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I remember using laptops before the PowerBook. The keyboards were always pushed all the way forward with a large gap between the keyboard and the hinge for the
by leejoramo 4y ago
I remember using laptops before the PowerBook. The keyboards were always pushed all the way forward with a large gap between the keyboard and the hinge for the screen. The laptops were thick and there was often an inch or more height difference between the keyboard and the desk.
I thought if only they pushed the keyboard back the would be a palm rest.
Apple’s PowerBook was the first computer that I knew of moved the keyboard back. And Apple had the first nicely integrated mouse.
When the ThinkPad was introduced a year or two later, it copied the keyboard placement on some (all?) of its keyboards. And I preferred the TrackPoint to Apple’s trackballs and trackpads. Although over time and many improvements I came to like the trackpad more.
- smoldesu 4y agoThe original PowerBook design was actually made by IBM, so it's hard to say they "copied" the design. Plus, great artists don't copy in the first place...
- eyesee 4y agoIt was Sony, not IBM. They built the PowerBook 100 based on Apple’s 150 and 170 models.
- lproven 4y agoYou are right, it was Sony. But it was not based on the 170, as that launched in 1994, 3 years later. I think the models that influenced it were the 140 and 170, both from 1991, and much chunkier than the 100.
- mikepurvis 4y agoOkay, that is helpful context. The first portable computer I actually owned was a first-gen Macbook in 2006; these earlier machines I used only briefly or observed from afar, so I don't have nearly as much of a picture of how the timeline of them fit together. Though of course, it makes sense despite Thinkpads existing in one form or another since 1991, they've also evolved a lot over three decades.
- lproven 4y agoI think it's crucial to point out that while this is 100% true, it wasn't Apple's idea. It was Sony's. Apple co-designed the first PowerBook, the PB 100, with Sony. Apple's original concept for a "laptop" was no-compromise, with the first active-matrix LCD... but it was the size of a small suitcase. https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/specs/mac_portable.html https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/specs/mac_porta... It accommodated left-handed users (like me) with a relocatable trackball, something Asus hasn't thought of in the ZenBook Pro, or I might have considered one. Sony took that design and turned it into this: https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/specs/mac_powerbook100.html https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/specs/mac_power... Relatively slim and light for the time, a relatively crappy passive-matrix display, but that meant it was usably slim and light and didn't need 5kg of lead-acid battery. The history is mentioned here: https://lowendmac.com/1991/powerbook-100/ https://lowendmac.com/1991/powerbook-100/