Released in 1982, GRiD Compass 1101 comes “closest” to the modern day laptop, and one of the most popular and expensive non-IBM computers available in the market in the eighties. While GRiD Compass 1101 was extremely powerful and hi-tech, it had certain unique features which made it completely different from the other powerful computers. Manufactured by GRiD Systems Corporation, clam-shelled, flat-back, cast in a magnesium alloy case, a gas plasma display, a magnetic bubble memory and a 1200 bps internal modem. Used and popular among the NASA and within the US Military force, the GRiD Compass 1101 laptops were quite heavy, weighing at 10lbs and not the ideal laptops for the business executives. But no other laptop of those days had such high speed and easy to read screen at 80x24 text.

Designed to be the ultimate portable computer, the clamshell-style GRiD Compass 1101 is the grand-daddy of all present-day laptop computers.

The Compass is very high-tech, with its flat-black, die-cast magnesium-alloy case, and bright, sharp electroluminescent display (ELD). No other system packed so much speed and power in as small a case, and none had such a unique and large, easy-to-read screen, allowing full 80x24 text.

Of course, all of these great features raised the price significantly. At $8150, the GRiD Compass 1101 was the most expensive personal computer you could buy.

Originally developed for business executives, GRiDs were also used by the U.S. military 'in the field', and by NASA on the Space Shuttles during the 1980's and 90's. It's even been said that the US President's "nuclear football" at one time included a GRiD computer.

The GRiD 1101 must be operated with the 'leg' in the down position, otherwise it stands a good chance of overheating. The 1101 runs very hot, almost too hot to touch.

Not quite the ultimate portable, the 1101 does not run on batteries, it must be plugged into a 110/220 VAC wall outlet, although any standard computer power cord will work. It also, strangely enough, lacks a carrying handle. An official GRiD cloth carrying case came with the 1101, but it also lacks a carrying strap.

Gavilan SC was the very first computer to be marketed and sold as a “laptop” by the Gavilan Computer Corporation in May 1983. The clamshell design, one of the first lightweights among the then popular laptops, was designed by the founder of the company, Manuel Fernandez. It was released almost at the same time as Sharp PC-5000, and a year after the GRiD Compass was introduced into the market. It was the smallest and the lightest MS-DOS laptop, powered by in-built battery for the very first time. In this sense, it is often regarded as the first laptop of the world. The model was a breakthrough in the history of laptops, as it combined the features of a touch pad mouse and built-in floppy drive.

Some of the essential features of Gavilan SC are a 3.00” floppy drive, Intel 8088 processor at 5 MHz, 32k built in RAM space, a LCD display with 66 x 8 text and 400 x 64 pixels, a full standard keyboard, touch pad mouse, three separate ports for video, serial and modem, an internal 300-baud modem, an internal 3.5 inch floppy,

The Gavilan SC has space for up to four 32K plug-in capsules of battery-backed RAM ($350 each), or applications software packages

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Laptop UPSUninterrupted power supply or UPS is a battery backup for a laptop that provides nonstop electric power supply to your notebook even when there is no utility power. There are some top UPS for laptop users that provide total power protection to your notebook.

What are the top UPS for laptop users: Top UPS for Laptop Users include Tripp Lite Internet Office 300 UPS System and IBM UPS 500 6Out. These UPS allow you to work without 'blackouts' even during long hours of power failure. The UPS also enables you to turn off your laptop safely so that you do not have huge data loss due to power failure. The UPS has a built in RJ45 jack that prevents surges and saves your laptop modem.

Features of top UPS for laptop users: The back up time for Tripp Lite Internet Office 300 UPS System is about 11 minutes while the battery run time is 10 minutes for half load. However, it is 4 minutes for full load. The back up time for IBM UPS 5006Out is 10 minutes. This is also one of the top UPS for laptop users that offers phone line as well as network surge protection. These popular laptop UPS’ also protect your notebook from lightning as well as surges.

Laptop Battery BasicsA laptop computer is a small mobile computer which usually weighs around 2-18 pounds, depending on size, materials, and several other factors. To take proper care of your computer ensures that the battery is safe and is ready to work when it is required urgently. Following the laptop battery basics or the tips the things to consider include the following: ·Avoid extreme temperatures ·Don’t leave a laptop outside in cold weather ·Do not leave it inside a hot car The cold batteries fail to create power while the hot batteries easily discharge. One must always use electrical power to keep the battery charged if available. You can also use electrical power for charging the batteries. Try to use the battery quite often and do not let your laptop go for long periods of time without using the battery. Following the laptop battery basics it is good to follow certain safety options:

The smaller models are always handy. Hence, instead of going for a desktop replacement option, try to consider an ultraportable or thin-and-light laptop model. Usually the display of a smaller laptop uses less power. In smaller versions you can also opt for a hard drive that runs at 4200rpm and uses less power than a hard drive running at 5400rpm.

Before using the laptop turn down the lights and adjust the brightness a bit low. However, ensure that you can comfortably view the screen without putting pressure on your eyes. The color brightness can also be adjusted to suit the conditions of working. Power control is also one important laptop battery basics.

Use less power by adjusting the laptop settings. Keep on using the power options to make the computer stop operating after a set amount of time. Properly set the adjustments so that at first the display goes off, then the hard drive stays active a bit longer and stores the system content’s into the RAM.Always keep note on your battery consumption and also have the idea that how much power is left. For this you can use the battery power icon on the system tray or you can also buy batteries with little LED gauges on the outside of the battery itself. The battery should continuously be charged whenever you have access to a power source. If you are going for a long journey try to fully charge the battery especially if you don’t know where or when you might have access to any electrical outlets.

Laptop Terms to KnowBefore you buy a laptop you need to take care of a whole lot of factors. Before you start operating a particular electronic device you need to have a detailed knowledge about that particular device. You need a number of laptop terms to know and have a clear idea about the functionality of those devices related to the laptop. The terms of different operating systems related to the functioning of a laptop must be known to the user; otherwise, he may face a lot of problems. This way the user may not be able to make the proper use of this device. The special terms related to the functioning of laptop can be anything related to the different types of laptop display screens, keyboards, touch pad and the other different electronic parts inside it. It is necessary for the laptop users to have detailed knowledge about the technical aspects of this device. The site Laptopxl.com offers detailed information on a number of laptop terms to know. CASV is one of this laptop terms to know that stands for Clear Advanced Super View. This is a term used by Toshiba for denoting brighter LCD technology. Centrino is a particular technology from Intel that includes the functioning of a whole combination of electronic devices like, mainboard chipset, CPU, wireless network interface in a laptop.

DDR is another important term related to the operation of a laptop, which means Double Data Rate. This term is used for gauging the memory speed of the laptop. Dual Channel is a system in which two devices inside the hard disk RAID operates as memory controllers. These devices are used for increasing the speed or increasing the memory bandwidth.

DVI is the abbreviation for Digital Video (or visual) Interface. FSB is the Front Side Bus. This is the path through which the CPU gets connected to a system memory or a motherboard chipset. Geforce is the name of the card made by Nvidia or graphics chip. IEEE 1394 is the Firewire or iLink. This term stands for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standard 1394. LCD is a particular version of screen attached to a laptop. The special technology of Liquid Crystal Display ensures total comfort of the eyes and even after long exposure to the laptop screen eyes do not get tired. Different companies manufacturing different parts of this device have their own kind of terms for individual parts of the laptop. MVA TFT or Multi Domain Vertical Alignment is such a term for the brighter LCD screens made by Fujitsu.