Sleek, chic, but unsustainable: Why OEMs must rethink laptop design for a greener future
The evolution of computers from the bulky, desktop-bound machines of the 1970s to the ultra-portable laptops of today is nothing short of remarkable. Over the past few decades, consumer demand has driven Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to create lightweight devices that pack serious processing power and are thin enough to slide easily inside a rucksack.
Today's laptops, some coming in at under a kilogram, are a completely different animal to the first portable computers, like the Osborne 1, which weighed more than ten times as much. As our devices become sleeker and easier on the eye, however, aesthetic choices run the risk of glossing over sustainability goals.