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The Compaq Portable; the first portable IBM PC compatible.

Modern mobile computer of one Army.

A portable computer is a computer that is designed to be moved from one place to another (in other words, it is a computer that is portable). Portable computers, by their nature, are microcomputers. Early portables were unkindly referred to as "luggables," referring to their great size and weight (owing partly to the need to include a full-blown CRT monitor, as LCD technology was not yet mature). The term "luggable" is today used mainly when speaking of 17" and larger widescreen laptops.

Xerox NoteTaker, developed in 1976 at Xerox PARC, although it remained a prototype and did not enter production.

The first portable computer was manufactured by a small company in Santa Monica, Ca. named GM Research. The machine which was designed and patented (US Patent No. 4,294,496) by James Murez was first delivered to The Computer Store, Santa Monica, Ca in mid 1977. It was called the Micro Star and later changed the name to The Small One. Although Xerox claims to have designed the first such system, the machine by Murez predated anything on the market or that had been documented in any publication at the time - hence the patent was issued. As early as 1979 the U.S. Government was contracting to purchase these machines. Other major customers included Sandia Labs, General Dynamics, BBN (featured on the cover of their annual report in 1980 as the C.A.T. system) and several dozen private individuals and companies around the world. In 1979, Osborn viewed the machine along with several hundred other visitors at the first computer show that was sponsored by the IEEE Westec in Los Angeles. Later that year the machine was also shown at the first Comdex show.

The first mass-produced portable computer was the Osborne 1, developed by Adam Osborne, which owed much to the NoteTaker's design. The first IBM PC compatible portable computer (and indeed the first 100% IBM PC compatible, or "clone," of any kind) was the Compaq Portable. The first full-color portable computer was the Commodore SX-64.

The term portable computer is now almost exclusively used to refer to portable computers that are larger than a laptop, often use conventional parts and usually do not run on batteries. Very few manufacturers remain for this type of computer one is Sterling Computer Sales. Smaller portable computers are also known as mobile computers. They are referred to by their more specific terms:

• The laptop (or notebook) with a flat panel display and keyboard, requiring a seated position and both hands. A relatively recently introduced modification has been the Tablet PC, which essentially is a laptop operated with a stylus on a touch-sensitive screen. See also desktop replacement computer, a large laptop designed to perform all of the functions of a desktop computer.
• The sub-notebook which is something between a laptop and a PDA
• The pocket computer, which was mostly a phenomenon of the 1980s, and combined the features of an alphanumeric calculator, a small home computer (usually programmable in BASIC), and a PDA. Manufacturers of these included Tandy/Radio Shack, Hewlett-Packard, Casio, and Sharp Corporation.
• The personal digital assistant (PDA), usually held in one hand and operated with the other.
• The wearable computer with handsfree interface, and usually some voice capability (speech recognition and speech synthesis).

Portable computers have been increasing in popularity over the past decade, as they do not restrict the user in terms of mobility as a desktop computer would. Wireless Internet, extended battery life and more comfortable ergonomics have been factors driving this increase in popularity.

• Laptops
• Palmtops
• Personal digital assistant (PDA)
• DYSEAC The Second Standards Electronic Automatic Computer. DYSEAC was a first-generation computer built by the National Bureau of Standards for the US Army Signal Corps. It was housed in a truck, making it one of the first portable computers (perhaps the first). It went into operation in April 1954.