News19,133 Articles

July 6, 2007

The 10 greatest laptops in the world... ever!

10 portable PCs that changed the world

Carla Thornton

Laptops. Notebooks. Portables. Desktop-replacements. Brian. Whatever you call them, the laptop PC has done as much to change our lives as any other piece of hardware over the past 25 years.

When the first laptops appeared in the early 1980s, they were a major breakthrough in computing convenience. For the first time you could use a computer that had a built-in keyboard, yet was so light you could pick it up and take it with you into the next room or on the train or plane into another time zone. But who could then have predicted the changes to come. Batteries that last all day, Mac and Windows operating systems coexisting peacefully on the same machine, the laptops as an entertainment unit?

Twenty-six years after the first laptop appeared, we're commemorating the 10 most important models. In chronological order, each of these notebooks represents a major turning point in technology, popularity or both. Although we might snicker now at some of their laughably small screens or pitifully slow processors, they paved the way for today's powerful portables.

Continues on the next page >>

Continued...
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | NEXT >

Free whitepaper: Is social networking really bad for business?

<<newer story | back to index | older story>>

Comments received


Anorak said on Saturday, 07 July 2007

Has to be the MacBookPro - beautiful and intelligent

was going to get really annoyed... said on Wednesday, 11 July 2007

I know this is PC advisor, but I would have got annyoed if a MAC wasn't in the list. and there's 3!
All good choices, and I even remember a couple of the early ones ;)
I've just bought a Mac Book pro, (my first owned mac) and with in a month I'm beginning to wonder why I ever used Premeire on my windows PC...

Herb Johson said on Thursday, 12 July 2007

As usual, these kinds of articles assume the personal computing world began in 1981 with the IBM PC. That is factually wrong, period. CP/M was first offered in 1976 and dozens to hundreds of companies made personal, business and industrial microcomputers by 1981. One of them was Osborne, and the Osborne 1 in 1981 was one of the first to offer a complete portable system with ALL necessary software (editing, programming, telecommunication) at one price from one company. If one argues that the 24 pound system was hardly a "laptop", it was nonetheless far more portable, and more complete, than the desktops of the era. A simple Wikipedia search for Osborne, Kaypro, CP/M will find this and other computers of distinction, well before 1981.

Herb Johnson
retrotechnology.com

What is this?

Subscribe to PC Advisor now and claim your FREE gift

Keep up to date by adding PC Advisor News to your iGoogle home page or Google Reader


Question of the day!

Does your smartphone replace your need for a laptop when on the move?

Question of the day!

Does your smartphone replace your need for a laptop when on the move?

% of PC Advisor readers agree with you

Yes
TBC
No
TBC

What tasks can your smartphone do that would have traditionally been done on a laptop?

119 characters remaining

Follow the conversation at @SmartphoneFocus

Mainly email but getting better at spreadsheets etc, RT @IDGdan

Google


Recent reviews

Reviews index


Latest reader comments

Latest reader comments


Top news

News index


Latest blog entries

Blogs index


 Our RSS feeds

Sponsored Content

  • Take the internet to new places with the Nokia N800
    Communicate how you want to, where you want to with instant messaging, email and internet calling. View movies, browse the internet wirelessly and watch TV on the high-resolution screen and listen through high-quality stereo speakers with headphone jack.
    Buy now