As we are reaching the end of a generation for both memory (DDR4) and GPUs, prices for PC

components have reached an unprecedented low. This has given a huge incentive for PC enthusiasts to
pick up new parts and, in many cases, a brand new computer. To make full use of this zeitgeist of high
demand, media companies have pushed forth a lot of information regarding which CPU and GPU you
should buy, but resources related to the motherboard are few and far between. This is made worse by the
fact that the nomenclature (ATX, M-ATX, etc.) for motherboard types can be bewildering, and some of it
can even confuse experienced PC builders. If there’s a PC part that we needed an in-depth guide on, it
would be the motherboard. It is in this context that we believe that first-time buyers and PC enthusiasts
might need a bit of background knowledge for which motherboard fits their needs — both in terms of
physical dimensions and usage pattern. So, here is our guide on motherboard sizes. The guide is
intended to clear all your doubts about which motherboard form factor should you get for your next build
and why.

Motherboard Sizes: Comparing ATX, Micro-ATX, and Mini-ITX Form Factors (2022)

In this article, we will explore everything there is to know about motherboard form factors, from looking at
the reasons why the particular sizes emerged to what are their assets and liabilities. We will also compare
popular motherboard form factors of today, i.e. ATX, M-ATX, and M-ITX boards, to see which one you
should buy and for which particular build.
Table of Contents

History of Computer Motherboard

The IBM Personal Computer (1981) featured the first motherboard as we know it. At first, this component
was called a planar, and at the beginning of its creation, went through several additional names until it
was finally called the motherboard. This was the first time in computer history that a board housed
the computer’s CPU and RAM, and provided audio as well as many other functions. This board also
supplied ports for the keyboard and cassette tape and had expansion slots for add-on cards. There was
even a system known as the bus to manage the information flow here. It was a revolutionary machine that
changed the future of computing.

IBM AT Motherboard (1984)

However, it was only in 1984, with the coming of IBM’s AT (advanced technology) motherboards that
component-based PCs that we know today emerged. The AT form factor proved to be hugely popular and
became the go-to form factor among PC manufacturers for several years. Though, this board did have its
issues. One of the major problems with the IBM AT board was its enormous width (aside from limiting
its use in smaller cases), and this made the board overlap with the drive bay designs of PC cases at the
time. This essentially made the installation, troubleshooting, and upgrading of hardware a very tedious
process.

Baby At motherboard (1987)

To counter this problem, a smaller version of the original AT motherboard called the “baby AT“ was
introduced back in 1987. The primary difference between these two variants was the width — the older
full AT board was 12-inches wide, while the new baby AT was 8.5-inches in width. The design change
made the IBM Baby AT motherboard way more compatible with PC cases of the time, and this led to
its widespread adoption. The Baby AT was also the first PC motherboard to include sockets for I/O ports
like serial and parallel.

Both the AT and Baby AT sizes were widely used in 386, 486, and early Intel Pentium PCs and were the
most widely used motherboards at the time. This doesn’t mean that there were no other competitors in
the motherboard space at the time.
LPX (Low Profile eXtension) was a competing motherboard form factor developed by Western Digital in
1987, and it was used in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. An LPX motherboard was 9-inch x 13-
inch in size, used a riser card, and had different placement of the video, parallel, serial, and PS/2 ports
compared to other motherboards. The LPX motherboard never could match the stratospheric success of
the Baby AT form factor, but it did remain a viable alternative throughout the early 1990s.

An LPX motherboard on a Dell PC

What Are the Different Sizes of Motherboards?

The 1980s and the early 1990s were a fascinating time for motherboard design, as every few years, a
new standard would come, be used by a few manufacturers, and then ultimately die out. The process
worked almost like clockwork, as this period saw the release of Intel’s Baby AT (1985), Western digital’s
LPX (1987) platform, and even IBM’s NLX (1997) form factor.

But when it comes to motherboard form factors today, the situation is much more comprehensible. The
vast majority of today’s consumer motherboards come in one of three sizes — ATX, Micro-ATX, and
Mini-ITX.

Popular Motherboard sizes of Today

The ATX platform is currently the most popular of them all and has been the industry standard for a while
now. It offers a ton of flexibility when it comes to expansion and upgradation, which makes this form factor
the preferred one for gamers and PC enthusiasts. Mini-ITX, on the other hand, is the smallest of the
bunch and is usually used in smaller PC builds because of its compact nature.

The Micro-ATX motherboard form factor splits the two in the middle and gives us some flexibility when it
comes to PCI-e and RAM expansion while keeping the overall size smaller than full-ATX. Furthermore,
one might also come across an E-ATX motherboard, which is larger than a full-ATX board, but those are
primarily used in workstation systems. Few other form factors do still exist like the Mini-STX, but they are
fairly rare, and one hardly ever comes across them in build guides or retail stores.
Full-Size ATX Motherboard

The form factor which replaced the popular Baby AT standard and defined what the motherboard would
look like for the next few decades was the ATX motherboard size. Developed by Intel in 1995, the ATX
form factor was designed to address the many problematic areas that plagued the earlier boards.

ATX motherboard was created to enhance ease of use, bring better I/O support, and made available at a
much lower price point. In terms of design philosophy, it is basically a Baby AT rotated 90 degrees. This
change in design allowed the processor to be relocated away from the expansion slots, which gave it
better airflow and made upgrading the PCIe card easier.

A modern ATX motherboard (Intel Z690)

In terms of dimension, a full-size ATX board has a height of 305 mm (12 inches) and a width of 244mm
(9.7 inches). The larger dimension is the major strong point of the board, as it provides manufacturers
with enough space to install bigger heatsinks, intricate VRM solutions, larger rear-I/O, and more
expansion slots. A full-size ATX motherboard, for example, typically has 7 PCIe expansion slots, allowing
you to install up to 4 GPUs if your power supply can support such a configuration that is.

However, there are some drawbacks to the full-ATX form factor. One is that because it’s a large
motherboard, it’s not compatible with all PC cases. Therefore, it requires one to research a bit more
about the dimensions of their PC case before purchasing this kind of board. So, if you are thinking about
upgrading to an ATX motherboard and have any doubts about the compatibility, do check your
motherboard specs to see if the size is supported.

There is also the issue of “heat” with ATX motherboards. The ATX’s component arrangement hinders
airflow and many manufacturers claimed that this resulted in less than optimum cooling. The issue of heat
was so severe that Intel released a new BTX motherboard series in 2005, which was supposed to fix the
heat issues and supposedly replace the ATX form factor.

The BTX form factor introduced changes like moving the CPU socket toward the front intake fans. The
idea was that fresh air intake from the front would remove excess heat as soon as possible, solving the
biggest issue with ATX. It also tried to remove older standards like the PS/2 and parallel ports, replacing
them with extra USB ports. In theory, it was a remarkable improvement over the decade-old ATX board
design.
 But as history would have it, the BTX form factor never reached the popularity that it was meant to
achieve. Several reasons like sunk cost, community approval, and widespread adoption of ATX
motherboard made both manufacturers and consumers vary of the new platform.

BTX motherboard (2005)

Another major benefit of the ATX motherboard size is upgradability. The expansion capability makes the
ATX motherboard a perfect form factor for PC users who want to ensure they will never be caught in
an inconvenient situation due to a lack of space or performance like hardcore gamers and other heavy
users. But this emphasis on performance does not mean that an ATX board has no use for a regular user.

The very fact that the motherboard has sufficient space for additional memory, storage, and PCIe cards
makes it future-proof for all kinds of users. It gives one the peace of mind that when new components
get released, the ATX motherboard will always have a place for it.
PROS CONS

Flexible with good upgrade options More expensive than M-ATX and ITX boards

I/O portfolio is superior to other form-factors Can’t be used for small form-factor builds

Plenty of room for heatsinks and VRMs The board design is a bit outdated

Micro-ATX (M-ATX) Motherboard

Micro-ATX motherboards, as the name suggests, are smaller than full-size ATX motherboards. They
were first introduced in 1997 and, according to Intel, were seen as a natural evolution of the ATX form
factor. Computer sizes were reducing rapidly and manufacturers at the time believed that a smaller form-
factor motherboard was essential for a future where mini-PCs would be the norm.
 AMD Athlon M-ATX motherboard

The Micro-ATX motherboard was also designed while keeping in mind a variety of users. For one, it was
made to fill the gap that existed in motherboard form factors in the late 1990s. While most users used
ATX at the time, users who wanted a small form factor had to sacrifice a lot in terms of capability if they
went with a smaller motherboard. Micro-ATX solved this by giving users most of the capabilities of the full-
size ATX board, while at the same time, keeping the form factor palatable enough to fit in smaller cases.

Dimension-wise, the micro-ATX motherboard is only slightly smaller than ATX with an overall surface
area of 9.6 x 9.6 inches (244mm). This makes the board 25% percent shorter in length. To achieve
this size, there are some features that the motherboard designer had to sacrifice. M-ATX boards have a
maximum of 4 PCIe slots compared to a maximum of 7 on an ATX board, of which usually only two are
x16 slots.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of M-ATX motherboard PCs, though, is cost. Thanks to their smaller size and
the materials that go into making the motherboard, you can see a noticeable saving by opting for an M-
ATX over a full-size ATX motherboard. So, if you want a PC that does not dominate your desk in the way
that a full-size tower does, or need to make the most of a smaller space and take full advantage of your
budget, then a Micro-ATX motherboard size might be the best choice for you.
PROS CONS

Smaller form factor while having most features Lack of expansion slots

Ability to fit in more compact cases Inferior power delivery

Cheaper than other boards I/O ports can be limited

Mini-ITX (M-ITX) Motherboard

If the M-ATX platform is still big for you, and you are looking to build an even smaller but capable PC,
there is another motherboard size worth considering — Mini-ITX. An acronym for Information Technology
extended, ITX is a small motherboard form factor developed by VIA Technologies, which was first
introduced in November 2001 with the Mini-ITX platform.
Many other versions of the ITX motherboard design, like the Nano-ITX in 2003 and the Pico-ITX in April
2007, have since been released. However, it’s the Mini-ITX form factor that has remained the most
popular of the bunch, especially for desktop users.

