Origins of term "laptop" computer, and absurdity of "first"

NCC (National Computer Conference) in Anaheim May 16, 1983. It appears to be the first machine sold AS A "LAPTOP". Documentation of that? Grid Compass, which was earlier, but it was apparently NOT called a "laptop" at the time, AND is rejected by Evan due to not having batteries at the time. I agree with everyone who says the particular wording isn't important. PROPOSED? First one DESIGNED? First one BUILT? First one SHOWN? First one MARKETED? First one SOLD? First one actually DELIVERED? Unless each and every step was concluded before the comparable step of another machine, any claim to "first" is ludicrous. True. People ask us that at the MARCH museum on an almost weekly basis, especially re: Apple II / PET 2001 / TRS-80 Model 1. I give them the same answer as you did, above. I also tell them, well, NONE of them are "first" because of tons of prior art (such as the aforementioned MCM/70...) at the same time, nor even that they occurred in a logical sequence. That's also true. History happens in starts and stops. sold, shown, then marketed (WCCF, April 1981). All of the steps, albeit in a strange order, were completed before the Osborne (WCCF, 1981), although "everybody knows" that the Osborne 1 was "the first portable computer" Whoa, I never head of Elcompco. Link? There were many suitcase-sized computers before Osborne. MCM, GM Research Microstar / Small One, Micral V, and of course the PARC NoteTaker (although that was only a prototype) ... Osborne was the first * big successful smash hit * of its category and generation.