Laptop

From Saferpedia

Laptop is a personal computer mobile, light and small enough to be hold on you knees while using. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of an office computer: a display, a keyboard, a touchpad - pointing device, speakers, a battery; all in a single unit.

Laptops were initially considered to be a small market niche and have been designed especially for research domains like military, accountancy, sales representatives and other domains imposing the use of a computer for field work. Nowadays, laptops are very spread and accessible to home users. As the technology evolved it's been noticed a tendency of laptops to getting smaller and cheaper.

History

As personal computers became very spread in early 70s appeared the idea of mobile personal computers. In 1968 Alan Kay from Xerox PARC imagined a "portable personal information manipulator" and described in his newspaper in 1972 as "Dynabook".

The IBM SCAMP (Special Computer APL Machine Portable) project was launched in 1973 and was based on the PALM (Put All Logic In Microcode) processor. In September 1975 appeared the first mobile computer called IBM 5100, based on the SCAMP prototype.

As the machines with 8 bits processor became widely accepted, the number of portable computers increased fast. In 1981 was launched Osborne 1, a computer that was using the Zilog Z80 processor and weighed 10.7 Kg. It didn't have battery but it had a CRT display of 5 inches and a double floppy disk of 5¼ inches. That year was announced the first portable personal computer in the size of a laptop called Epson HX-20. This one had an LCD display, rechargeable battery and a printer and weighted 1.6 kg.

Classifications

The general term "laptop" or "notebook" can be used to refer to a number of portable personal computers classes.

According to purpose and display there are:

Desktop replacers - are focused on performance, not so portable and have a display bigger than 15 inches;
Standard laptops - focused on portability and performance at the same time and have a display of 13 - 15 inches;
Subnotebooks - focused on portability, not so focused on performance and have a display of 12 inches or smaller.

According to characteristics:

Budget - cheap laptops with low performances and standard size;
Touchscreen - with a touchscreen interface and they may have no keyboard;
Netbooks - budget subnotebooks, fit for Internet surf and base office applications. Usually have a display of 9- 10 inches;
Gaming laptops - big laptops with powerful video cards designed for computer gaming;
Rugged - laptops designed to work in difficult conditions (powerful vibrations, extreme temperatures, wet or dusty environments).

Desktop replacer

A desktop replacer is a laptop with most capacities of a desktop computer with a similar level or performance. They are usually large and heavy and smaller battery autonomy but include powerful components and have a display of 15 inches.

In early 2000s desktop computers were more powerful, easier to upgrade and cheaper than laptops. But in the latest years the advantages changed due to the increase of laptops performances.