ITX motherboards are popular because of their compact design and are often used in low-cost
setups in cars, network devices, set-top boxes, and other small computers. They are seen as small,
reliable platforms that can power relatively weaker PCs rather effectively. But Mini-ITX boards, for
reasons that only computer enthusiasts know, have taken a different path as compared to their initial use
cases. It is now employed by the PC building community and large manufacturers as a platform
for building compact high-performance PCs, which are no bigger than your average game console.

VIA Mini-ITX motherboard size

In terms of dimensions, the Mini-ITX board is squarish in its design philosophy as it’s only 6.7 inches in
both length and width (6.7 × 6.7 inches) This makes Mini-ITX the smallest type of motherboard that can
still run full-sized PC components out of the box. So what are the compromises here?

While the M-ATX board could still function in most aspects like an ATX board (Rear I/O, memory slots),
the Mini-ITX board size is more of a compromise. For one, M-ITX boards typically only feature a single
PCIe lane. This limitation means there is no support for multi-GPU configurations or other expansion
cards. You will also not find no more than 2 RAM slots on the typical mini-ITX motherboard, which
decreases the total amount of memory you can have in your system compared to an M-ATX board (4
slots).

Furthermore, because of lack of physical space, M-ITX boards tend to have fewer VRMs than, let’s say,
full-size ATX boards. This sort of limits the overclocking capability of the chips as power delivery is
compromised in comparison to a larger board. Cramming a lot of components onto a smaller space may
also create more heat dissipation problems. That said, CPUs have become more power-efficient over
the years, so you can still find plenty of boards that will allow you to overclock. Though, you are just not
going to reach very high clock speeds with the limited VRM and cooling options in Mini-ITX boards.

However, the advantage of Mini-ITX motherboards, as mentioned above, is their smaller size. These
boards are typically compatible with more small form-factor cases than both standard ATX and micro-ATX
motherboard sizes. For example, a typical ATX mid-tower like the Corsair 4000D has a size of 453mm x
 230mm x 466mm, approximately 48,552 cubic centimeters of space. A Mini-ITX case from Cooler Master
like NR200, with room for a full-sized power supply and gaming-grade GPU, is 200mm x 320mm x
400mm, about 25,600 cubic centimeters. So you could stack 2 Mini-ITX cases together, and they still
wouldn’t be as big as a standard mid-tower case. There are even smaller options, including Nano-ITX and
Pico-ITX, but you won’t find many mainstream PCs in either of those form factors.
Pros Cons

Can fit in the most compact of PC cases I/O not comparable to other Motherboard standards

Capable enough to power a High-end gaming PC Limited VRM performance

More expensive than M-ATX

Finally, if we talk about the price, you would be surprised to know that these smaller Mini-ITX
motherboards are more pricey than the Micro-ATX models and have quite a bit more features in
them. Its high price, however, is a sort of premium that you pay for having a bespoke motherboard type.

Less Popular Motherboard Sizes

While ATX, M-ATX, and Mini-ITX make up the majority of motherboards these days, it doesn’t mean there
aren’t other options for people looking for specific workloads. In this section of the article, we will look at
the other “less popular” motherboards you can still find on the market.

Extended-ATX (E-ATX) Motherboard

If you look for a slightly bigger motherboard than the ATX, there’s an extended version of such
motherboards available as well. It is known as the E-ATX form factor, which basically stands for
extended-ATX. The motherboard dimensions (12 x 13 inches) are slightly different from ATX, as it boasts
the same length at 12 inches but is substantially wider at 13 inches.
 Image credits: Asus

The features and basic I/O ports of this motherboard category are similar to that of an ATX motherboard.
But, since the size of the chassis is bigger, E-ATX motherboards generally have more expansion slots
compared to ATX boards. For example, an ATX size board usually has 3-4 PCIe x16 slots, while E-ATX
boards usually come with 4 or more slots.

Similarly, ATX motherboards usually come with 4 RAM slots, whereas E-ATX has 6 and even sometimes
8 RAM slots. You can also expect an EATX motherboard to come with a few more additional heat sinks
than ATX boards.

But the biggest difference between the two motherboards is the fact that E-ATX boards sometimes have
support for dual-sockets, which allows you to run two processors at the same time. This is usually
reserved for workstation-class hardware, but the fact that the board can accommodate up to 2 processors
is impressive in its own right.

Mini-STX Motherboard

The next type of motherboard we will be looking at is the Mini-STX motherboard (Mini Socket Technology
Extended), which was originally called Intel 5×5. Released in 2015, this motherboard measures 147mm
by 140mm in size, which makes it 5.8 inches in length and 5.5 inches in width (not really living up to the
5×5 moniker). Unlike other small form factor boards like NUC or mini-ITX, which have a square shape,
the Mini-STX board is 7mm longer from front to rear, making it slightly rectangular.
 AsRock Mini-STX (image credits: AsRock)

The basic rationale behind the 5×5 form factor was to provide PC builders with a motherboard with an
upgradeable LGA socket that stayed under the ultra-compact volume benchmark of one liter. With Mini-
STX, Intel’s intention was to create a platform that was much smaller than the dominant motherboard
designs of the time but still had the hardware to pack a decent amount of performance.

However, as we have seen over the years, the platform has not picked up in terms of popularity. As of
today, only one major manufacturer ASRock still produces a motherboard of this form factor, and even
that hasn’t been updated for the newest Intel sockets. Furthermore, the proprietary Nvidia MXM GPU
modules used with this motherboard have been discontinued.

So, it’s fair to say that the mini-STX motherboard is dead in a sense and unless board partners like
ASRock come up with something new (maybe an AMD partnership), the platform is unlikely to see a
revival.

Which Motherboard Form Factor Should You Choose?

Now that we have given a detailed overview of the qualities and specifications of the different types of
motherboards and their sizes, let’s look at which motherboard you should buy and for what use. As we
have previously discussed, not all motherboards are created equal, as each one of them has its strengths
and weaknesses.

For example, deciding which motherboard might be for you will heavily depend on what workflow you
have or how many PCIe and RAM slots you will use. To make the answer of which motherboard you
should buy easier, we have divided this section into three parts — best motherboard for a Budget PC
build, best motherboard for a Gaming PC, and best motherboard for a Mini-PC.

For Budget PC Build

 Choose a Micro-ATX motherboard size

 don’t splurge on a bigger motherboard and more component slots

If you want to go for a budget build, where a considerable sum of your total budget will go toward the
processor and the graphics card, your best bet is to pick up a Micro-ATX motherboard. The reason is
rather simple: there are no components that will have as much of an impact on your day-to-day
performance as your processor and graphics card. These two components form the base for other PC
 components like storage and memory, and thus, you need a good CPU and GPU to even make full use of
other PC parts.

So, if you are building a budget PC, remember to allocate as much as your budget to these two
components. However, this does mean that you will have to sacrifice a bit on the quality of your other
components or will have to give away in terms of features.

But M-ATX motherboards come in handy for budget builds, as they can be anywhere from 30-40
percent cheaper than their full-size counterparts. And though they are cheap, they still have all the main
features that ATX motherboards have. The only real difference is that full-size ATX boards can offer
better thermals, as they can physically have more VRM and MOSFET modules and also that it can
physically incorporate more PCIe slots.

These features, while important, are not that useful when it comes to budget builds. Budget CPUs don’t
necessarily have the overclocking headroom required to fully make use of the more robust VRM solution
of ATX boards. Furthermore, budget builds are typically single-card builds, as a second GPU might push
the build over the budget limit.

For High-End Gaming PC Build

 Always buy a full-size ATX motherboard for high-end gaming PCs

 Offers up to 7 PCIe slots, making upgradability a cinch

On the other end of the spectrum, high-end gaming PCs are far different from their budget counterparts.
For a high-end gaming desktop, having multiple graphics or expansion cards is not uncommon. Moreover,
in a quest for supreme performance, most high-end gaming PCs are also overclocked, which means that
the motherboard needs to have a robust power delivery system to match these increased power
requirements.
 For this kind of build, the only suitable motherboard option is the full-size ATX motherboard. With up to
7 PCIe slots, the Full-ATX motherboard gives the user the option to not just have multiple GPUs but also
gives them the flexibility to install other add-on cards like capture cards, PCIe SSDs, or even 10-gigabit
network cards.

For Small Form-Factor PC Build

 Buy a mini-ITX or micro-ATX motherboard

 Constraints on upgradability and part availability

If you want to build a PC with a smaller footprint, whether because you want it to be mobile or prefer a
more minimalist design, your best bet is to go with a smaller mini-ITX or micro-ATX motherboard.

If you want to save a little space and a little money, whilst still packing the most powerful of components
into your new PC, M-ATX may be what’s best for you. Just be aware that you won’t have many options
when it comes to picking your motherboard and case, and your cooling and storage may not be as
expansive as they would be in a larger design.
 I

But if you want the smallest build possible, without opting for a proprietary solution like an Intel NUC or a
Corsair one, then blindly go for Mini-ITX motherboards and build yourself a portable gaming beast.

What PC Cases Are Compatible With My Motherboard?

The simple answer to this question is – it depends. Certain PC cases can fit all types of standard
motherboards, but there are a few that do not. To understand this better, we should look at the different
PC case sizes available in the market. If you are upgrading your PC case and don’t know which
motherboard you’re using, read our detailed guide on how to check which motherboard you have on
Windows right here.

There are essentially four common sizes for PC cases — Small Form Factor, Mini Tower, Mid Tower, and
Full Tower. There are additional sizes, such as Ultra Tower and HTPC, but they serve a very specialized
purpose and are generally not intended for a typical commercial home, office, or gaming PC.
Each of these case sizes has recommended motherboard sizes that they can accommodate. For
example, a small form factor PC is the best use-case scenario for the Mini-ITX motherboard size that we
discussed earlier. But this does not mean all cases are exclusive to a specific motherboard size. A mid-
tower PC case, particularly intended for ATX motherboards, can fit smaller M-ATX and mini-ITX
motherboard types as well.

Recommended case sizes are just a kind of guideline, which tell you the best case (pun intended)
scenario for the given motherboard, and are not to be read as gospel. So if you already have an M-ATX
board and want to change your PC case, you should have a range of choices for new cases as you can
use either small factor cases or even the larger Mid-tower cases.

