Inventor of the first laptop passes away at 69

Considered as the man who designed the first laptop computer, Bill Moggridge passed away on Saturday following a battle with cancer. He was 69.

A British-born designer, Moggridge created the GRiD Compass clamshell computer in 1979, which was encased in magnesium, and used by the U.S. military and NASA at a cost of $8,150 when it was released in 1982.

“Portable computers at that time resembled sewing machines and weighed more than 20 pounds; Moggridge’s design cut average device weight in half and actually made computers portable,” said the online report.

“Since then, the clamshell laptop has continued to evolve into the portable ultrabooks that are available today. ”

Report from BGR News.

GRiD Compass 1101 technical specs (from Old-Computers.com):

NAME: Compass
MANUFACTURER: Grid
TYPE: Portable
ORIGIN: U.S.A.
YEAR: April 1982
BUILT IN LANGUAGE: GRID BASIC
KEYBOARD: Full stroke 57 keys
CPU: Intel 8086
SPEED: Unknown
CO-PROCESSOR: 8087 math coprocessor
RAM: 256 KB (up to 512 KB)
VRAM: Unknown
ROM:Unknown
TEXT MODES: 80 chars x 25 lines
GRAPHIC MODES: 320 x 240 dots
COLOrsc: Monochrome
SOUND: Beeper
SIZE / WEIGHT: 38 (H) x 29 (D) x 5 (H) cm / 8.5 lbs (4.3 kg)
I/O PORTS: Serial RS-232, RS-422, IEEE-488
BUILT IN MEDIA: 384 KB bubble RAM
OS: GRID O/S, MS-DOS 2.2
POWER SUPPLY: Built-in poxer supply unit
PERIPHERALS: RAM cards, 360 KB 5.25” floppy disc unit, 10 MB hard disk unit
PRICE: £4595 (U.K., 1984)