Portable Computers

In 1950, “portable” meant small enough for a ship or a truck, like the Army’s Mobile Digital Computer.

By 1980, miniaturization had made more convenient mobile computers possible. A “portable computer” became a mobile version of a desktop PC, complete with a full-sized keyboard.

Traveling Terminals

Even when computers themselves weren’t mobile, computer users were. They accessed computers remotely with a terminal, a keyboard and printer (or screen) connected to the distant computer over a phone line.

The first terminals were stationary. By the 1960s they became briefcase-sized, letting business travelers connect from the road.

Inventing the Future

Few in the 1960s foresaw desktop PCs. Yet some visionaries were a step or two ahead.

Stanley Kubrick, directing 2001: A Space Odyssey, commissioned Honeywell to forecast future computing. Honeywell’s 1966 briefcase model included a phone and video camera. It predicted such computers would be available commercially in 15 years—spot on, except for the camera.

Researcher Alan Kay, believing “the best way to predict the future is to invent it,” mocked up a wirelessly connected tablet-like computer for kids in 1968. His “dynamic book,” or Dynabook, was among the most influential computers never built.