and nothing more.

 

I'm not saying that it's not good to have more stuff in the same form factor (although it usually makes things more difficult to find), but in my opinion it is far better to integrate the small stuff in bigger stuff (not making them bigger) than to try and integrate big things in small devices. I mean what good is a watch that runs Linux? You're not going to start programming stuff on it. Nobody will want to see a movie on a tiny screen. Maybe you could plug in some headphones and listen to some MP3s, but that will still look weird when using your hands.

 

On the other side, there's nothing dumb in adding watch functionality to a PC. It actually makes sense having a tiny portion of a large screen always display the time. Doesn't it?

 

Anyway, the shrinking of IT-related stuff began quite a long time ago. More precisely, with the second ENIAC computer, which was smaller than the first ENIAC. We'll actually skip all that part (really boring stuff) and jump right to the first laptop. Sounds better, right? WRONG! The first laptop (built in 1981) was more like something you'd see in a weight lifting contest. Its name was the Osborne 1 and the thing weighed about 11 kg. If you imagine that with this portfolio the device had a 20-inch widescreen, you would be wrong (again). The screen was in fact a 5-inch embarrassment. Other features included two 5,25-inch floppy disk drives (used with the bundled software), a modem port, the keyboard and a battery pack. Obviously, the beast (the whole thing could be compared to a full size desktop PC) was not a success. I wonder if the $1,800 price tag had anything to do with it....

 

But let us meditate upon what exactly is the definition of a laptop. Let's say that a laptop/notebook is a small (relative term) portable PC integrating all its components into a single unit with battery powering capabilities. Sounds pretty close to what most of us consider a notebook to be these days. Now let's see which of these criteria did the Osborne 1 respect. Was it small? NO! Was it portable? Well, if you consider a desktop size PC portable, then yes, otherwise NO. Did it integrate all of it's components inside a battery powered unit? Yes it did. Two out of four (the battery powered unit is a two part question) don't qualify for a real laptop!

 

Radio Shack followed up with the TRS-80 Model 100 Mobile Computer. The device weighed about 2 kilograms and came with a modem, a telecommunications program, and a text editor. All its software was written by Microsoft and the overall design of the TRS-80 was a whole lot more notebook-like than the Osbourne 1.

 

One year later IBM screwed up big time with the Portable PC 5155. You could kill a bear with the damn thing. It had a weight of around 13,6 kg and didn't even have a battery, users would have to plug it into a wall socket in order to use it. It cost over 4,000 US dollars, granted it had a 9-inch monitor, but it was still monochrome. IBM stopped manufacturing the 5155 in 1986.

 

I guess by now you are wondering why haven't I jumped to the first real notebook by now. No need to worry, we're just gotten there. Actually that's the purpose of this paragraph. Yes folks, the first real notebook was born in 1989 and was made by a company named Zenith Data Systems. Calling it the Minisport, the company retrofit the device with 640K of ram, a 1,44-inch floppy drive, a 2400 baud modem and (hold your breath) a 20MB ESDI hard drive. It was also the first portable computer with a color LCD display (quality wise, it was nothing compared to today's LCDs). Compaq followed up with the LTE, which was pretty much the same as the Minisport, but was presented as an updated model.

 

In 1989, Macintosh jumped onto the laptop bandwagon with the Macintosh Portable. It was a monster of a portable computing system, which weighed almost 8 kilos, but was pretty high end at that time. The device came with a 9.8-inch active matrix display at a resolution of 640x400 pixels and (get this) a trackball. The Macintosh Portable later evolved into the PowerBook series and is known today as the MacBook.

 

Companies started bettering their models using their own standards. As having too many standards for the same thing means that there's actually no true unified evolution, in 1992, Intel and Microsoft released the Advanced Power Management specifications for laptop computers. After 1992, the notebook business began having its own rules and laptops started getting better and better.

 

The 90's were focused on improving displays and architectures while decreasing the weight. Laptops became sleeker and faster, while in the same time receiving a wider range of connectors. For example, users could attach a laptop to any available printer using a parallel interface. This, together with bigger screens and improved reliability, provided the roots for true mobility. The problem was that people weren't actually buying them. Because of their high prices, notebooks were not very popular in the 90's.

 

However, with the start of the new millennium, prices began to drop and computer users started embracing notebooks.

 

Sometime in 2003, Intel introduced the Pentium M (from Mobile) as a low-power processor specially designed for laptops. This new trend was shortly after used by AMD with the launch of the Turion 64. Notebook CPUs provided for lower power consumption and lower temperatures. In the end, processing power was affected, but as most laptop users were business people and not gamers, this wasn't exactly a problem. Besides advancements in processing technology, looks and portability were also seeing quite a lot of improvements.

 

Nowadays, notebooks have wireless network functionality, Bluetooth communication, power management functions and even come with remote controls for media center usage. Some manufacturers even come up with 20-inch models that outperform most desktop computers, but those can't really be considered portable computing systems since carrying them around for more then 5 minutes will certainly give you a bad back pain.

 

Moreover, notebook manufacturers also release certain gaming notebooks that come with all kinds of bells and whistles so people can see them from miles away. Powerful graphic cards are a must have for everyday gamers, so companies are manufacturing SLI (dual graphic card) laptops. I guess even IT products are desperate for attention these days.

 

One interesting turn notebooks have taken in 2008 is the netbook trend. Netbooks are small, 8 to 10 inch portable computers with limited processing power, but with a bundle of connectivity solutions. Their main advantages are extended portability and battery life. With limited resources, these devices are mainly oriented towards Internet browsing, chatting and document evaluation. Created for dynamic lifestyles, these babies come in handy whenever you have a busy day and are required to carry a laptop with you. For example, a 6-cell battery Eee PC will provide up to 7 hours of battery life with one full charge. This is pretty impressive, considering that most 12-inch laptops only provide up to 4 hours of juice.

 

Most would say the netbook trend was started by ASUS with its Eee PC series, but personally I believe companies got the idea from the OLPC (One laptop per child) project. This began as a world famous project meant to offer underdeveloped countries with Internet capable laptops. The team had to come up with an Internet capable laptop who's manufacturing cost would not exceed $100. Granted, the final product was well over $100 but under $200, but the project is alive today and seems to be doing well.