A History of laptops describes the efforts in the 1970s and 1980s to build small, portable personal computers that combine the components, inputs, outputs and capabilities of a desktop computer in a small chassis.

1. 10 Old Laptops &
Evolution

2. The First Laptop Computer - Osborne 1
Introduced: April 1981
Price: US $1,795
Weight: 24.5 pounds
CPU: Zilog Z80 @ 4.0 MHz
RAM: 64K RAM
Display: built-in 5" monitor
Ports: parallel / IEEE-488 modem / serial
port

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. TRS-80 Model 100
In 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

6. IBM 5155
Release date : February 1984
CPU 4.77MHz
360K floppy disk drives
Memory: 256 kibibytes
(expandable to 512 KB)
Display : 9 inch monitor

7. TRS-80 model 200
Announced: 1984
Price: US $999
CPU: 2.4MHz
RAM: 24K, 72K max
Ports: parallel, serial ports Bar code,
modem, cassette
Power: 4 'AA' batteries
Storage: Audio cassette in/out

8. First laptop PC with VGA graphics -
the Compaq SLT/286
Announced In 1988
5 inch display
12Mhz CPU
20 mb HDD
640 kb RAM
1 VGA, 1 COM, 1 LPT, 1 External
Floppy/Streamer
Price : 5400$.

9. Mac Portable
Introduced 1989 at $6,500 ($7,300 with
hard drive
CPU: 16 MHz
ROM: 256 KB
RAM: 1 MB, expandable to 9 MB using a
special 30ns SRAM card (only one slot)
display: 9.8"

10. Apple PowerBook 100
Introduction Date:1991
Processor Speed:16 MHz
Standard RAM:2 MB, 4 MB
Built-in Display:9.0
Standard Hard Drive:20 MB, 40 MB
Battery Life: 2-4 Hours
Original Price: US$2500

11. IBM ThinkPad 700
25-MHz CPU, 4MB of RAM, 80MB or
120MB hard drives (some of the largest at
the time), and a 9.5-inch display.