Tech Retrospective: 3 Revolutionary Laptops

The technology world has seen some incredible advances over the last five years. Netbooks have grown from a techie-only obsession into a remarkably mainstream product, something as at-home in a student’s bag as in a technology office. High-end laptops have started replacing desktop PCs, capitalizing on people’s need for portability and flexible computing.

But despite the truly huge advances in modern computing that we’ve seen over the last five years, few rival the giant leaps that happened during the 1980s and 1990s. They weren’t particularly sleek or advanced machines, admittedly, but they were the building blocks that lead to our current computing revolution.

These three laptops were revolutionary in their time, not just for the features that they introduced but for the design standards which they ushered into the world. If you’re looking for a piece of tech history, do your best to track one down and add it to your collection. It may not compute as quickly as a new Macbook Pro, but it’ll look every piece as slick and iconic sitting on your work desk.

Apple iBook G3

When Apple unveiled the iBook in 1999, the technology press were torn over whether or not it was a revolutionary piece of kit. Critics claimed that the design was reminiscent of a toilet seat, using the system’s increased weight above the higher-performance Powerbook as a popular talking point.

Others were more responsive, arguing that the iBook’s distinctive design and child-friendly handle would make it the ideal laptop for educational use. Immensely popular in its day and one of Apple’s most instantly recognizable consumer models, the iBook G3 was replaced by the Macbook in 2006 – a machine that shared many of its internal design characteristics.

Asus Eee PC

Asus ushered in the era of ultra-portable computing with the Eee PC. Built around simplicity and portability, the machine proved hugely popular amongst students, travellers, and businesspeople. While its performance was highly limited and its keyboard frustratingly small, the machine became the go-to mobile computer for anyone in need of a constant connection.

The Eee PC line now includes several models, some approaching the size of a standard laptop. Asus have seen their design endlessly imitated and copied, not just by other manufacturers but in other categories of technology; cellphone manufacturers have mimicked the Eee PC’s linux operating system on their own mobile devices.

IBM ThinkPad 700C

Think reliability, professionalism, and comfort and you’ll think ThinkPad. IBM’s critically acclaimed and immensely popular professional laptop selection has remained popular and appreciated over the years, forming the backbone of the 20^th century mobile computing suite.

Now manufactured by Chinese-based Lenovo, the ThinkPad remains as reliable and user-friendly as ever. The distinctive black casing has remained almost completely unchanged over the machine’s fifteen-year lifespan, receiving only incremental updates and minor hardware additions. If you need a reliable, simple, and devastatingly fast Windows-based mobile workstation, the ThinkPad remains the best model out there.

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