Journey of Portable Computers

The development of electronic computers occurred in waves. The first wave is the mainframe era where multiple people would share a single machine like having a house computer shared between the parents for their work and the children for their homework. The microcomputer era can be viewed as a subpart of the mainframe era. One phrase that could be used to describe this wave could be “Many persons, one computer.”

The next wave was possible due to the invention of microprocessors. This brought on the concept of personal computers. The impact of the second wave was far greater than that of the first wave. Their processing power was far greater and a network of personal computers working together were able to solve problems faster than one mainframe computer working alone. Phrases for this era could be “One person, one computer.”

The second wave also increased the semiconductor business to more than a quarter-trillion-dollar worldwide industry. Nowadays, these computer chips are embedded in various consumer devices, like mobile, music players, automobiles, televisions, digital cameras, kitchen appliances, video games, toys, etc.

It is safe to say that the Intel Corporation dominates the worldwide microprocessor business, but it has been outpaced by growing companies such as Motorola, Inc.; Hitachi, Ltd.; Texas Instruments Incorporated; NEC Corporation; and Lucent Technologies Inc. in this still-growing multibillion-dollar industry. This can be called the ongoing third wave. Phrases for this era could be “One person, many computers.”

The second wave saw processors getting smaller and smaller and as a result, so did the hardware. This led to ‘handheld devices’ as in electronic devices which could be held by hand and can be carried from one place to another.

The origins of these handheld devices can be traced back to 1960 when Alan Kay, a researcher at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), devised the idea of a small notebook-style computer that he called the Dynabook. Though they didn’t build any such thing, his vision was a catalyst for future inventions.

It was a step-by-step process. The first, of these portable computers - the Osborne 1, was designed by Lee Felsenstein, and sold in San Francisco in 1981. Slowly but surely, they started to reduce in size and increase in processing power.

As the size began to shrink, users were no longer confined to their homes or offices to get the work done. Thanks to years of innovation work does not stop, life continues and we can stay connected with our loved ones.

By: Deeksha Goyal