25 years of laptops innovation

Since introducing the world’s first mass market consumer laptop in 1985, Toshiba has been bringing innovation to fingertips all over the globe. This year marks 25 years of unparalleled advances in laptop technology. Read on, and we’ll break down Toshiba’s landmark achievements, there maybe more than you’d ever expect.

1985
Toshiba creates the first mass-market laptop computer: the T1100. It had a 4.77Mhz processor, and 256kb of memory. It didn’t use a hard drive, instead relying on floppy discs to load applications.

1986
Toshiba produces the first laptop with an Intel 286 processor: the T3100. It almost doubled the speed of its predecessor at 8MHz, and ran MS DOS, Microsoft’s text-based precursor to Windows.

Also in 1986 came the first laptop to pack a hard drive: the Toshiba T3100e, packing a roomy 20MB internal disk.

1987
Toshiba continues its partnership with Intel, becoming the first manufacturer to use the 386 processor in the T5100. It was one of the first PCs to run 32 bit applications, and at the time was one of the most powerful laptops in the world.

1990
Toshiba leads the way with the first laptop to use a NiMH battery, the T4600C. It allows for longer life between charges, and paves the way for modern PCs that’ll last all day with a single battery.

1991
Toshiba adds the first colour screens to laptops. From here on, portable PCs become more than work-obsessed business tools, and begin to pull double duty as entertainment machines.

1992
The Toshiba T4400SXL is the first laptop to use Intel’s 486 processors. They unleash enough power to make PC gaming and multimedia applications a reality.

1993
Toshiba creates the first pen-based tablet PC with the Toshiba T100X, for the first time it frees laptop owners from the keyboard, trackball, trackpad and mouse.

Toshiba also introduced the first laptop with an improved Lithium ion battery in 1993, extending the life of portable PCs with the T3400CT.

1994
Intel introduces the Pentium processor, and the Toshiba 4900CT is the first laptop to use it. Many mark the release of the Pentium as the point at which PCs became mainstream consumer products, and Toshiba was leading the charge.

1995
Toshiba ships the first laptop with a built-in CD-ROM drive. Thanks to the T2150, multimedia was no longer shackled to the desktop.

1997
Just two years after CD-ROMs debuted in a Toshiba laptop, DVDs do the same thing with the Toshiba Tecra 750DVD, creating the world’s first laptop that’s also a bonafide media centre.

2000
The Toshiba Qosmio 500 marks the first time laptops are able to both play back DVDs and write their own CDs. Toshiba makes multimedia creation on the go a possibility at last.

2001
Today we take Wi-Fi in laptops for granted, but in 2001 Toshiba was the first manufacturer to build Bluetooth and Wi-Fi into its portable PCs with the Portege 4000 and Tecra 9000.

2002
Tablet PCs are commonplace today, but Toshiba’s Portege 3500 was the first to offer a convertible format, with a full keyboard and rotating touchscreen.

2004
The first 0.85” hard disks debut in Toshiba laptops, making them smaller and quieter. In the same year, the first laptop is launched with an LCD display that equals the quality offered by TVs: the Toshiba Qosmio G10.

2005
The first laptop with Toshiba EasyGuard technology debuts, making laptop security simple for everyone. Less than 12 months later, the Portégé R200 is launched: the first laptop to comply with the EU’s eco-friendly Restriction of Hazardous Stubstances regulations.

2007
A slew of innovations bring the world’s first wirelessly dockable portable PC, the world’s thinnest widescreen 12.1” laptop with an optical drive and the world’s first notebook with Real Time email notification system, the Portége R400.

2008
Toshiba technology improves laptop video performance with the world’s first QuadCore HD Processor for HD video processing in the Qosmio G50. It upscales SD video without burdening the main processor, and makes short work of HD footage too.

2009
The Portégé R600 is the first notebook in the world to feature a 512GB SSD. It offers tons of storage, as well as robust shock protection and increased speed.

2010
The world’s first dual-screen laptop debuts: the Toshiba Libretto W100, with a touchscreen keyboard that can be removed to double screen space.

The Toshiba AC100 also makes waves, running the Android platform and using Nvidia Tegra chips to squeeze eight hours use, or seven days standby from its battery.