15-01-2013, 10:30 AM
Types of Portable Computers
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Introduction
This rather lengthy article on the various components of laptop computers is one that I managed to acquire from one of those infamously anonymous authors from the Digital Point forums. Although the English usage in the original copy was rather choppy in places, I was able to salvage it by applying my editing and proofreading skills.
Relegated a few years ago to primarily office use, the laptop now has a capacity for processing and storage that is close to the desktop, allowing it to easily provide cutting-edge multimedia functions such as DVD, video games, 3D image processing, and many others. Although the price of a laptop remains higher than that of a desktop computer because of its mobility, its use is also more diverse as it can be taken almost anywhere.However, given its small footprint, most parts of the laptop are integrated and can be changed, which is why it is necessary to choose its features and technical specifications according to what you actually want to do with it. An additional advantage is that the integration of all parts by the manufacturer minimizes the risk of conflicts due to incompatible hardware.
Types of Portable Computers
1) Notebooks
2) Ultra-portables
3) Palmtops
4) PDAs
5) Tablet PCs
Notebooks
They are not the notebooks that you used to write in when you were little bambino, but simply a rather new name for laptops. Notebooks are nothing but laptops with a new name. However, they are smaller models than laptops. Now days, laptops and notebooks are both common terms as all the brands are coming up with small, compact, and portable PCs that weigh anywhere between one to three kilograms. Just like PCs, laptops are capable of performing the same tasks but they can be less powerful than a PC.
Palmtops
Palmtops are also known as a Handheld PC or then H/PC for short. This term has been coined by Microsoft, which suggests that palmtops are essentially smaller than the standard notebooks or PCs. The features that define a palmtop are as follows;
• A palmtop must run Microsoft’s Window CE.
• A palmtop must include a keyboard, a Compact Flash Slot, a PCMCIA Slot, and an infrared (IrDA) port.
• It should also provide USB connectivity or/and wired serial.
PDAs
PDAs or Personal Digital Assistants are basically devices that are handheld. They were originally designed as personal organizers but as the years went by their uses increased to a great extent and are usually characterized with the presence of a touch screen. The PDAs are typically used for calculating, playing computer games, sending and receiving e-mails, video recording, used as an address book, clock, calendar, radio or a stereo, and a spreadsheet, accessing the Internet, recording notes and GPS. The newer version of PDAs can be used as mobile phones or smart phones as they are commonly called. They have audio capabilities and color screens and is able to access the Internet, intranets and extranets via the Wi-Fi or Wireless Wide-Area Networks. Some of the popular PDAs are Sony CLIÉ, Fujitsu Siemens, Palm Pilot, and BlackBerry.
Tablet PCs
A tablet PC is basically a slate-shaped notebook with a digitizing tablet technology or touch screen that enables the operator to use a digital pen or stylus instead of a mouse or a keyboard. Tablet PCs are generally used when the normal notebooks are not practical and bulky to use. The different form of tablet PCs are slates, thin-client slates, convertibles and hybrids. There are many advantages of using a tablet PC. Since you will be using a digital pen to operate it, it is convenient to take down handwritten notes and diagrams at a conference or a class. With its handwriting recognition in place, you are even able to make an automatic search for the notes.Now that you have a rough idea about the different types of laptops, it will help you in deciding the one that you really require.
Different components in portable pc
1. Motherboard
2. Central Processing Unit (CPU)
3. Random Access Memory (RAM)
4. Hard Drive
5. Cooling System
6. Keyboard
7. Pointing Device
8. CD or DVD Drive
9. Screen
10. Networking Adapter
11. Power System
Motherboard
The motherboard--also called a logic board--is the primary circuit board in the laptop. All of the other components attach to the motherboard, which acts like a traffic controller for the computer, allowing data to move from one component to another.
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
A computer is essentially a very complicated calculator, and at some level, everything that a laptop does involves mathematical computations. The CPU is the most important chip inside a laptop, as it handles the majority of the computations necessary for the computer to work.
Random Access Memory (RAM)
A processor can perform computations billions of times each second, and because of its speed, it needs something to keep it constantly fed with instructions. RAM provides the memory storage needed for the programs that run on the laptop, and it can feed instructions to the processor at high rates of speed
Hard Drive
A hard drive looks like a small metal box. If you could look inside, though, you would see metal discs spinning thousands of times each minute. The discs in a hard drive contain microscopic particles that the read/write head arranges to form data. While RAM also stores data, there are significant differences between a hard drive and RAM. The data stored in RAM disappears when the computer is turned off, while data on a hard drive is persistent. The hard drive in a computer can also store hundreds of times as much data as can fit in the RAM. However, RAM is far faster at transferring data.
Cooling System
Because a modern laptop is extremely thin, it needs an elaborate internal system to keep the processor cool. A typical laptop cooling system begins with a metal block pressed firmly against the processor. The block transfers heat to a heat pipe, which is a thin copper tube filled with a liquid that changes phase and increases in pressure when it gets hot. The phase change sends the heat to a series of metal fins which dissipate the heat with the help of a fan. The cooled liquid returns to the processor block, and the cycle begins again.