Friday, January 1, 2010

Laptop Hardware.

Artist Edition Laptops

Intel Core iX

A laptop is a personal computer designed for mobile use and small and light enough to sit on a person's lap while in use.[1] A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device (a touchpad, also known as a trackpad, and/or a pointing stick), speakers, and often including a battery, into a single small and light unit. The rechargeable battery (if present) is charged from an AC adapter and typically stores enough energy to run the laptop for three to five hours in its initial state, depending on the configuration and power management of the computer.
Laptops are usually notebook-shaped with thicknesses between 0.7–1.5 inches (18–38 mm) and dimensions ranging from 10x8 inches (27x22cm, 13" display) to 15x11 inches (39x28cm, 17" display) and up. Modern laptops weigh 3 to 12 pounds (1.4 to 5.4 kg); older laptops were usually heavier. Most laptops are designed in the flip form factor to protect the screen and the keyboard when closed. Modern tablet laptops have a complex joint between the keyboard housing and the display, permitting the display panel to swivel and then lie flat on the keyboard housing.
Dell Inspiron Notebooks /Laptops
Laptops were originally considered to be "a small niche market" and were thought suitable mostly for "specialized field applications" such as "the military, the Internal Revenue Service, accountants and sales representatives". But today, there are already more laptops than desktops in businesses, and laptops are becoming obligatory[clarification needed][citation needed] for student use and more popular for general use. In 2008 and 2009 more laptops than desktops were sold in the US

Subnotebook.
A subnotebook, also called an ultraportable by some vendors, is a laptop designed and marketed with an emphasis on portability (small size, low weight and longer battery life) that retains the performance of a standard notebook.[15] Subnotebooks are usually smaller and lighter than standard laptops, weighing between 0.8 and 2 kg (2 to 5 pounds);[10] the battery life can exceed 10 hours[16] when a large battery or an additional battery pack is installed.

To achieve the size and weight reductions, ultraportables use high resolution 13" and smaller screens (down to 6.4"), have relatively few ports (but in any case include two or more USB ports), employ expensive components designed for minimal catapillar size and best power efficiency, and utilize advanced materials and construction methods. Some subnotebooks achieve a further portability improvement by omitting an optical/removable media drive; in this case they may be paired with a docking station that contains the drive and optionally more ports or an additional battery.

The term "subnotebook" is usually reserved to laptops that run general-purpose desktop operating systems such as Windows, Linux or Mac OS X, rather than specialized software such as Windows CE, Palm OS or Internet Tablet OS.

Standards

Some laptop components (optical drives, hard drives, memory and internal expansion cards) are relatively standardized, and it is possible to upgrade or replace them in many laptops as long as the new part is of the same type, mainly the motherboard.[28] Depending on the manufacturer and model, a laptop may range from having several standard, easily customizable and upgradeable parts to a proprietary design that cannot be reconfigured at all. The replacability/upgradability of the hardware can be announced as possitive by the laptop maker.

In general, components other than the four categories listed above are not intended to be replaceable, and thus rarely follow a standard. In particular, some motherboards, locations of ports, and design and placement of internal components are usually make and model specific. Those parts are neither interchangeable with parts from other manufacturers (replacable) nor upgradeable. If broken or damaged, they must be substituted with an exact replacement part. Those users uneducated in the relevant fields are those the most affected by incompatibilities, especially if they attempt to connect their laptops with incompatible hardware or power adapters.

Intel, Asus, Compal, Quanta and other laptop manufacturers have created the Common Building Block standard for laptop parts to address some of the inefficiencies caused by the lack of standards.

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