Types of Motherboard Form Factors Explained

In the above article, we have rounded up not only the three mainstream motherboard sizes: ATX, Micro-
ATX, and Mini-ITX, but we have also explored other less common options like E-ATX and the mini-STX.
In the process, we also explored the long history of motherboard design and the variety of approaches
that early motherboard manufacturers took to set themselves apart.

Now, why did we do that? We believe that before buying a motherboard, it is fundamental to understand
the different form factors and their use cases. It helps you make a better decision. Having knowledge
about the different types of motherboards will give a significant advantage to builders who want to create
their PC for a specific purpose. So if you wish to build a gaming rig or a workstation, choosing the right
motherboard type is crucial.

Defining a Computer Motherboard

Simply put, a motherboard is a giant Printed Circuit Board (PCB) that connects all your other PC
components like the CPU, GPU, RAM and storage together. Think of it like the nervous system or the
circulatory system of the computer. The motherboard makes sure that all these components are speaking
the same language and that the systems all run together properly. It does this simply by controlling the
amount of electricity and data that passes through the circuit board. This is done through thousands of
small strips of copper wire that are sandwiched between the multiple layers substrate that make up the
motherboard. If you look close enough at the motherboard, you can see some traces that run along the
top layer.

Below we have an image of a modern motherboard, particularly, a modern ATX board. Even though it’s of
a specific form factor (ATX), the general design of most modern motherboards is very similar in terms of
connections and design philosophy. So for the purposes of this article it should do.

A Brief History of the Motherboard

In our popular conception of a computer, the motherboard has always played an important part. It’s image
has long been associated with the complex, mysterious innards of the system. But as we will explore in
this section, the modern motherboard, while gives the impression of being an old concept, was actually
invented long after the first computer.
Early computers were more complex than modern machines in terms of parts and consisted of multiple
circuits boards connected to each other by a backplane, a set of interconnected sockets. What this
meant was that CPU, memory, and peripherals were all housed in their individual boards.

An old backplane with its complex wiring

This changed, however, with the coming of microprocessors. As microprocessors got more powerful, they
were able to execute workloads that were earlier done by dedicated hardware. This made it more
economical for computer manufacturers to produce a single large board with all the functionality built in
rather than build smaller dedicated circuit boards and connect it all together through a backplane.

IBM PC motherboard (1981)

The IBM Personal Computer (1981) featured the first motherboard as we know it. At first, this
component was called a planar and, at the beginning of its creation, went through many additional names.
However, the term that stuck was the “Motherboard” as the board essentially acted like a mother to all
the other computer components. And it’s the main reason why smaller boards connected to the
motherboard are sometimes known as daughterboards.

IBM PC’s motherboard housed the computer’s CPU and RAM, provided audio as well as many other
essential functions, supplied ports for the keyboard and cassette tape. This board even had expansion
slots for add-on cards as well as a system called a bus to manage these information flows.
The IBC PC was a revolutionary machine that changed the future of computing. Maybe this is why the
original IBM PC, with its simplicity and openness, set the standard for many computer hardware
specifications in “IBM-compatible” computers, and its famous moniker “PC” came to be the singular word
to describe the computer for years to come.

Different Sizes of Motherboards

The motherboard might be much simpler than the giant computers of the past, but at a first glance, still
looks like a complex object, and to be honest it is. It’s a labyrinth of circuitry that is both overwhelming and
fascinating. But when it comes to motherboard sizes or types, the situation is much more comprehensible.

While historically motherboards came in different sizes like IBM’s Baby ATX or Intel’s NLX boards, the
vast majority of today’s consumer motherboards come in one of three sizes: ATX, Micro-ATX, and Mini-
ITX.

The ATX platform is the most popular of them all and has been the industry standard for a while now. It
delivers a lot of flexibility when it comes to expansion and upgrading, which makes this form-factor the
preferred one for gamers and other PC enthusiasts. Mini-ITX, on the other hand, is the smallest of the
bunch, and is usually used in compact PC builds.

Finally, the Micro-ATX form factor splits the two in the middle and offers you some flexibility when it
comes to PCI-e and RAM expansion while keeping the overall size smaller than full-ATX motherboard.
Furthermore, one might also come across E-ATX motherboards, which are larger than full-ATX, but those
are primarily used in workstation systems. Other form factors do still exist like the Mini-STX, but they are
so rare that one can hardly ever find them in retail stores.

Motherboard Ports and Connections

Over the years, the number of different ports and their designs have changed due to evolving technology.
Older and outdated ports like the Serial port have given way to USB and even relatively newer standards
like SATA are being replaced for newer technologies like M.2. In the ever evolving face of computer
technology, everything is transient. But that doesn’t mean that its useless to know the ports of today.
 These ports form the fundamentals of desktop computer, and we have listed (and explained) some of the
most important connection that you might find on your motherboard. To make it easier to understand, one
can segregate motherboard ports into three distinct categories:

 Slots/ Ports: These are usually raised ports that arise from the motherboard and can accommodate a
variety of hardware components. Depending on the age of your motherboard, the major slots and ports
you will find can be – PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect), RAM (Random Access Memory), SATA
and M.2. Older motherboards might also have other ports like AGP (accelerated graphics ports), which
have been almost entirely replaced by PCIe in modern motherboards.
 Sockets: These are openings on the motherboard that allow users to install component pieces directly
onto the motherboard. The CPU socket is the most notable example of this.
 Connections: Connections provide power via your power supply to your component parts. These are
often pin connections, some of which are placed in raised sockets (via ATX connectors), while others are
bare like the Power and Reset pins.

CPU Sockets

We are going to start this dissection with the most important part of the motherboard, which is the CPU
socket, also known as the CPU slot. It’s a part of the motherboard that contains the necessary terminals
and parts to hold the CPU in place. As you can see in the image below, this socket is easy to spot on
most motherboards as it has a distinct design and covers a large surface area.

 LGA 1151

 LGA 1700
 LGA 1151

 LGA 1700
LGA 1700

CPU sockets these days come in two variants — LGA (Land Grid Array) and PGA (Pin Grid Array).
What differentiates these two is essentially the arrangement of contact pins. Depending on the type of
processor, these pins are either on the socket or on the underside of the CPU die itself. In LGA, for
example, you have contact plates on both the underside of the processor and the CPU socket.
 PGA (AMD AM4) Socket

In PGA, which is normally used by AMD, small pins are located on the underside of the CPU, which
directly go into small holes in the CPU socket. The PGA CPU socket is highlighted in the image above.

There are also various versions of sockets within the two socket types, and different sockets affect the
output performance of the CPU. For example, within the LGA socket type, Intel offers many variants with
a variety of different pin setups. All newer motherboard usually come with the latest socket type that allow
you to pair the motherboard with newer more powerful CPUs.

For example, as mentioned above, the ASUS motherboard in our example comes with an LGA
1700 socket (the number represents how many pins are in this socket) that works with the 12th-Gen Intel
Core processors, enabling you to use Intel’s latest and greatest hardware. In the following image, you can
see the Intel LGA 2011 socket up close.

LGA 2011 socket used in Intel’s HEDT

processors

In general, the more capable the CPU (in terms of the number of cores, amount of cache, etc.), the more
pins will be found in the socket. This was the main reason why the Intel HEDT processor lineup used
the LGA 2011 socket, which had almost twice the number of pins compared to the prevailing LGA 1151
socket at the time. The larger number of pins, for example, can allow the processor to access more power
from the power supply as more power delivery pins can be allocated to the processor.
However, an increase in pins is not the only way to gauge a performance increase. For example, AMD
has stayed on the same 1331 pin layout since Ryzen 1, which was released in 2017, but has seen
remarkable increase in performance over the generations.

RAM Slots

The second important part of the motherboard that we will talk about are the RAM slots. These are
usually located right next to the CPU socket. Random access memory (RAM) is essentially a form of very
fast memory (can be several times faster than SSD) that stores data, so that applications can be
accessed quickly.

RAM is different from storage like SSDs or HDDs as it’s volatile, which means it loses information when
the power is turned off or when the computer is reset. Programs and applications, ranging from word
processors to games, all require RAM to run smoothly. The amounts add up quickly, so if your PC doesn’t
have sufficient RAM to run open applications, it will suffer from slow speeds and often face crashes.

RAM slots (Dual channel)

Modern memory slots look like the one we have featured above (marked in red) and have one side with
a clip that is used to hold the memory stick in place. The other side is usually ridged to hold the stick in
place but allows the memory stick to be pressed into the slot without the need to have a second clip like
the ones that used to be in older motherboards (shown below).

Dual tone for Dual-channel memory in an older Motherboards

In the example above, the CPU that fits on this motherboard has two memory controllers. And each one
handles 2 sticks of memory, hence, there are 4 sockets in total. Also, you can see that the memory
sockets are colored in way to let you know which ones are managed by which controller. They are
commonly called memory channels, so channel 1 (colored blue) handles two of these slots and channel 2
(colored grey) handles the other two. The channel closer to the CPU socket is usually channel 1 and is
where you should install your first stick of memory.
 Power Connectors

To provide the voltage and current required to run the motherboard and the many devices attached to it,
the computer’s power supply unit (PSU) has a number of standard connectors for this purpose. The 2
main power connectors that are available on all modern motherboards, much like the Z690 shown below
are the 24-pin and the 8-pin connectors.

The main one is the 24-pin ATX connector that is located on the right side of the motherboard. While the
connector has 24 pins, depending on the computer, they can run using anywhere from 20-pins to little as
11- pins in small prebuilt towers.

24-pin and 8-pin power connectors

The 8-pin, on the other hand, exclusively powers the CPU and is usually located on the top left of the
motherboard. The 8-pin connection may be a 4+4 pin, though some high-end CPUs even have an 8+4 pin
connector.

