The replacement for the bulky desktops had begun nearly three decades back, though there is still uncertainty about the first laptop.
Osborne 1, introduced in April 1981, is considered to be the first true portable computer. If you see the picture, you’d surely not call it a portable computer. This was the first commercially available portable computer, with an 5 inch display. Yup, you could put it on your lap as well. There was another portable computer, earlier to Osborne 1, custom made for NASA space shuttle expeditions in 1980s.
The quest for making the portable computer slimmer and thinner was on since then. At present, the Macbook Air seems to have taken the cherry for being the thinnest laptop commercially available. Just when i thought there could be no match for this, Lenovo has come up with ThinkPad X300. Almost as thin as Macbook Air, and comes with DVD drive too. The Macbook Air lacks an optical media drive, which i mentioned in one of my previous posts about the death of optical drives. 
On the sheer thickness front Apple’s MacBook Air beats X300 hands down. Macbook Air has a thickness of 0.16 inch on one edge to 0.76 inch on the thickest edge. The thickest edge of Macbook Air was more thin than the thinnest edge of the slimmest available laptop, Sony Vaio TZ series, when Steve Jobs showcased it at the MacWorld Expo ‘08, beating the Lenovo team for the ultraslim laptop market. ThinkPad X300 has thickness of 0.73 to 0.92 inches, a close match to Macbook Air.
Both ThinkPad X300 and Macbook Air have a bigger screen of 13.3 inches as compared to that of Sony Vaio TZ series laptops which comes with 11.1 inch screen. Also, they have full fledged QWERTY keyboard, unlike Sony’s 82 keys keyboard. The cost of TZ series laptops range from $2200 to $3700. You can read the side to side comparison of Sony Vaio TZ versus Apple Macbook Air here.
The miniaturization of the electronics has allowed them to pack so much in such a small case. The ThinkPad X300 too fits in to an envelope, just as Jobs showcased Macbook Air. The image below shows what goes in to the ThinkPad X300, from the board with Intel Core 2 Duo processor to the DVD drive, audio cables and screws. Thinkpad X300 scores over the Macbook Air in having a better screen resolution of 1440 x 900 versus Macbook Air’s 1280 x 800, a DVD drive, 3 port USB and Ethernet for net connectivity. These features makes ThinkPad X300’s estimated price in the range of $2700 to $3000. Macbook Air basic version costs $1800, this is the one without solid state hard drive. The one with 64GB solid state drive costs $3100.
The cost of these ultraslim laptops are about twice that of any good laptops available in the market today. The ultra slim laptops are very flimsy, and handling them well is very important. This makes them attractive, and can be sold without much marketing. Remember how MotoRzar revived the Motorola’s mobile market share just being very slim?
No doubt i’m very excited about such laptops, i feel there is also need for more rigid laptops handling little more rough use, something like the Sonim’s indestructible mobile phone, which may not be all that attractive and slim. There is need to strike a balance, neither making it too flimsy nor too thick and unattractive. Make little way(about an inch) for theses ultraslim laptops.
