2009 may very well be the year of the Netbook.  Before we get into this phenomenon perhaps explaining the differences between portable computers is a good idea…

History of the Laptop

First a bit of history for fun:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_laptops

IBM 5100, the first portable computer

The first portable computer was a monster- the IBM 5100, first appeared in 1975 and weighed in at a hefty 55 lbs, with a blazing 1.9 Mhz processor.  Today most cell phones have well over 100 times the processing power!  The unit cost $19,975 w/ 64K RAM ($79,000 in today’s dollars!)

Epson HX-20

In 1981, Epson introduced the HX-20 portable computer, which was little more than a word processor, but it was portable!

The Compaq Portable

The Osborne 1

Flash forward to the ‘luggable computer’ – the first being the  Osborne 1 http://oldcomputers.net/osborne.html with a 5” screen displaying 52 characters with text.  It originally sold for $1795 ($4199 in today’s dollars).  The 28-lb Compaq Portable  also debuted about the same time for $3590 ($8398 today).

IBM introduced a portable computer near to the size of what could be considered a laptop in 1986 (the first to use 3.5” floppy disks, actually).

IBM convertable

The first laptops

The First Laptop - Toshiba T1000

were introduced by Toshiba (not that we’d recommend buying a Toshiba these days…).  It featured an Intel 80C88 processor running at 4.77 MHz.  Ironically Toshiba now makes laptops for dogs

Toshiba Petbook

so if you really feel like throwing $400 at your dog… there’s a laptop for that too.

Of course who could forget the massively marketed (as somehow original, I suppose) Apple Portable (1989)

Apple Macintosh Portable

which sold for $6500 (a whopping $11,148 today) and PowerBook 100

Apple PowerBook 100

(1991) which sold for $2300 ($3592 today).  Ironically despite the cost, Apple was one of the most successful in the portable computer market, matched perhaps only by IBM’s famously durable ThinkPad series (I actually have a ThinkPad from 1995 that still runs today).

So, why not have a lightweight portable PC?  Ever since Sony successfully introduced the C1 subnotebook the industry has been trying to balance size with power and usability.  Most small notebooks had an unusable screen and keyboard, and the mouse or touchpad interfaces were frustrating.  Enter Asus with their ultra-successful Eee PC netbooks- arguably the most-sold netbook in existence.
You can learn much more by visiting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laptop

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