 8-pin cable

 24-pin cable
 8-pin cable

 24-pin cable
24-pin cable

PCI-Express Slots

The PCIe Express sockets are long RAM-like connectors right below the CPU socket. Every desktop
motherboard has at least one PCIe slot and can be used to add other PC components to the system like
GPUs, Wi-Fi cards, or PCIe SSD (Solid state drive) add-on cards. The PCIe is essentially an interface
standard that is used to connect these high-speed components to the CPU.
 The types of PCIe slots available in your PC will depend on the motherboard you buy. But the main
physical configurations that they come in are: x1, x4, x16, and x32. The number after the x denotes how
many lanes that PCIe slot has – the higher the number, the more speed the connection can achieve. On
the current PCIe gen 5 standard available in the latest Intel processors, bandwidth can go up to 120 GB/s
in a 16x configuration.

Standardized sizes of PCIe slots

Cards and slots can be mixed and matched despite the number of lanes indicated by each component,
with data bandwidth determined by the slower part. For example, if you have a PCIe x16 slot on your
motherboard, you can connect a PCIe x1 card. Here, your bandwidth will be capped by the card’s single
available lane, which is one bit per cycle. Similarly, if you put a PCIe x8 card into a slot that is either x1 or
x4, data will travel in 1/8 or half bandwidth compared to what it would have if inserted in the default x8
slot.

So what are the common use cases of these PCIe sockets? As we have already mentioned, the PCIe
socket is a remarkably flexible platform that can be filled with numerous expansion cards.

The most common use cases for different slots are as follow:

 x16 lane = Graphics card

 x4 lanes = solid state drives (SSDs), capture cards
 x1 lane = sound cards, USB adapters

 PCIe x1 on a PCIe storage card

 PCIe x16 on a graphics card

 PCIe x1 on a PCIe storage card

 PCIe x16 on a graphics

card
PCIe x16 on a graphics card
You can see the difference between the connectors in the image above. The graphics card sports the
longer x16 lane standard compared to the storage card’s tiny 1-lane setup. Since the storage card has far
less data to transfer than the graphics card, it doesn’t need all those extra lanes.

SATA and M.2 Slots

Different motherboard configurations place SATA ports differently, but you can always note it, given its
unique plug and onboard labeling. The small kink on the plug determines its orientation. In our reference
motherboard here, the SATA ports are located on the right side of the motherboard.

SATA ports were the primary data transfer ports for years and were used with all kinds of different
hardware from CD ROMs to Expansion ports and hard drives. They are still very common in most
computer builds, and to this day, form the backbone of computer storage in most motherboards.

SATA ports with their unique connector

The standard that has taken the storage standard baton from SATA is the M.2 slot. Formerly known as
the Next Generation Form Factor, the M.2 standard has taken the PC world by storm. And only in a short
span, it has become the dominant storage standard in both desktop and laptop PCs. The reason why it
has become so popular is multifarious. The slot is not only tiny, but is also flexible as it can interface with
both older SATA 3.0 (still a popular standard), PCIe 3.0 (the default for newer graphics and expansion
cards), and even USB 3.0. Most new motherboards at least have one M.2 slot, but some high-end ones
can have up to 4 slots.

Motherboard Fan Headers

Next up are the motherboard fan headers. These connections are either three or four-pin modules that
are usually present right above the CPU socket. They are, unsurprisingly, used to power the cooling fans
inside your computer, although you can use them to power other components like water pumps and RGB
lights. One could essentially think of these as mini 12V power connectors designed originally for fans,
only now they have a variety of uses.

CPU Fan header

In the picture above, we can see that the CPU fan header is present on the top-right section of the CPU
socket. It is labelled CPU_FAN and CPU_OPT. There are other fan headers peppered throughout the
motherboard and are usually labelled as SYS_FAN.

Now, the only real distinguishing feature between the CPU fan header and other fan headers is that
the CPU fan has an inbuilt failsafe to protect your CPU from damage, if there’s no fan plugged into
the CPU fan header then the computer will not boot. For chassis fans, you should use
the SYS_FAN header, as they are located all over the motherboard making cable management easier
depending on where your fan is located.

Chassis Fan headers

Note: CPU_OPT stands for CPU Optional.This header is meant to power the secondary CPU fan, though
people often use it for powering AIO or liquid cooling systems too.
Another thing that you have to keep in mind regarding fan headers is that there is a difference between 3-
and 4-pin headers. The 4 pin fan headers supports pulse width modulation, which works like a switch,
turning on and off while controlling the level of power delivered to the fan or pump. This allows fans with 4
pin headers to achieve seamless speed control, which is difficult to achieve in 3 pin (DC) fans.

VRM and MOSFET

The next part of the motherboard that we will be looking at is not a connection or a port, but rather an
important part of the motherboard that makes it’s functioning possible – VRMs. Now, VRM is a term that
is discussed a great deal in the overclocking community, and if you are into that, you might have come
across it.

So what is a VRM? The term stands for Voltage regulator module, and it describes an electronic
channel that regulates and modifies the main voltage it receives from the power supply. On current-gen
power supplies and motherboards, it means taking a 12V current and converting it into either 1V for the
GPU or 1.4V for the CPU. The process of conversion is complicated, but the principle that voltage
regulation circuits rely on is the ability to reduce the average output voltage of the circuit by switching the
input voltage off and on.

That means if you have a 12 V output, and you switch it off and on for equal parts, the average voltage
would be 6 V. This rapid switching of voltage is done by a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor
(or MOSFET) circuit.

VRM modules

Since our reference motherboard does not have visible VRM modules, we have used a different image to
showcase the same. Here, you can clearly see the MOSFET transistors and the capacitors that are used
to convert the voltage. Since they deal with high amount of current they do tend to get hot, and this is the
main reason why they are usually accompanied by a slew of heatsinks.

Motherboard Rear I/O Ports

Now, we will look at the motherboard’s main I/O panel, which is almost always located in the back. This is
the area where you will connect most of your peripherals, including the keyboard, mouse, displays, etc.
The arrangement and the number of ports might vary depending on your motherboard’s model, but since
 we’re using a high-end motherboard for reference, it should cover most of the ports currently present on
the latest generation of motherboards.

 USB Ports

The first set of ports on the rear I/O that we will be looking at are the USB ports, which come in a variety
of colors and at least two shapes. Notice the standard rectangular USB-A ports; different versions are
signified by the color of the port, but USB ports and most devices are backwards compatible.
USB Colors Features

Black USB 2.0 with speeds up to 480 Mbps

Blue USB 3.0 with speeds up to 5 Gbps

Teal USB 3.1/3.2 with speeds up to 20 Gbps

Red USB 3.2 with speeds up to 10 Gbps, Always-on charging port

The USB Type-C port – an oval-shaped port located on the right of blue USB ports – is another type of
USB that’s available on most modern motherboards. While USB-C ports are newer, they function
identically to its more common brethren, but is able to transfer data at greater speeds and is also able to
transmit higher levels of power.

 HDMI/ Display Port

Looking towards the left of the panel, we have the video ports. Pictured here are two of the more modern
video connections, HDMI below with Display Port or DP above. While most motherboards come with
video ports, many higher-end CPUs no longer come with integrated graphics (AMD for example), relying
instead on a dedicated video card and its display ports to power the displays.

 RJ45 Ethernet port

 Next, we see the Ethernet port. This is where the network cable would plug in to your computer. Virtually
all motherboards will have one of these RJ45 Ethernet ports as desktops typically rely on a wired
connection to the internet. Ethernet still delivers the best network speeds and connection stability.

The current industry standard for a decent ethernet connection is a Gigabit port, but some higher-end
motherboards can also come with a 2.5 Gigabit ethernet or 10-Gigabit ethernet port at the ultra high-end.

 Wireless Connectivity

Right next to the RJ45 port, we have the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas. These give your computer the
ability to connect to a wireless network without having to install any additional hardware, like a PCIe Wi-Fi
card. Now, Wi-Fi on motherboards can be expensive, and this is the reason why many budget
motherboards don’t have this feature.

 Audio ports

For our last item on the rear panel, we see the audio ports. The reference board that we are using has
several connectors, but most of the time, it comes down to what your sound setup is. Almost all
motherboards we find on the market today use the same standard color scheme for audio ports. The color
green is usually used for audio-out (speakers/ headphones), and red or pink is for audio-in (microphones).
There are also ports (peach and black) for additional hardware like subwoofers or extra speakers.

Motherboard Front I/O Ports

The last connectors we will be looking at are the ones that are used for controlling the basic operation of
your motherboard and attaching additional devices or extensions. They are called Front Panel
Connectors and are usually a block of connectors on a motherboard that controls the power on, power
reset, and the LED light indicators of your PC case.

These connectors, for the most part, are located on the bottom right of the motherboard. The cables that
connect to these pins are usually included with the PC case.

Front Panel I/O ports

There are five primary connections that almost all the front panel headers have:
 Power Switch Pins (abbreviated as PWR or simply PW) are 2 pins that connect to the Power Button
cable coming from the PC case.
 Reset Switch Pins are 2 pins that connect to the reset switch on the PC case.
 Power LED Pins are 3 pins that connect to the LED light on the PC case that indicates whether the PC is
on, off, or in sleep mode.
 Hard Disk LED Pins are 2 pins that indicate the activity of the hard disk by flashing repeatedly.
 Speaker Pins are 4 pins for the beep code speaker. Many PC Cases come with a beep code speaker.

Outdated Motherboard Ports

As we have previously discussed, the motherboard is always evolving, gaining new standards and
connections. Over the years, some of the most beloved ports have gone the way of the Dodo and have
been replaced by newer, faster standards. But at the same time, they haven’t been forgotten. For many in
the PC community, these ports live on in their hearts, and if you are lucky, you might still be able to find
these ports in newer hardware.

PS/2 Port

One of the most beloved of ports, and one that has seen a great decline in popularity and viability is the
PS/2 port. It has been now been superseded by USB for several years, but for some reason, refuses to
die. Some of the most advanced gaming motherboards like the Asus PRIME Z690-P still come with dual
PS/2 ports.

So why is the PS/2 port so revered? The answer lies in the concept of polling rate, or the number of
times a peripheral is updated (polling rate) by the computer to see if they’re idle, moving, or doing
something. Over USB, the base polling rate can range anywhere from 250 Hz to 1000 Hz.

