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its self-contained rechargeable battery. The keyboard and pointing device (usually controlled by the
user‟s finger) are built into the laptop itself.
The display screen is one of the most important features of the laptop computer. Display quality and
size are rapidly approaching the display qualities of monitors sold for desktop machines. They are
discussed in more detail later in the monitor section.
Although laptops provide the luxury of portability, that is for the most part their only advantage
over desktop machines. Desktops offer better displays, more memory, and higher speed—higher
performance for far less money. A laptop computer could cost nearly twice as much as a comparable
desktop unit.
Unlike desktop units, not all laptops are the same under the covers. The majority of the electronics
are frequently custom designed. Consequently, servicing laptops is more complicated and more
expensive, and laptop parts are not necessarily interchangeable.
It‟s important to mention two new types of laptops that are gaining in popularity. One is the tablet
PC. This notebook has a touch screen or graphics tablet screen. The user can use a stylus or digital pen
(or a fingertip) instead of a keyboard or mouse. The screen can rotate so that it can lie flat. Users can
write on the screen using the stylus, saving the writing as an image file or having the writing
converted to text by a word processing document. These machines weigh a little bit more than a
traditional laptop.
The other is the netbook computer, sometimes called a mini laptop. These are lightweight, smaller,
low-cost laptops that offer limited features (such as no DVD-ROM drive) and reduced processing
power. They have either a hard drive or a solid-state drive. The machines are targeted toward users
who only wish to do Web browsing, e-mail, and noncomplex uses of productivity tools. These
machines will run Windows or Linux.
In recent years, there has been much talk about cloud computing. The Internet is always depicted as
a cloud in network diagrams. The paradigm envisions that users will use primarily Internet services
(software as a service, which is discussed in Chapter 20; Web 2.0, which is introduced in this chapter
and expanded in Chapter 20; and Web-based applications via a browser) and that all the software and
the data will be stored on servers (i.e., not stored on the user‟s machine).
Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
Personal digital assistants (PDAs) are small digital devices that can be used to take notes, to manage
tasks, to keep track of appointments and addresses, and even to send and receive e-mail. Similar to
PCs, a PDA has a CPU, RAM, a display screen, a keyboard of sorts, and possibly a modem. However,
a PDA can typically fit easily into a pocket or purse. Most PDAs come with the ability to transfer
appointments and contact information bidirectionally between the PDA and a PC, using software
provided by the vendor. The most popular first-generation PDA was made by Palm, Inc.