The All Portable Apple Notebook

It's no secret that technology is constantly getting smaller, especially during the past ten or twenty years where technology has seen an explosion of progress, moving at blazing speed, and this is maybe most clear in the advances seen with computer notebooks. First let's put things into perspective. The first true program-controlled computer system as we recognize them today, the Z3, was built in 1941 by Konrad Zuse. Also keep in mind that currently as we may already know, notebook laptops are matching unlocked cell phones in selling rates which is in fact great for the computer industry.

It was nearly the size of a small passenger car and weighed roughly 2,200 pounds, had no monitor or display beyond a few bulbs that would light to relay simple information, and had a memory capacity of about 22 bits. 67 years later in 2008, Apple released a new model of its MacBook Pro notebooks with the surface area equivocal to a dinner plate and only an inch thick, weighing 6.8 pounds, with a 17 inch screen and a memory potential of 4 gigabytes - about 1.8 billion times more than the Z3. Never before in the history of technology have advances come at this type of rapid pace, and currently notebook computers are at the top of this onslaught.

The development and reputation of notebook computers came as a natural result of the elevated presence and dependence upon desktop computers. As with most technologies, as soon as desktop personal computers grew to be a facet of everyday life, there was a demand to make the technology portable, and so notebooks (the more modern name for the more apt moniker "laptop") first made their appearance on the scene.

The first commercially ready notebooks were the Osborne 1 series, which could hardly be called notebooks however were nevertheless revolutionary in concept. It barely resembled a laptop computer at all, looking more like a portable sewing machine. It had only a tiny 5 inch screen, and didn't even run on batteries rather requiring access to a wall outlet, but it was the first personal computer that could be easily transported, permitting users to carry data with them from location to location.

Briefly thereafter, notebooks began to take on their familiar form, which they maintain to this day. Nevertheless, in recent years, new designs beyond the standard fold-out variety have become increasingly popular. Subnotebooks are gaining in recognition, due to even more emphasis on small size and portability, and use their reduction in features in lieu of light-weight and slim layout as a selling point. The introduction of touch screen technology to the mainstream has also led to the radical redesign of portable notebooks. So called tablet notebooks are now available and are becoming increasingly well-liked, consisting of only a few functional buttons and leaving most of the input commands to the use of a stylus on a touchscreen that covers much of the surface area.


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Article by Paul Wise. When it comes to portable computers, Paul recommends electronicsforce.com for great advice on things like cell phones with no contracts for you