The technology of computers has undoubtedly come a long way. Computers were once hidden in closets or stored under desks, but in the past century, personal computers have become the core element of our technologically advanced society.

Now, with the invention of the portable computer, we can now use our computers wherever we choose. We may take this luxury for granted, but laptops, however, had not come into play until the end of the 1970s. Alan Kay, an employee of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center came up with the idea of a portable computer. The first laptop computer, however, was designed in 1979 by William Moggridge. It had very little memory and used its own operating system not compatible with any other computer. In 1984, Apple Computer introduced its first laptop model called the Apple II c. It was a notebook-sized computer, but the monitor was not attached to the computer itself. Thus, it was not a true laptop. In 1986, IBM introduced the IBM PC Convertible to the market. It used a microprocessor, had 256 kilobytes of memory, two floppy drives, an LCD, and printer ports. It weighed 12 pounds and sold for $3, 500. This served as the main model for laptop development in the future.

In the past, laptops did very little compared to desktop computers, but today's laptops have just as much computing power as desktops, and they take up less space. Aesthetically, laptops have come a long way as well. When they were first designed, laptops weighed an average of ten pounds, and now they weigh as little as four pounds. Laptop screens ranged between 4 and 6 inches diagonally, and now you can find screens stretching out to 16 inches! You can get different color laptops (especially colorful laptops are manufactured by the Apple Co.), but most are found in black or silver. Most laptops range in price from about $1,000 to $4,000.

Like any desktop computer, laptops have a central brain called the microprocessor which performs all of the functions of the computer. It coordinates all of the computers operations according to programmed instructions as well as instructions given by the user and other data storage devices. Laptops, however, differ from desktop computers because they reduce power consumption and heat. Laptops run on a set of programmed instructions called an operating system. These set of instructions tell the microprocessor what to do. Laptops have memory to store data files and application files. Laptops contain disk drives to transfer information as well as input and output ports.

Unlike desktop computers, laptops can run in two ways: they can either be plugged into the wall or they can run on a battery. Laptop screens also differ from the screens of desktop computers. Laptops have a type of LCD screen (liquid crystal display screen) that can be either black/white or color. Desktop computers allow users to access programs and data through the use of a handheld mouse, but the mouse on a laptop is very different. On a laptop, you can find a mouse in the form of a trackball (rotating ball that allows you to move the cursor), trackpoint (a small button that allows you to move the cursor), or touchpad (a pad that you move your finger across to move the cursor).

It is obvious that laptops have been an exciting part in the advancement of computer development. They allow us to travel with the world at our fingertips. The future will bring faster and smaller laptops to the market, and they will become more common than the desktop computer. While the popularity of laptops steadily increases, hopefully more people will acknowledge that laptops are an integral part of our society.