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A Look Back At the World's First Netbook

Posted by Soulskill on from the paperweight-before-its-time dept.

Not-A-Microsoft-Fan writes with this excerpt from The Coffee Desk: "Netbooks are making huge waves within the hardware and software industries today, but not many would believe that the whole Netbook craze actually started back around 1996 with the Toshiba Libretto 70CT. Termed technically as a subnotebook because of its small dimensions, the computer is the first that fits all of the qualifications of being what we would term a netbook today, due in part to its built-in Infrared and PCMCIA hardware, and its (albeit early) web browsing software. The hardware includes the two (potentially) wireless PCMCIA and infrared network connections, Windows 95 OSR 2 with Internet Explorer 2.0, a whole 16MB of RAM and a 120Mhz Intel Pentium processor (we're flying now!)."

6 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. Not the first netbook... by AdamInParadise · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... since it was expensive as hell. Small notebooks have existed for a long time. The novelty of the Asus EEEPC was that it was cheap (and flimsy): it demonstrated that there was an untapped market for this kind of computers.

    --
    Nobox: Only simple products.
    1. Re:Not the first netbook... by smoatigah · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Completely. We always have had subnotebooks, ever since they could make parts small enough. The big thing which made netbooks popular was the fact that you could pick one up for a couple hundred bucks and not worry about throwing it in your bag. Totally useless article if you ask me.

    2. Re:Not the first netbook... by MrNaz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Aah the old media statistics game. It goes a little something like this:

      1. Decide what conclusion you want to arrive at.
      2. Find a few random facts.
      3. Redefine your assumptions so the facts suit your previously decided upon conclusion.

      Given a population willing to swallow this BS, why should the modern media concern itself with trivialities like truth and objectivity?

      --
      I hate printers.
  2. Re:define define define by sakdoctor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    8) Internal wireless networking.

    After all, it is a Netbook. Anything PCMCIA, or dongles hanging out of USB ports, totally kills portability.

  3. Tandy Model 100 by speedtux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The "netbook craze" started with the EEE PC. There was no "craze" before then because small laptops were expensive.

    If there was anything like the netbook craze before, it may have been the Tandy Model 100, a small, lightweight, inexpensive computer with built-in modem that's popular even today with writers. In fact, I think a netbook in that form factor (flat, screen and keyboard open, AA battery powered) would still be nice.

    http://oldcomputers.net/trs100.html

  4. Started? by gmuslera · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You could qualify it as netbook, but probably what really started the craze was the XO, the idea of a $100 notebook for every child. It had most of the attributes that make it a not so bad idea, price, long battery life, wifi, etc.