Laptop

Laptop

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Jump to: navigation, search





An ultraportable IBM X31 with 12" screen on an IBM T43 Thin & Light laptop with a

14" screen

This article portrays portable computers, for topics concerning the upper thigh or

leg see lap.



A laptop computer, also known as a notebook computer, is a small personal computer

designed for mobile use. A laptop integrates all of the typical components of a desktop

computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device (a touchpad, also known as a

trackpad, or a pointing stick) and a battery into a single portable unit. The rechargeable

battery is charged from an AC/DC adapter and has enough capacity to power the laptop

for several hours.



A laptop is usually shaped like a large notebook with thickness of 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), and some older laptops were even heavier. Most laptops are designed in the flip

form factor to protect the screen and the keyboard when closed.



Originally considered "a small niche market"[1] and perceived as suitable for "specialized

field applications" such as "the military, the Internal Revenue Service, accountants and

sales representatives"[1][2], battery-powered portables had just 2% worldwide market

share in 1986[3]. But today, there are already more laptops than desktops in the

enterprise[4] and, according to a forecast by Intel, more laptops than desktops will be sold

in the general PC market as soon as 2009[5].





Contents

[hide]



 1 History

 2 Classification

o 2.1 As replacement

o 2.2 Subnotebook

o 2.3 Netbook

o 2.4 Rugged Laptop

 3 Components

o 3.1 Docking stations

o 3.2 Standards

 4 Advantages

 5 Disadvantages

o 5.1 Performance

o 5.2 Upgradeability

o 5.3 Ergonomics and health

o 5.4 Durability

o 5.5 Security

 6 Other portable computing devices

 7 Major brands and manufacturers

 8 Sales

 9 See also

 10 References







[edit] History

Main article: History of laptops









The Epson HX-20



As the personal computer became feasible in the early 1970s, the idea of a portable

personal computer followed; in particular, a "personal, portable information manipulator"

was envisioned by Alan Kay at Xerox PARC in 1968[6] and described in his 1972 paper

as the "Dynabook"[7].



The first commercially available portable computer appeared nine years later, in 1981.

The Osborne 1 weighed 23.5 pounds (10.7 kg). It had no battery, a tiny 5" CRT screen

and dual 5¼" single-density floppy drives. In the same year the first laptop-sized portable

computer, the Epson HX-20, was announced[8]. The Epson had a LCD screen, a

rechargeable battery and a calculator-size printer in a 1.6 kg (4 pounds) enclosure.



The first laptop using the clamshell design, utilized today by almost all laptops, appeared

in 1982. The $8150 GRiD Compass 1100 was purchased by NASA and the military

among others. The Gavilan SC, released in 1983, was the first notebook marketed using

the term "laptop".



From 1983 onwards:

 Several new input methods were introduced: the touchpad (Gavilan SC, 1983),

the pointing stick (IBM ThinkPad 700, 1992) and handwriting recognition (Linus

Write-Top[9], 1987).

 CPUs became designed specifically for laptops (Intel i386SL, 1990), targeting

low power consumption, and were augmented with dynamic power management

features (Intel SpeedStep and AMD PowerNow!).

 Displays reached VGA resolution by 1988 (Compaq SLT 286) and 256-color

screens by 1993 (PowerBook 165c), progressing quickly to millions of colors and

high resolutions.

 High-capacity hard drives and optical storage (CD-ROM followed by DVD)

became available in laptops soon after their introduction to the desktops.



Early laptops often had proprietary and incompatible architectures, operating systems and

bundled applications.



[edit] Classification

The general terms "laptop" or "notebook" can be used to refer to a number of classes of

small portable computers:[10][11]



By purpose and (approximately) by screen By features:

size:

 Budget - a cheap, lower-

 Desktop replacement - emphasizes performance standard-sized laptop;

performance, is less portable, 15"  Tablet PC - Has a touch-screen

and larger screen; interface, may or may not have a

 Standard laptop - balances keyboard;

portability and features, 13-15"  Netbook - A cheaper, smaller

screen; version of a subnotebook designed

 Subnotebook - emphasizes mainly for Internet surfing and basic

portability, has less features, 13" or office applications.

smaller screen.  Rugged - Engineered to operate in

tough conditions (strong vibrations,

extreme temperatures, wet and dusty

environments).





[edit] As replacement

An Apple 17" MacBook Pro is often used as a desktop replacement.

Main article: Desktop replacement computer



A desktop replacement computer is a laptop that provides most of the capabilities of a

desktop computer, with a similar level of performance. Desktop replacements are usually

larger and heavier than standard laptops. They contain more powerful components and

numerous ports, and have a 15.4" or larger display. Because of their bulk, they are not as

portable as other laptops and their operation time on batteries is typically shorter.[11]



Some laptops in this class use a limited range of desktop components to provide better

performance for the same price at the expense of battery life; in a few of those models,

there is no battery at all, and the laptop can only be used when plugged in. These are

sometimes called desknotes, a portmanteau of the words "desktop" and "notebook,"

though the term can also be applied to desktop replacement computers in general.[12]



The names "Media Center Laptops" and "Gaming Laptops" are also used to describe

this class of notebooks.[10]



[edit] Subnotebook









Sony VAIO C1 subnotebook.

