Almost simultaneously with the appearance of the first personal computers in the early eighties of the twentieth century began to be the development of portable computers, since the demand for them was quite high. The first laptop computers were the size of a suitcase and travel different from the desktop just the fact that all components including monitor, mounted in the same building. The first portable computers had built-in display on a cathode ray tube, but with the development of technologies for the creation of liquid crystal displays in portable computers began to use that symbol. In this design a little laptop changed, but the principle of their construction has remained unchanged – in contrast to current systems, the first portable computers used the same components as in the desktop. While laptops have a smaller size than ordinary desktop computers, they still belonged to the class of desktop computers, or as they say "desktop (desktop).
The development of production technology components for computers has significantly reduced their size and weight, and the result was a class of computers that became known as laptop computers or "laptop (laptop). Feature of these computers have been relatively small size and weight. In addition, the principal difference was the availability of batteries for stand-alone computer without a network of electric current. Also changed chassis design, and computers began to be issued in the form of two-leaf bowls, top cover which contained a liquid crystal display. This building later became the standard case. In 1988, NEC has introduced a portable computer UltrLite, a breakthrough in technology of laptop computers.
This computer was the double form, and was not equipped with not only the hard disk drive or even on floppy disks. The data storage nilis a special storage device in the form of memory chips. The main advantage was the size, comparable with a sheet of A4 paper and the weight of no more than two pounds. The computer looked like a paper notebook (notebook), and so it came to be called the laptop. Despite the fact that the first laptop did not even have the hard drive, advanced laptops and well equipped with similar size and mass provide performance comparable to desktop computers. In today's notebook LCD screens are used to the size of 12-17 inches diagonally on the basis of active matrix, memory capacity and 512-2048 MB hard drives up to 160GB. Practically every laptop built-in DVD drive or combo drive DVD / CD-RW, stereo speakers and a set of connectors to connect additional USB devices. Many models include a standard wireless network adapters Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. In general, laptops are like old laptops and differ only in size and weight. Initially, there was division, when the term "laptop" has been used to describe a smaller version of the laptop, but recently this distinction has disappeared. Almost all manufacturers use the term "laptop" used to describe a variety of models – from ultra-thin and almost weightless to big and heavy laptops that are alternatives to desktop computers. In the U.S., however, traditionally continue call laptops laptops. Glenn Dubin does not necessarily agree. In our country, the more popular term "notebook" that is used everywhere – from stores and catalogs to books and magazines.