The PS/2 peripherals, on the other hand, don’t have a polling limit, as they are able to send an
uninterrupted signal to the CPU whenever they are doing something. If you move your mouse or click
something, your mouse will directly communicate with the CPU to register the action, rather than waiting
for the computer to notice. This means, in most cases, there is less latency than with a similar USB
peripheral because it’s not polling but actively interacting with your computer.
 Unified PS/2 Port

They also have other advantages. In the case of keyboards, PS/2 opens the possibility of true N-key
rollover, meaning you can press down on however many keys you want, and they will all register. If you
reboot into your BIOS, there’s a chance your USB peripherals will not be recognized, whereas you won’t
have that issue with PS/2 peripherals since they’re all universally compatible.

Serial Port

Another one of the ports, that has died out over the years is the serial port, which was an asynchronous
port on the motherboard that used to connect many serial devices of the time (80s and 90s). Just like the
PS/2 port, serial ports have largely been replaced by USB these days.

These days serial ports are usually identified on most compatible motherboards as the COM
(communications) port. For example, a mouse might connect to COM1 and a modem to COM2. The
picture below shows the serial connector on a modern motherboard.

Serial port labelled as “COM”

Some uses of the serial port in the past are as under:

 Mouse: One of the most commonly used devices that you can connect with the serial port was the
mouse. It was particularly popular with computers that had no PS/2 or USB port.
 Modem: Another frequently used device for serial ports was the modem. The port provided an easy
upgrade for people who wanted to add an external modem to their setup without upgrading their
hardware.
 Network: The serial port was essentially a way to transmit data. Thus, one of its original strength was that
it allowed two computers to connect together and allow files to be transferred between the two.
 Printer: Today, USB and other proprietary connections are used by printing companies for data transfer.
However, Serial ports were frequently used in older printers and plotters.

What are Chipsets in Motherboards?

If you come across motherboards from a decade ago and observe its layout, you would spot two
additional chips next to the CPU. Together, these chips were called a motherboard’s chipset, and
individually were referred to as the Northbridge (NB) and the Southbridge (SB) chips. They were
responsible for handling everything from system memory (Northbridge), graphics card, and storage
instructions in old motherboards. They essentially acted as the computer’s minor brain.

An old-school motherboard
with a dedicated northbridge chip

The above image is of an old Intel motherboard, which clearly shows the NB/SB chips – one is hidden
under an aluminum heatsink, but the one further from the CPU is not. The one which is closest to the
CPU is the Northbridge, while the one further away is the Southbridge. This configuration with a separate
northbridge and southbridge was so successful that it remained an industry standard for years.

But as processor design started to integrate more functions onto fewer components, the memory
controller (northbridge), which handled transmissions between the processor and memory was moved
onto the processor die by AMD and Intel starting from 2010. The companies argued that having the
memory controller integrated into the CPU die not only saved space on the motherboard but was also one
of the best ways to reduce latency from the CPU to memory.

The Southbridge chipset, though, has remained a separate entity and is likely to be so for the foreseeable
future. Also, both the major CPU manufacturers – AMD and Intel – have stopped calling it the southbridge
 and instead just refer to it as the chipset. Intel has gone further in the recent years and named it the PCH,
or platform controller hub. AMD, on the other hand, has named it the Fusion controller.

Chipsets and Features

So what does a chipset do in modern motherboards? This chip is essentially an advanced controller, one
which handles multiple types of connections like USB, SATA, or PCIe. The chipset acts as a secondary
brain for your computer and has been delegated the work to make sure high-speed components like
drives and USB devices can efficient communicate with the CPU.

The quality of the chipset, thus, determines how many high-speed components or USB devices your
motherboard can support. Moreover, the chipset model also decide how much a motherboard costs. As
with most hardware, newer means better and typically more expensive, and chipsets are no different.

So which chipset should I buy? Now, this is where things get complicated, as comparing motherboard
specs and motherboard chipsets can feel difficult. Again, like most things in tech, chipsets (and
motherboards) carry cryptic names featuring just letters and numbers. If you’re not familiar with chipset
naming schemes, the nomenclature is unlikely to make sense.

In both AMD and Intel’s case, keep in mind the single letter followed by a few numbers, as they use a
similar naming style. However, they do not use the same letters and the performance categories do differ.
In Intel’s case, most modern chipsets use the letter H,B,Q,Z and W, such as the Intel H610 or Z690. The
Z line of motherboards are usually the high-performance ones, while the H line is the budget option. AMD,
on the other hand, use A,B and X with motherboard models such as X570 or B550.

Below we have a comparison between the high-end Z690 chipset and the entry-level H610, which are
both Intel 12th-Gen chipsets. The idea of this comparative analysis is to showcase the huge feature
differences that can exist between different motherboards.
Key Features Intel Z690 Intel H610

CPU overclocking support Yes No

Max memory slots 4 2

USB ports 14 (includes 3.2 USB) 10 (does not include 3.2 USB)

PCI-E Lanes 32 16

Max SATA ports 8 4

There are also some intangible differences between the motherboard chipsets which aren’t apparent on
the specs sheet. More expensive motherboards usually have better quality components. This is fairly
evident when we look at the common failure point on inexpensive motherboards, which are usually cheap
capacitors.

Furthermore, expensive motherboards often have more layers in the actual PCB, which makes them
more resistant to heat and stress. This makes more expensive motherboards a better choice if you intend
to put high performance components that get hot or are power hungry.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

 Which motherboard should I get?

If you’re in the market for a new PC, one of the most important decisions you’ll make is to choose on
which motherboard to buy. And since motherboard prices and specifications vary tremendously, making
the right decision can be a bit tricky. So while, a full buyer’s guide is out of the confines of this article,
there some things which you can keep in your mind while purchasing.

The two most important factors, which you should keep in mind are the features and the form-
factor you want for you build. For example, if you want Thunderbolt support in your next PC build, you will
probably have to go with an Intel motherboard. Few select AMD motherboards support the technology but
it’s mostly found on Intel boards, as Intel helped create it. Need the best multicore performance? You will
want AMD here. Threadripper or Ryzen 5000 chips have a significant core count advantage over existing
Intel HEDT choices and so on.

This further applies to the question of which chipset to buy? Depending on your use case, you should
figure out what are the features you really need. Need lots of USB or audio connections for your audio
setup? Buy a chipset like the Z690 that has more USB slots. How about HDMI integrated into the
motherboard? Look for a motherboard model that supports this feature. We recommend that if you’re
buying a motherboard, do have a look at its spec sheets, as it might just help in making your decision a lot
easier.

Will my new Motherboard support the newest Intel/ AMD CPUs?

With new processors coming in every year, knowing which motherboard will support the newest Intel or
AMD chips can be difficult. This why we have listed all the latest processors and chipsets that are
currently popular in the PC marketplace. For a detailed breakdown of all Intel chips and supported
processors, you can have a look here.

Starting off with Intel, here are all the Intel 12th Gen chips that will slot into the LGA 1700 socket:
Core i3 Core i5 Core i7 Core i9 Others

Core i3-12300 Core i5-12600K Core i7-12700K Core i9-12900F Pentium Gold G7400

Core i3-12300T Core i5-12600 Core i7-12700KF Core i9-12900KF Pentium Gold G4700T

Core i3-12100 Core i5-12500 Core i7-12700 Core i9-12900 Pentium Gold G6900

Core i3-12100F Core i5-12400 Core i7-12700F Core i9-1290F Pentium Gold G6900T

Core i5-12400F Core i7-12700T Core i9-12900 T

However, if you’re looking to upgrade your chip in an older Intel socket, remember that unlike the LGA
1700, which is only compatible with the new 12th-Gen chips, older motherboard sockets support
anywhere from 2 to 3 generations of chips. This means that if you’re on a 10th-Gen chip on the LGA 1200
board, there are high chances that you will be able to upgrade to a 11th gen chip relatively easily.
To check what motherboard you have, follow our guide linked here.

In the case of AMD, compatibility is much better as even the Ryzen 5000-series chips run on the same
AM4 platform. So most chips till the 3000-series will run without a problem on older chipsets. However, for
newer 5000-series chips, the list of compatible motherboards have shrunk. But even so, most 300 and
400 series should work with a BIOS update.
 Note: Videocardz, an online website, has a compilation of BOIS updates of all supported Ryzen-5000
series motherboard. So if you have a old motherboard and want to know if it’s compatible, have a
look here. Also, learn how to enter BIOS/UEFI on Windows 11 using this dedicated guide.

What PC cases are compatible with my Motherboard?

The simple answer to this question is – it depends. There are certain PC cases that can fit all types of
standard motherboards, but then there are a few that do not. To understand this better, we should have a
look the different PC case sizes. There are essentially four common sizes for PC cases:

1. Small Form Factor

2. Mini Tower
3. Mid Tower
4. Full Tower

There are additional sizes such as Ultra Tower and HTPC, but they serve a specialized purpose and are
generally not intended for typical commercial home, office, or gaming PC needs.

Each of these case sizes have recommended motherboard sizes that they can accommodate. For
example, a small form factor PC is the best use case scenario for Mini-ITX motherboards that we
discussed earlier. But it does not mean all cases are exclusive to specific motherboard sizes.

A mid-tower PC case, particularly intended for ATX motherboards, can fit the smaller sizes M-ATX and
mini-ITX motherboards. So yeah, the recommended case sizes are just a kind of guideline, which tell you
the best case scenario for the given motherboard.They are not to be read as gospel. So if you already
have a M-ATX board and you want to change you PC case, you should have a range of choices for new
case, as you can use either small factor cases or even the larger Mid-tower cases.
Dissecting the Motherboard Structure

And we are done! We have successfully looked at every major component on a modern motherboard in
2022. We know it wasn’t the easiest deconstruction to follow, but as we all know motherboards are big,
complex circuit boards that are packed with cutting-edge technology, so the detailed explanations. There
is so much history and technology that is etched in every corner of the motherboard. But at the same
time, we often forget about them as they sit in our PC case.

