Episode #469 – June 3rd, 2014

This week we talk about the brand new RSpec 3 and Git 2, but also how to use bower-rails instead of JavaScript gems, JSON responses with PostgreSQL, and the quirks of Ruby serialization & enumeration.

The Evolution of The Laptop

September 23, 2014

Laptop computers have been around for much longer than people think, though they’ve changed unimaginably from the first stumbling steps to the thin and powerful machines we have today

Laptops have been around for much longer than people imagine, but have changed incredibly since the first stumbling steps to the thin and powerful machines we have today. In 1975 laptops were an idea that computer manufacturers were willing to take full advantage.

The first computer that could be referred to as a laptop was made by IBM. The IBM 5100, however, was just a laptop. The 5100 had a screen and a keyboard with numeric keypad, built-in, but that's where the comparisons with modern portable computer

The screen was a 5-inch CRT was able to show that just 16 lines of code and a maximum of 64 characters on each of those lines. A 1.9 MHz processor powered equipment and configurations came with 16KB or 64KB of RAM. What's more the unit weighed a beefy 24KG.

With the general format launched the portable form took a variety of forms around the same general issue until Apple released the PowerBook line 100 in the early 1990s The PowerBook includes design touches that would be imitated by the rest of the industry and set the tone for what should be a laptop. Apple pushed the keyboard back to give the device and palm rest to make way for the trackball and mouse buttons plants. Although these seem minor today the basic design of a laptop has not changed much since then.

Once the format of the modern laptop design was established that there were hundreds of machines from many manufacturers around with small changes here and there. Larger screens, up to 17 inches in some cases, with better resolutions, Blu-ray drives, SSD hard drives and a number of other additives, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are standard in portable machines become.

For a time it seemed that the netbook could take over from standard laptop form factor. These portable mini-computers were very similar to the standard size machines, but weighed less and had much less space when they are in motion. Importantly netbooks were often powerful enough to take on the daily tasks of most laptop users like web browsing and email. Not that the netbook type computers were no longer around as the Psion Series of handheld computers could certainly fall into the category of netbooks. However, the first mass-produced computer really be called a netbook was more likely the Asus Eee PC.

The Eee PC 700 had a 7-inch screen and came with Linux instead of Windows from Microsoft, but it had all the makings of a laptop, only much smaller. The keyboard and trackpad were there and the Eee PC uses a fast SSD, if small, as it is the primary storage space. The low cost and small size initially attracted many users, but over time as the star faded netbook ultrabooks and tablets began to replace the need for smaller and lighter laptops exceptional.

Which brings us to today and perhaps the most evolved of all portable formats; the convertible.

The evaluation of the history of laptop and laptop design is amazing to look back and see how much things have changed. The first laptop was just that, a team that could move. Through the decades, however, we have seen refinement after refinement and multiple subtle changes that brings us to today, where a laptop can be three things at once.

Replacement powerful desktop and go mobile equipment and a fully -featured tablet PC to boot. With portable devices like convertibles currently leading betting design modern computers, it is exciting to think what else could change in the coming years.

source :http://bit.ly/1v2QdId

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