<P> The terms laptop and notebook are used interchangeably to describe a portable computer in English, although in some parts of the world one or the other may be preferred . There is some question as to the original etymology and specificity of either term--the term laptop appears to have been coined in the early 1980s to describe a mobile computer which could be used on one's lap, and to distinguish these devices from earlier, much heavier, portable computers (informally called "luggables"). The term "notebook" appears to have gained currency somewhat later as manufacturers started producing even smaller portable devices, further reducing their weight and size and incorporating a display roughly the size of A4 paper; these were marketed as notebooks to distinguish them from bulkier laptops . Regardless of the etymology, by the late 1990s, the terms were interchangeable . </P> <P> As the personal computer (PC) became feasible in 1971, the idea of a portable personal computer soon followed . A "personal, portable information manipulator" was imagined by Alan Kay at Xerox PARC in 1968, and described in his 1972 paper as the "Dynabook". The IBM Special Computer APL Machine Portable (SCAMP) was demonstrated in 1973 . This prototype was based on the IBM PALM processor . The IBM 5100, the first commercially available portable computer, appeared in September 1975, and was based on the SCAMP prototype . </P> <P> As 8 - bit CPU machines became widely accepted, the number of portables increased rapidly . The first laptop - sized notebook computer was the Epson HX - 20, invented (patented) by Suwa Seikosha's Yukio Yokozawa in July 1980, introduced at the COMDEX computer show in Las Vegas by Japanese company Seiko Epson in 1981, and widely released in 1982 . It had an LCD screen, a rechargeable battery, and a calculator - size printer, in a 1.6 kg (3.5 lb) chassis, the size of an A4 notebook . It was described as a "laptop" and "notebook" computer in its patent . </P> <P> The portable micro computer Portal of the French company R2E Micral CCMC officially appeared in September 1980 at the Sicob show in PARIS . It was a portable microcomputer designed and marketed by the studies and developments department of R2E Micral at the request of company CCMC specializing in payroll and accounting . It was based on an Intel 8085 processor, 8 - bit, clocked at 2 MHZ . It was equipped with a central 64K bite Ram, a keyboard with 58 alpha numeric keys and 11 numeric keys (separate blocks), a 32 - character screen, a floppy disk: capacity = 140 000 characters, of a thermal printer: speed = 28 characters / second, an asynchronous channel, a synchronous channel, a 220V power supply . It weighed 12 kg and its dimensions were 45cm x 45cm x 15cm . It provided total mobility . Its operating system was Prologue . </P>

When was the first laptop invented and by whom