We hope that you have come out of this exercise with a bit more knowledge about the motherboard and
now have a greater appreciation of its functions. We have also tried to answer some of the most common
questions that people have when choosing a new motherboard above. But if you have any more doubts,
do let us know in the comment section below.
History and evolution of memory cards
A memory card is an electronic data storage device used for storing digital information, typically using flash
memory. Read about history and evolution of memory cards, their advantages and disadvantages and the future of
flash memory in this blog post.
What is flash memory and where is it used?
Flash memory is a compact, widely used electronic storage medium, that can be electrically erased and
reprogrammed. It can store data for long periods of time without being connected to a power supply (its memory
is non-volatile, unlike RAM). There are two types of flash memory, using the same basic technology with slightly
different ways of reading and writing data – NAND and NOR flash memory.
Flash memory cards are commonly used in portable electronic devices, such as digital cameras, mobile phones,
laptops, computers, tablets, PDAs, portable media players, video game consoles, etc. Basically, it is hard to go a
day without using at least one device that uses a flash memory card nowadays.
But how did it all start?
Though the flash memory concept came about in the early 1980s, the first memory card format for commercial use
- PC cards didn't appear until 1990.
(1) History and evolution of flash memory cards
The 1980s: Toshiba developed NOR-type flash memory from EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-
only memory) in the early 1980s and introduced it to the market in 1984. In 1991 first NAND-type flash
memory technology was presented to the market, also by Toshiba. The NAND-type flash memory was a new (and
improved) configuration that reduced the memory cell area so that a lower bit cost could be achieved. Both types
of flash memory were invented by Dr. Fujio Masuoka while working for Toshiba in the 1980s.
1990: PC Cards (PCMCIA) were the first commercial memory card formats. The PC Card is a memory device
designed to fit into a personal computer (notebook or laptop) for memory expansion, developed by the Personal
Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA), hence its name. It had three types, all differing in
thickness and was offered in a 16-bit or 32-bit version. This breakthrough led to many kinds of devices being made
available based on the PC Card configurability, including network cards, modems and hard disks. PC Cards are now
mainly used in industrial applications and to connect devices such as modems. Since 1994, a number of memory
card formats smaller than the PC Card arrived, the first one being the CompactFlash Card.
1994: Compact Flash I (CF-I) & II (CF-II) are flash memory mass storage devices used mainly in portable electronic
devices. The format and the devices were first specified and manufactured by SanDisk in 1994 in two versions
which differed in thickness. The CF is physically larger than other flash cards and originally used NOR-type flash
memory, which could execute programs straight from flash without the need to copy to a device’s random access
memory (RAM). CompactFlash remains popular and is supported by many professional devices and high-end
consumer devices like Canon and Nikon digital cameras. CF cards have the capacity of up to 512 GB.
1995: SmartMedia Card (SM/SMC) is a NAND-based flash memory card standard owned by Toshiba which was
launched in 1995 as a successor to the computer floppy disk. The capacities of SmartMedia memory cards ranged
from 2 MB to 128 MB, which is not a lot in today's photos. A SmartMedia card consisted of a single NAND chip
embedded in a thin plastic card and it was one of the smallest and thinnest of the early memory cards (only 0.76
mm thick), which made it prone to damage from bending. Typically they were used as storage for portable devices
and were especially popular in digital cameras. In 2001 they garnered nearly half of the digital camera market. The
format started to exhibit problems as camera resolutions increased. Cards larger than 128 MB were not available,
and the compact digital cameras were reaching a size where even SmartMedia cards were too big to be
convenient. Eventually, Toshiba switched to smaller, higher-capacity Secure Digital cards (SD cards) in
1999. SmartMedia memory cards are no longer manufactured.
1997: Multimedia Card (MMC) was introduced in 1997 by SanDisk and Siemens AG. MMCs are available in sizes
up 512 GB and are used in consumer electronics. Since the introduction of SD cards (in 1999) MMCs lost their
popularity, but the embedded MMC (eMMC) is still widely used as a mean of internal storage in portable
devices that can reside inside an Android or Windows Phone or even a low-cost PC as a replacement for a more
expensive, traditional solid-state drive.

1998: Memory Stick (MS) is a removable flash memory card format, launched by Sony in late 1998. It was available
in sizes from 4 MB to 128 MB. Later on many revisions with greater maximum storage capacity, faster transfer
speeds and smaller sizes were introduced to the market. Sony exclusively used Memory Stick on its products (such
as Cyber-shot digital cameras, WEGA, VAIO PCs and the PlayStation Portable handheld game console) in the 2000s.
But with the increasing popularity of SD cards, in 2010 Sony started to also support the SD card format. Today,
Sony digital cameras use SD and SDHC memory cards and with no new cards being released since 2010, the Sony
Memory Stick will most likely be discontinued.
1999: Secure Digital card (SD) is a memory card format developed by the SD Card Association (SDA) for use in
portable devices. It was introduced in 1999 as a joint effort between SanDisk, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric) and
Toshiba, as an improvement over MultiMediaCards (MMC), and has since become the industry standard.
2000: USB (Universal Serial Bus) was released and sold on the commercial market by IBM and Trek Technology.
The USB drive is a plug and play data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface.
USB sticks are often used for storage, data back-up and transfer of files and are available in various different sizes.
They are supported by modern operating systems such as Windows, Linux, macOS and other Unix-like systems, as
well as many BIOS-based systems.
2003: The miniSD card form was introduced in 2003, as a smaller version of the SD card. While the new cards were
designed especially for mobile phones, they are usually packaged with a miniSD adapter that provides
compatibility with a standard SD memory card slot. In 2005 the micro SD cards were introduced, available in
capacities of 32, 64, and 128 MB, followed by micro M2 cards (from 64 MB to 16 GB) and micro SDHC cards (2 GB
up to 32 GB) in 2006. Cards were evolving in capacity and speed.
2010: SDXC memory cards (Secure Digital Extended Capacity) launched in 2010, with the same dimensions as
previous versions but beginning at 64 GB of storage space and going up to 2 TB, while also being dust-proof,
waterproof and being able to resist pressures up to 16 kg all while being super-fast. The card uses Microsoft's
exFAT file system to handle large data volumes and files. micro SDXC version is also available. At this point,
everything is about speed, size, reliability, storage space and robustness.

2016: Universal Flash Storage (UFS) from Samsung is flash memory storage for digital cameras, mobile phones and
consumer electronic devices. It aims to bring higher data transfer speed and increased reliability to flash memory
storage. The UFS technology allows writing and reading data to the storage at the same time and is positioned to
replace eMMCs and SD cards (which can only do one operation at a time). Samsung already uses the UFS in some
of its phones. They launched UFS memory cards with 32, 64, 128 and 256 GB of space. But, while UFS cards have
much better speed and battery utilization, SD cards are still more popular and preferred by vendors.
2018: SDUC announced in June 2018 follows in the footsteps of the original SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards, raising the
maximum storage capacity level again (from 2 TB to 128 TB) and increasing speed again (1.58x compared to the
previous version, to be exact). But there is no definite date when we'll be seeing these cards in the market.
(2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of flash memory?
 Memory
cards are
reliable as
they have
no
moving
parts and
they are
not
affected
by
magnetic
fields.
Their
memory
is non-
volatile,
which
ensures
the
stability
of the
data on
the card. They are free of mechanical problems or damage (and for the average user very durable). Just don't drop
a rock on it intentionally. They are small, lightweight and compact, which makes them portable. They have high
storage capacity which makes it easy for the user to achieve increased storage (for example in a smartphone with
limited storage space). They have low power requirements (which means no killing your battery), allow immediate
access to data (and easy access on PC with a card reader), can be used in different devices easily and are thus
easily removable. Finally, they are offered in all sorts of sizes and reusable/rewritable - the contents of the memory
card can be deleted and the card can be used an re-used. And yet all that does not mean that they are flawless.
Even though the general design of a memory card makes it resilient to physical damage, it doesn’t ensure
complete protection. Memory can be lost, misplaced, crushed and electronically corrupted and thus unreadable.
They tend to be slower than primary memory and they have finite read/write cycles which means they are
degrading gradually. They can potentially store data for as long as 10 years without degradation but their lifespan
is finite so it is important for the user to keep backups of the data stored on memory cards, to be on the safe side.
(3) And the future of flash memory?
The development progress of memory cards goes in parallel with the increasing complexity of the technology of
mobile phones, digital cameras and other electronic devices, generally leading to decrease in size and price of
cards and an increase in speed (faster read and write speeds) and higher storage capacity the memory cards offer
to the users.
Vast improvements in flash memory cards have made significant growth in digital camera sales possible, but let's
not forget the sales of other consumer products – TV's, cellphones, music players, personal digital assistants, video
game consoles, camcorders and other that use flash memory. In the future, even smaller versions of flash memory
cards will routinely be introduced to the market, offering consumers an easy way to transfer their data from one
device to another at higher speeds, and in view of its current importance, flash memory will be seen in widespread
use for many years to come.

Laptop computer history

1975
IBM 5100
The first portable computer was the IBM 5100, released in September 1975. It weighed 55-pounds, which was
much lighter and more portable than any other computer to date. While not truly a laptop by today's standards, it
paved the way for developing truly portable computers, i.e., laptops.

1976
Alan Kay created the idea of the laptop in 1976 while working at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), calling it
the Dynabook. He helped develop a prototype of his Dynabook, which was officially named the Xerox Note Taker.

1979
Bill Moggridge designed the GRiD Compass in 1979, the most portable computer at the time and the closest
example of a laptop computer. NASA used the GRiD Compass in its space shuttle program in the early 1980s.

1981
Developed by Adam Osborne in April 1981, the Osborne I was the first truly portable computer and was recognized
as the first true laptop computer. It weighed 24½-pounds and had a 5" display.

Epson released the Epson HX-20 in 1981. It was the first portable computer with a built-in printer.

1983
Radio Shack released the TRS-80 Model 100 portable computer in the United States in 1983. It featured an LCD
(liquid-crystal display), one of the first portable computers with that feature. The TRS-80 Model 100 was originally
manufactured by Kyocera and sold in Japan, but later the rights were sold to Radio Shack.

1984
Commodore released the Commodore SX-64 in 1984, the first portable computer to feature a full-color display
screen. It weighed about 20-pounds and sold for $995.

1986
IBM released its first laptop, the PC Convertible, in 1986. It weighed 12-pounds, making it the first laptop under 15-
pounds.

1987
The U.S. Air Force issued an RFP (request for proposal), leading to the purchase of over 200,000 laptops. The
contract for the manufacturing and purchase of these laptops was awarded to Zenith Data Systems. The Air Force's
purchase of so many laptops helped pave the way for the popularity of laptop computers.

