A History of Portable Computing 281
PCM2 writes "MobilePC magazine is running an exhaustive history of portable computers, going all the way from the IBM Portable 5100 to last year's OQO. Do you remember the three-pound Epson HX-20 from 1982 that boasted a 50-hour battery life? Or that the first color portable came from Commodore? Interesting stuff." They have the compaq luggable I learned BASIC on in middle school in the 80s. 28lbs of power baby!
Complete? (Score:2, Informative)
Shoddy reporting a.k.a get your timelines straight (Score:5, Informative)
Considering that the Newton wasn't released until 1993, it seems difficult to believe that it preceded the Powerbook 100. Mobile PC needs an editor who can fact check.
Re:And as ever, Apple creates the current paradigm (Score:3, Informative)
Look at this timeline [mobilepcmag.com] and tell me who had the idea first.
Re:Learn something every day (Score:3, Informative)
I hated it, since I a bunch of them in my department I was respsonsible for. Two main reasons: (1) The butterfly mechanism was somewhat fragile, and (2) any PCMCIA peripherals that stuck out from the slot (network adapaters in particular) couldn't stick up even the slightest bit from the slot, or the butterfly action and the PCMCIA device interfered.
Re:And as ever, Apple creates the current paradigm (Score:3, Informative)
Uh, Sony? They designed and manufactured the 100 for Apple (to Apple's specs, of course).
I can't believe they missed out... (Score:2, Informative)
Some things missing from the article (Score:1, Informative)
The Toshiba T3100, with its gas plasma display, had a clamshell design three years before the NEC ultralight (it also weighed 15 pounds instead of the NEC's 4.5 pounds).
Re:Shoddy reporting a.k.a get your timelines strai (Score:2, Informative)
This guy is their Editor-in-Chief too.
Re:OQO? (Score:5, Informative)
Christopher Null
Editor in Chief
Mobile PC
No mention of Psion? (Score:3, Informative)
Mac PORTABLE Apple's worst laptop? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:No TRS-80's? (Score:1, Informative)
FROM: Christopher Null | Save Address
DATE: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 10:09:46 -0800
TO:
SUBJECT: RE: notebook article
Thanks for the note -- the 100 is so similar to the Epson (and both were so
successful) that I couldn't devote a lot of space to each of them... But the
Epson came first, so I had to go with that one... PLUS: Sweet built-in
printer!
CN
---
Christopher Null / Editor in Chief, Mobile PC
null@mobilepcmag.com / 415-656-8349
150 North Hill Drive, Suite 40
Brisbane, CA 94005
www.mobilepcmag.com
Re:And as ever, Apple creates the current paradigm (Score:3, Informative)
Manufactured, yes. Designed - not at all. It was designed by Robert Brunner, head of Apple Design Group of that day. He scored many awards for his powerbooks (powerbook 500 was also a huge success).
The first IBM PC Model... (Score:2, Informative)
The IBM 5110 was the second small IBM computer I worked on back in the 70's and I can remember the IBM rep pulling the 8" disk drives out of the back of his station wagon so we could use them on one occasion. If you look at the picture at IBM 5110 [ibm.com], you will see just how portable that was.