10 Old Laptops & Evolution

The First Laptop Computer - Osborne 1Introduced: April 1981Price: US $1,795Weight: 24.5 poundsCPU: Zilog Z80 @ 4.0 MHzRAM: 64K RAMDisplay: built-in 5" monitorPorts: parallel / IEEE-488 modem / serial port

The second laptop computer - Epson HX-20 with built in printer

Also released in 1981, was the Epson HX-20, a battery powered portable computer, with a 20-character by 4 line LCD display and a built-in printer.

In January of 1982, Microsoft's Kazuhiko Nishi and Bill Gates begin discussions on designing a portable computer, based on using a new liquid crystal display or LCD screen. Kazuhiko Nishi later showed the prototype to Radio Shack who agree to manufacture the computer.

TRS-80 Model 100In 1983, Radio Shack released the TRS-80 Model 100, a 4 lb. battery operated portable computer with a flat and more of a laptop design.24 kb RAM; 8-bit 2.4 MHz CPU ; Display: 8 lines, 40 characters LCD

IBM 5155 Release date : February 1984CPU 4.77MHz360K floppy disk drivesMemory: 256 kibibytes (expandable to 512 KB)Display : 9 inch monitor

TRS-80 model 200 Announced: 1984Price: US $999CPU: 2.4MHzRAM: 24K, 72K maxPorts: parallel, serial ports Bar code, modem, cassettePower: 4 'AA' batteriesStorage: Audio cassette in/out

First laptop PC with VGA graphics - the Compaq SLT/286

Announced In 19885 inch display12Mhz CPU20 mb HDD640 kb RAM1 VGA, 1 COM, 1 LPT, 1 External Floppy/StreamerPrice : 5400$.

Mac PortableIntroduced 1989 at $6,500 ($7,300 with hard driveCPU: 16 MHzROM: 256 KBRAM: 1 MB, expandable to 9 MB using a special 30ns SRAM card (only one slot)display: 9.8"

Apple PowerBook 100Introduction Date:1991Processor Speed:16 MHzStandard RAM:2 MB, 4 MBBuilt-in Display:9.0Standard Hard Drive:20 MB, 40 MBBattery Life: 2-4 HoursOriginal Price: US$2500

IBM ThinkPad 70025-MHz CPU, 4MB of RAM, 80MB or 120MB hard drives (some of the largest at the time), and a 9.5-inch display.