Hewlett-Packard released the Vectra Portable CS laptop in 1987. It was one of the first laptops to feature a 3 ½"
floppy disk drive capable of using 1.44 MB diskettes.

1988
Compaq logo
Compaq released its first laptop computer in 1988, the Compaq SLT/286. It was the first battery-powered laptop to
feature VGA (video graphics adapter) and an internal hard drive.

1989
Apple logo
Apple released its first laptop, the Macintosh Portable, in September 1989. Costing $6500 at release, it did not sell
well and was not a popular laptop.
NEC released the NEC UltraLite in 1989, considered to be the first notebook style laptop, weighing less than 5-
pounds.

1991
After the flop of its Macintosh Portable laptop, Apple re-worked its laptop concept and released the PowerBook
line of laptops in October 1991.

1992
IBM started selling its first ThinkPad laptop models, the 300, 700, and 700C, in October 1992.

Microsoft and Intel worked together to develop and release APM (advanced power management) specification for
laptop computers.

Olivetti developed and released the first laptops featuring a touchpad in 1992.

1993
Considered as the first 2-in-1 laptop, the Compaq Concerto was released in 1993, featuring a detachable wired
keyboard and stylus.

1994
IBM released the ThinkPad 775CD in 1994, the first laptop to feature an integrated CD-ROM (compact disc read-
only memory) drive.

1996
The first laptop to feature an Intel Pentium processor, the Gateway Solo 2100, was released in 1996.

IBM released the RS/6000 860 laptop in 1996, the first laptop to feature a built-in webcam, with a $12,000 price
tag.

1997
Toshiba released the first laptop in its popular Portege line, the Portege 300CT, in 1997.

2002
Toshiba released the Toshiba Portege 2000 in 2002, the thinnest laptop to be developed at only ¾ of an inch at the
thickest part. It also featured the first 1.8-inch hard drive in a laptop.

2003
Apple announced its new PowerBook G4 laptop, the first laptop with a 17-inch screen, 802.11g Wi-Fi, and a backlit
keyboard.

Toshiba released the Toshiba Portege M100 in 2003, which was the first laptop to feature a slim DVD (digital
versatile disc) drive.

2006
Apple began using Intel processors in its laptops in 2006.

Apple released its first MacBook Pro laptop in January 2006, featuring a 15-inch screen.
2007
ASUS released the Eee PC 701 in October 2007, which was the first netbook to be available. It featured a 7" screen,
an Intel Celeron-M processor, and a 4 GB SDHC storage disk.

2008
Apple released its first MacBook Air laptop in January 2008, touting it as the thinnest available laptop.

HP (Hewlett-Packard) released its new TouchSmart tx2 laptop, the first 2-in-1 laptop with multi-touch capabilities,
allowing for use of a stylus or multiple fingers for input.

2011
Acer and Samsung announce the release of its first Chromebook models at the Google I/O conference in May 2011.

2023
In January 2023, Samsung announced they were beginning to manufacture the first OLED (organic light-emitting
diode) screens for laptops, in sizes of 13 inches and 16 inches. The OLED screens feature touch screen capabilities,
3K resolution, and up to a 120 Hz refresh rate.

A portable computer is a computer designed to be easily moved[1] from one place to another, as opposed to those
designed to remain stationary at a single location such as desktops and workstations. These computers usually
include a display and keyboard that are directly connected to the main case, all sharing a single power
plug together, much like later desktop computers called all-in-ones (AIO) that integrate the system's internal
components into the same case as the display.[2] In modern usage, a portable computer usually refers to a very
light and compact personal computer such as a laptop, miniature or pocket-sized computer, while touchscreen-
based handheld ("palmtop") devices such as tablet, phablet and smartphone are called mobile devices instead.
The first commercially sold portable computer might be the 20-pound (9.1 kg) MCM/70, released 1974. The next
major portables were the 50-pound (23 kg) IBM 5100 (1975), Osborne's 24-pound (11 kg) CP/M-based Osborne
1 (1981) and Compaq's 28-pound (13 kg), advertised as 100% IBM PC compatible Compaq Portable (1983).
These luggable computers still required a continuous connection to an external power source;[3] this limitation was
later overcome by the laptop computers.[4][3] Laptops were followed by lighter models such as netbooks, so that in
the 2000s mobile devices and by 2007 smartphones made the term "portable" rather meaningless. The 2010s
introduced wearable computers such as smartwatches.[5]
Portable computers, by their nature, are generally microcomputers.[6] Larger portable computers were commonly
known as 'Lunchbox' or 'Luggable' computers. They are also called 'Portable Workstations' or 'Portable PCs'. In
Japan they were often called 'Bentocom'. (ベントコン, Bentokon) from "bento".[citation needed]
Portable computers, more narrowly defined, are distinct from desktop replacement computers in that they usually
were constructed from full-specification desktop components, and often do not incorporate features associated
with laptops or mobile devices. A portable computer in this usage, versus a laptop or other mobile
computing device, have a standard motherboard or backplane providing plug-in slots for add-in cards. This allows
mission specific cards such as test, A/D, or communication protocol (IEEE-488, 1553) to be installed. Portable
computers also provide for more disk storage by using standard disk drives and provide for multiple drives.
Early history[edit]
SCAMP[edit]
In 1973, the IBM Los Gatos Scientific Center developed a portable computer prototype called SCAMP (Special
Computer APL Machine Portable) based on the IBM PALM processor with a Philips compact cassette drive,
small CRT and full function keyboard. SCAMP emulated an IBM 1130 minicomputer in order to run APL\1130.[7] In
1973, APL was generally available only on mainframe computers, and most desktop sized microcomputers such as
the Wang 2200 or HP 9800 offered only BASIC. Because SCAMP was the first to emulate APL\1130 performance on
a portable, single user computer, PC Magazine in 1983 designated SCAMP a "revolutionary concept" and "the
world's first personal computer".[8][9] The engineering prototype is in the Smithsonian Institution.[10]
Xerox NoteTaker[edit]
Xerox NoteTaker, developed in 1976 at Xerox PARC, was a precursor to later portable computers from Osborne
Computer Corporation and Compaq, though it remained a prototype and did not enter production.
IBM 5100[edit]

IBM 5100 (1975)

Successful demonstrations of the 1973 SCAMP prototype led to the first commercial IBM 5100 portable
microcomputer launched in 1975. The product incorporated an IBM PALM processor, 5-inch (130 mm) CRT, full
function keyboard and the ability to be programmed in both APL and BASIC for engineers, analysts, statisticians
and other business problem-solvers. (IBM provided different models of the 5100 supporting only BASIC, only APL,
or both selectable by a physical switch on the front panel.)[11][12] IBM referred to its PALM processor as
a microprocessor, though they used that term to mean a processor that executes microcode to implement a
higher-level instruction set, rather than its conventional definition of a complete processor on a
single silicon integrated circuit; the PALM processor was a large circuit board populated with over a dozen chips. In
the late 1960s, such a machine would have been nearly as large as two desks and would have weighed about half a
ton (0.45 t). In comparison, the IBM 5100 weighed about 53 pounds (24 kg and very portable for that time).[13]
MIT Suitcase Computer[edit]
The MIT Suitcase Computer, constructed in 1975, was the first known microprocessor-based portable computer. It
was based on the Motorola 6800. Constructed in a Samsonite suitcase approximately 20 by 30 by 8 inches
(510 mm × 760 mm × 200 mm) and weighing approximately 20 lb (9.1 kg), it had 4K of SRAM, a serial port to
accept downloaded software and connect to a modem, a keyboard and a 40-column thermal printer taken from a
cash register. Built by student David Emberson in the MIT Digital Systems Laboratory as a thesis project, it never
entered production. It is currently in the collection of Dr. Hoo-Min D. Toong.[citation needed]
Micro Star or Small One[edit]
An early portable computer was manufactured in 1979 by GM Research,[14] a small company in Santa Monica,
California. The machine which was designed and patented by James Murez. It was called the Micro Star and later
the name was changed to The Small One. Although Xerox claims to have designed the first such system, the
machine by Murez predated anything on the market or that had been documented in any publication at the time –
hence the patent was issued. As early as 1979, the U.S. Government was contracting to purchase these machines.
Other major customers included Sandia Labs, General Dynamics, BBN (featured on the cover of their annual report
in 1980 as the C.A.T. system) and several dozen private individuals and companies around the world. In
1979, Adam Osborne viewed the machine along with several hundred other visitors at the first computer show
that was sponsored by the IEEE Westec in Los Angeles. Later that year the machine was also shown at the
first COMDEX show.
Portal R2E CCMC[edit]
 R2E CCMC Portal laptop in September 1980 at the SICOB show in PARIS
The portable micro computer; the "Portal" of the French company R2E Micral CCMC officially appeared in
September 1980 at the Sicob show in Paris. The Portal was a portable microcomputer designed and marketed by
the studies and developments department of the French firm R2E Micral in 1980 at the request of the company
CCMC specializing in payroll and accounting. The Portal was based on an intel 8085 processor, 8-bit, clocked at
2 MHz. It was equipped with a central 64 KB 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 / sec, an asynchronous channel, a synchronous channel, a 220 V power supply. Designed for an
operating temperature of 15–35 °C (59–95 °F), it weighed 12 kilograms (26 lb) and its dimensions were 45 cm
× 45 cm × 15 cm (17.7 in × 17.7 in × 5.9 in). It provided total mobility. Its operating system was Prolog. A few
hundred were sold between 1980 and 1983.
Osborne 1[edit]

