Laptops

Definition

It is called a Laptop because it can fit on someone’s lap. A laptop is a small, portable and a battery or AC powered personal computer, generally smaller than a briefcase, less than 3 inches thick and weight less than 5 pounds. Laptops have a thin LCD or LED computer screen, an alphanumeric keyboard on the inside of the lower lid and a touch pad. A regular mouse can be attached through a serial port.

A laptop is also called a notebook by manufacturers, that can easily be transported and conveniently used in aeroplanes, libraries, offices and at the meetings. A laptop works with an AC cord plugged, which is used to charge the battery.

IBM, Apple, Compaq, Dell and Toshiba are among the best known makers of laptop computers. Laptop computers mostly cost more than desktop computers with the same functions because they are more difficult to design and manufacture.

What can laptops do?

You can do everything with laptops, such as doing email, running complex software programs, editing photographs, writing books, creating flyers, paying bill, online banking, chatting, video calling, web browsing and many other tasks. It is very simple to move around with laptops because of their portability and battery life which lasts few hours.

Types of Laptop

Following are some types of laptops.

• Notebook

Notebook is a general term for a full-sized laptop, also called the garden-variety laptop. Although notebooks vary in overall size, specifications, processor speed, storage capacity and memory, but a notebook is considered weigh around 5-8 pounds, display from 13 to 16 inches and also portable. They can vary in price from low cost to high-performance productivity equipped with sound cards and very nice graphics for games and multimedia.

• Ultrabook

These laptops are thinner like weight around 3 pounds and screen comes at 15 inches, while keyboard is smaller and runs on lower-power processor for long battery life with strong built-in security features.

• Ultraportable

These laptops are thin and light, sometimes called subnotebook specially designed for mobility. This type of laptops don’t have built-in CD/DVD drive and less number of connection ports to maintain a super-slim profile.

• Netbooks

These laptops are very small and inexpensive, with low-powered Intel Atom processor and very small keyboards. This type of computer is still around, but they have been replaced by tablets, ultrabooks and ultraportable.

• Chromebook

Chromebooks run the chrome OS operating system, which is based on Linux. These laptops are designed to work basically with web apps and data which is saved to the clouds rather than on the laptop itself. Upgrade Chromebook models can run android apps and are popular in some schools due to their easier centralised administration and security.

• MacBook

Apple’s laptop computers come in two families, the ultra-thin MacBook Air and the high performance MacBook Pro in 13 and 16 inch sizes with macOS operating system.

• Convertible (2 in 1)

These combine the features of a laptop and a tablet, also called 2 in 1 laptops or hybrids. They can quickly move between touchscreen tablet mode and traditional keyboard mode. They can be transformed in a variety of ways, including detaching, sliding, twisting and fold-back mechanisms.

• Tablet as a laptop

Tablets are small, thin and multitask which have become very popular. Tablets can be used as laptop with the addition of a detachable keyboard to perform even professional tasks. Most tablets are Windows-based such as Microsoft’s own Surface Pro series and smaller Surface Go which use Windows 10 operating system.

he iPad and iPad Pro can be used as a laptop. They run Apple’s iPad OS mobile operating system and work best with laptop functionality supportive apps.

How to select a laptop?

Choosing the right laptop can be very difficult and complicated process. These difficulties can be occur in the selection of hardware and design. Your decision can also be based on the operating system and power of the laptop. Before buying a laptop you should always keep in mind what exactly you will use your new computer for. Whether you will carry your new computer from place to place or intend to use it in bed.

Laptop Generations

The “Generation” defines the age of the CPU. New generation is more power efficient, lower heat generating, newer parts inside, possibly new windows version, better screens, Wi-Fi and battery life from the old one.

Core i3, i5, and i7 are not processor generations, while these are models of processors. Following are processor models released by Intel.

• Pentium 1,2,3,4
• Celeron
• Pentium M and Celeron M (for mobiles)
• Pentium Dual Core
• Core Solo
• Core Duo
• Core 2 Duo
• Core 2 Quad
• Core i3,i5,i7

The theory of generation comes after the releasing of Core i series. The main difference in processor generations is, the difference of processor micro-architecture. If you have an Intel i7-8700k then the first digit is generation number, means you have 8th generation laptop. Intel has introduced the following processor generations.

• 1st Generation – Nehalem (2010)
• 2nd Generation – Sandy Bridge (2011)
• 3rd Generation – Ivy Bridge (2012)
• 4th Generation – Haswell (2013)
• 5th Generation – Broadwell (2015)
• 6th Generation – Skylake (2015)
• 7th Generation – Kaby Lake (2016)
• 8th Generation – Kaby Lake R (2017)
• 9th Generation – Coffee Lake (2017)
• 10th Generation – Cannon Lake / Ice Lake (2017-2018)
• 11th Generation – Tiger Lake (yet to be released)