Laptop - Portable computer that can perform all the tasks of a desktop computer
Notebook - Small and lightweight version of a portable computer. use flat panel technologies to produce a lightweight display screen
Subnotebook – Smaller and lighter version of notebook. Generally have smaller keyboards and screens as compared to notebooks and usually have external drives
Palmtop - Also known as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) that can fit in the palm of a hand. Uses pen/stylus for input. Most palmtops do not have disk drives because of their size limitations.
Most important point to be considered while designing a laptop is its portability
Design characteristics of a laptop are :
Motherboard
Memory – Use SODIMM and size varies between 16MB to 1 GB
Microprocessor – Has multiple sleep modes and operates at lower voltage
Hard Drives – size varies from 6 to 80 GB
Floppy Drives
CD and DVD Drives
Batteries - different types of batteries used by laptops include nickel-cadmium, lithium ion and nickel-metal hydride out of which lithium ion batteries are most popular
Device card (PCMCIA card) - used to connect devices such as a fax, modem or memory device and has a 68-pin connector
Infrared ports
I/O Ports
A/C Adapters
Type I – Used mostly for connecting to memory devices
Type II – Typically connects to a modem, a SCSI device or a sound device
Type III – Used to connect to hard drives
Laptop connects and communicates with other devices with the help of the I/O ports
Different I/O ports of a laptop :
Keyboard - Small in size and mostly have additional features that enhance user comfort and most of the keyboards do not have the numeric keypad
Touch pad - Input device which is little larger than credit cards
Trackpoint - Small button located between keys on laptop keyboard used to move cursor on the screen
Display screen – Use Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technology and are are generally between 12 to 17 inches in dimension
Software or hardware problem may occur while using a laptop
Systematically follow troubleshooting steps to detect the cause of the problem and repair it
Different problems that may come across are :
Laptop does not start after turning on
Ctrl+Alt+Delete is not working
CD/DVD drive problem
Laptop is slow and pop-ups continually plague Internet browsers
Blue screen appears with an error message
Laptop shuts down unexpectedly
Battery is running down very fast
