12 Sep
2012
12 Sep
'12
6:01 p.m.
On Wed, 12 Sep 2012 barythrin at gmail.com wrote:
Does anyone have a reference to the earliest use of
the term laptop to
describe their product? I would think that would help clear the
definition perhaps. Obviously what end users ended up calling luggables
were simply "portable" as the marketing term. It was a portable all
enclosed version of a desktop. Pretty cool you can take your portable
computer with you in itself but obviously portable power/batteries were
a separate time frame.
Is it the original intent that laptop meant self powered or is that only
us reading too much into the details from todays expectations?
YES.
On the Osborne 1, Lee Felsenstein designed in a connector for external
battery power! When queried about how large the battery would be, Lee
answered, "How big is your CAR? It is not intended for portable use on
batteries." I thought that that interchange was on Computer Chronicles,
but I can't find it.
So, he wasn't competing for the "first ridiculous laptop" title.
(BTW, Lee was driving a 1977 Honda Accord)
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com