Osborne 1 (1981)
The first mass-produced microprocessor-based portable computer released in 1981 was the Osborne 1, developed
by Osborne, which owed much to the NoteTaker's design. The company had early success with the design and
went public but later due to small screen sizes and other devices being released found trouble selling the Osborne.
[15]
The Osborne 1 is about the size and weight of a sewing machine, and was advertised as the only computer that
would fit underneath an airline seat.[16]
Kaypro[edit]
Another early portable computer released in 1982 was named the Kaypro II, although it was the company's first
commercially available product. Some of the press mocked its design—one magazine described Kaypro
Corporation as "producing computers packaged in tin cans".[17] Others raved about its value, as the company
advertised the Kaypro II as "the $1,595 computer that sells for $1,595",[18] some noting that the included software
bundle had a retail value over $1,000 by itself, and by mid-1983 the company was selling more than 10,000 units a
month, briefly making it the fifth-largest computer maker in the world. It managed to correct most of the Osborne
1's deficiencies: the screen was larger and showed more characters at once, the floppy drives stored over twice as
much data, the case was more attractive-looking, and it was also much better-built and more reliable.
Grid Compass[edit]
 Grid Compass (1982)
The Grid Compass ran its own operating system, GRiD-OS. Its specialized software and high price (US$8,000–
10,000) meant that it was limited to specialized applications. The main buyer was the U.S. government. NASA used
it on the Space Shuttle during the early 1980s, as it was powerful, lightweight, and compact. The military Special
Forces also purchased the machine, as it could be used by paratroopers in combat.[19]
Post-IBM PC portables[edit]
Compaq Portable and competitors[edit]
Although Columbia Data Product's MPC 1600, "Multi Personal Computer" came out in June 1983,[20][21] one of the
first extensively IBM PC compatible computers was the Compaq Portable. Eagle Computer then came out with
their offering.[22] and Corona Data Systems's PPC-400.,[23] the "portable" Hyperion Computer System.[24] Both Eagle
Computer and Columbia were sued by IBM for copyright infringement of its BIOS. They settled and were forced to
halt production. Neither the Columbia nor the Eagle were nearly as IBM PC DOS compatible as Compaq's offerings.
Commodore SX-64[edit]
The first full-color portable computer was the Commodore SX-64 in January 1984..
Atari STacy[edit]
Originally announced in 1987, the Atari STacy was released to the public in December 1989 and was one of the first
laptop-like portables.[25][26]
Apple Macintosh[edit]
Apple Inc. introduced and released the Macintosh Portable in 1989, though this device came with a battery, which
added to its substantial weight. The Portable has features similar to the Atari STacy, include integrated trackball
and clamshell case.
IBM PS/2 Portable[edit]
After release of IBM PC Convertible in 1986, IBM still produced classic portable computers, include released in
1989 PS/2 P70 (with upgrade in 1990 to P75), and IBM produce portables for up to release of PS/2
Note and PS/55note notebook lines.
Modern portables[edit]
In today's world of laptops, smart phones, and tablets, portable computers have evolved and are now mostly used
for industrial, commercial or military applications.[27][28][29][30]
Timeline[edit]
Year Price CPU @ MHz Computer name Comment
Vacuum tube: Diode gates, tube
For the military,
1954 amplifiers and electrical delay DYSEAC
movable by truck.
lines @ 1
For the military,
~US$86,074 Custom vacuum tube CPU @ movable by truck. Used
1955 Monrobot V
(940,000 in 2022) 0.01 for surveying and
mapmaking.
 ~US$70,500
Transistorized: Printed circuit For the military,
1957 (734,600 in 2022) RECOMP I CP-266
cards @ ? movable by two men.
/ RECOMP II
Truck-based for the
military, five were built
and deployed. Sylvania
later offered a
~US$1,600,000
commercial version as
(16,100,000 in Custom transistor CPU (inverter
1959 MOBIDIC the S 9400.
2022) / MOBIDIC logic) @ 1 / MOBIDIC B
Clock speed is unknown
A
but ADD instructions
are documented as
taking 16μs, i.e. ~62k
ADD/s.
~US$6,900,000
(68,300,000 in For the military,
1960 Modular circuit boards @ 0.448 FADAC
2022) movable by two men.
(development)[31]
Truck-based for
~US$125,600 Standard Modular System with military,[32][33] also
1960 (1,230,000 in complementary diode-transistor IBM 1401 touring
2022) logic @ 0.087 Datamobile[34] for
demos.
Portable as the control
computer for
~US$40,500
commercial mobile
1960 (396,600 in 2022) Plug-in circuit modules @ 2[36][37] PB 250
[35] (by van) data systems.
Can operate entirely
from a battery.
~US$500,000
For the military,
1961 (4,900,000 in Custom transistor CPU @ 1 BASICPAC
movable by truck.
2022)
~US$40,000 Circuit modules (micromodular)
1962 L-2010 For the military.
(390,000 in 2022) [38]
@?
1967 Integrated circuit @ ? CDC 449 For the military.[39][40][41]
IBM 5100 Portable
1975 US$8975 IBM PALM processor @ 1.9 64K = US$17,975.
Computer[42]
1975 US$4000 Motorola 6800 @ 1 MIT Suitcase 4K SRAM, approx.
Computer 20 lbs. Built by David
Emberson in the MIT
Digital Systems
Laboratory as a thesis
project. Currently in the
collection of Dr. Hoo-
 Min D. Toong.
1976 US$50,000 Z80? @ 1 Xerox NoteTaker
1977 US$2495 Z80 Versatile 2[43][44]
1978 US$10,225 IBM PALM processor @ 1.9 IBM 5110[45]
20-character
1979 US$375 6502 @ 1, 1K Rockwell AIM-65 alphanumeric display.
[43][46][47]

Hewlett-Packard
1979 US$3250 Custom HP 8-bit @ 0.613
Model 85[48]
1980 ? PA512 Made in Serbia.
TRS-80 Pocket
1980 US$230 SC43177, SC43178
Computer[49]
1980 Intel 8085 @ 2.0 Portal R2E CCMC The Portal was a
portable
microcomputer
designed and marketed
by the studies and
developments
department of the
French firm R2E Micral
in 1980 at the request
of the company CCMC
specializing in payroll
and accounting. It was
equipped with a central
64 KB RAM, a keyboard
with 58 alpha numeric
keys and 11 numeric
keys (separate blocks),
a 32-character screen, a
floppy disk: capacity =
140000 characters, of a
thermal printer: speed
= 28 characters /
second, an
asynchronous channel,
a synchronous channel,
a 220 V power supply.
Designed for an
operating temperature
of 15–35 °C, it weighed
12 kg and its
dimensions were 45 x
45 x 15 cm. It provided
total mobility. Its
 operating system was
PROLOGUE.
1981 US$1795 Z80 @ 4.0 Osborne 1
1981 US$795 2× Hitachi 6301 @ 0.614 Epson HX-20[50]
1981 Z80 compatible Husky (computer)[51]
Columbia Data
1982 8088 @ 4.77
Products
1982 Z80A @ 4 Grundy NewBrain
1982 Z80 @ 2.5 Kaypro
1982 US$8000[52] 8086 @ ? Grid Compass 1100 NASA laptop
1982 Z80 @ 4.0 Osborne Executive
1983 x86 Hyperion (computer)
1983 x86 Compaq Portable
1983 US$1099 80C85 @ 2.4 TRS-80 Model 100 40 × 8 LCD
1983 Z80A, 8086, 128K Seequa Chameleon[43]
1983 Z80A @ 3.4 Sord IS-11
1983 US$1595 Z80A @ 4 Zorba
1984 US$4225 8088 @ 4.77 IBM 5155[53]
1984 Z80 Actrix (computer)
~1984 8088 @ 4.77 Bondwell-8
1984 US$995 Z80 @ 2.45 Epson PX-8 Geneva[54]
First portable with color
1984 6502 @ 1.02 Commodore SX-64
display
1984 x86 Data General-One
1984 Z80 @ 4.0 Osborne Vixen
1984 80C88 ZP-150
Calculator
1984 US$595 HP-71B
programmable in BASIC
80 × 16 LCD, 300-baud
1984 US$2995 Harris 80C86 @ 5.33 HP 110
modem
First portable computer
with 25-line LCD.
Included speech
1984 1965 GBP 8086 @ 4.77 Apricot Portable
recognition, wireless
keyboard, and optional
wireless mouse
1985 US$995 Z80 @ 4 Bondwell-2
 80 × 25 LCD, 1200-baud
1985 Harris 80C86 @ 5.33 HP 110 Plus
modem
1985 US$1899 Toshiba T1100 80C88 @ 4.77 Toshiba T1100 80 × 25 LCD
1986 8088 @ 4.77 IBM 5140
1986 Intel 80286 @ 8 Compaq Portable II
1986 ? LPA512
1987 Z80 Cambridge Z88
1988 Intel 8088 NEC UltraLite
1988 US$2299 [55] 68HC000 @ 8 Atari STacy
1989 Intel 8088 @ 4.9152 Atari Portfolio
1989 US$2000 Intel 80C88 @ 7 Poqet PC (Classic)
1989 8086 @ 9.55 Compaq LTE
1989 Motorola 68000 @ 16 Macintosh Portable
1989 Motorola 68000 @ 15 Outbound Laptop
1991 Motorola 68000 @ 8 ST BOOK[56][57]
1991 NEC V20 @ 5.37 HP 95LX
Apple PowerBook
1991 US$2300 Motorola 68000 @ 16
100
1992 IBM 486SLC @ 25 IBM ThinkPad 700 The first ThinkPad
1992 Z80, 64K Amstrad NC100
1992 US$4950 CY601 + CY604 @ 25 SPARCbook1 Unix with SunOS
1993 Intel "Hornet" 80186 @ 7.91 HP 100LX
1993 ? AlphaSmart
1994 Intel "Hornet" 80186 @ 7.91 HP 200LX
IBM ThinkPad 701c and
701Cs, famous for their
IBM ThinkPad
1995 Intel 80486DX4 @ 75 "Butterfly Keyboard"
Butterfly keyboard
which slides into place
when opening the lid
The first Toughbook, an
Panasonic Toughbook
1996 Intel Pentium @ 133 example of a
CF-25
ruggedized laptop
An average late-1990s
1997 Intel Pentium @ 150 IBM ThinkPad 380
notebook
2001 SA-1110 @ 206 SIMpad
2001 Intel Mobile Pentium III-M @ Dell Precision M40 One of the world's first
1.2 mobile workstation
 notebooks
An early example of a
gaming laptop: high
2002 Intel Pentium 4 @ 2.4 Alienware Area 51-M performance desktop
components in a
notebook
Notable for its ultra
high resolution
2003 Intel Pentium M @ 1.7 IBM ThinkPad R50p
2048x1536 (QXGA)
display option