Main article: 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 long battery life)

that retains the performance of a standard notebook. 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[13] 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, employ expensive components

designed for minimal 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.



[edit] Netbook







An Asus Eee PC netbook.

Main article: Netbook



A netbook is a small laptop designed for portability and low price, with a performance

inferior to that of a standard notebook yet adequate for surfing on the Internet and basic

word processing. Netbooks use 10" and smaller screens, weigh 0.6 to 1.2 kg (1.5 to 3

pounds), and are generally powered by a CPU from one of the low-cost families with a

high performance-to-power ratio such as Intel Atom, Celeron ULV, or VIA C7

processors.[14]



Netbooks use general-purpose operating systems such as Linux or Windows XP. Some

models use small-capacity (4 to 40 Gb) SSD drives instead of the usual HDDs to save

weight and battery power.



[edit] Rugged Laptop



Main article: Rugged computer









A Panasonic Toughbook.

A rugged (or ruggedized) laptop is designed to reliably operate in harsh usage conditions

such as strong vibrations, extreme temperatures and wet or dusty environments. Rugged

laptops are usually designed from scratch, rather than adapted from regular consumer

laptop models. Rugged notebooks are bulkier, heavier, and much more expensive than

regular laptops[15], and thus are seldom seen in regular consumer use.



The design features found in rugged laptops include rubber sheeting under the keyboard

keys, sealed port and connector covers, passive cooling, superbright displays easily

readable in daylight, cases and frames made of magnesium alloys or have a magnesium

alloy rollcage[16] that are much stronger than plastic found in commercial laptops and

solid-state storage devices or hard disc drives that are shock mounted to withstand

constant vibrations. Rugged laptops are commonly used by public safety services (police,

fire and medical emergency), military, utilities, field service technicians, construction,

mining and oil drilling personnel. Rugged laptops are usually sold to organizations, rather

than individuals, and are rarely marketed via retail channels.



[edit] Components

Main article: Computer hardware





Miniaturization: a comparison of a desktop computer motherboard (ATX form factor) to

a motherboard from a 13" laptop (2008 unibody Macbook)









Inner view of a Sony Vaio laptop



The basic components of laptops are similar in function to their desktop counterparts, but

are miniaturized, adapted to mobile use, and designed for low power consumption.

Because of the additional requirements, laptop components have worse performance than

desktop parts of comparable price. Furthermore, the design bounds on power, size, and

cooling of laptops limit the maximum performance of laptop parts compared to that of

desktop components. [17]



The following list summarizes the differences and distinguishing features of laptop

components in comparison to desktop personal computer parts:



 Motherboard - laptop motherboards are highly make- and model-specific, and do

not conform to a desktop form factor. Unlike a desktop board that usually has

several slots for expansion cards (3 to 7 are common), a board for a small, highly

integrated laptop may have no expansion slots at all, with all the functionality

implemented on the motherboard itself; the only expansion possible in this case is

via an external port such as USB. Other boards may have one or more standard or

proprietary expansion slots. Several other functions (storage controllers,

networking, sound card and external ports) are implemented on the

motherboard.[18]



 Central processing unit (CPU) - Laptop CPUs have advanced power-saving

features and produce less heat than desktop processors, but are not as powerful.[19]

There is a wide range of CPUs designed for laptops available from Intel (Pentium

M, Celeron M, Intel Core and Core 2 Duo), AMD (Athlon, Turion 64, and

Sempron), VIA Technologies, Transmeta and others. On the non-x86

architectures, Motorola and IBM produced the chips for the former PowerPC-

based Apple laptops (iBook and PowerBook). Some laptops have removable

CPUs, although support by the motherboard may be restricted to the specific

models.[20] In other laptops the CPU is soldered on the motherboard and is non-

replaceable.









A SODIMM memory module.



 Memory (RAM) - SO-DIMM memory modules that are usually found in laptops

are about half the size of desktop DIMMs.[18] They may be accessible from the

bottom of the laptop for ease of upgrading, or placed in locations not intended for

user replacement such as between the keyboard and the motherboard.



 Expansion cards - A PC Card (formerly PCMCIA) or ExpressCard bay for

expansion cards is often present on laptops to allow adding and removing

functionality, even when the laptop is powered on. Some subsystems (such as Wi-

Fi or a cellular modem) can be implemented as replaceable internal expansion

cards, usually accessible under an access cover on the bottom of the laptop. Two

popular standards for such cards are MiniPCI and its successor, the PCI Express

Mini. [21]



 Power supply - laptops are powered by an internal rechargeable battery that is

charged using an external power supply. The power supply can charge the battery

and power the laptop simultaneously; when the battery is fully charged, the laptop

continues to run on AC power. The charger adds about 400 grams (1 lb) to the

overall "transport weight" of the notebook.

 Battery - Current laptops utilize lithium ion batteries, with more recent models

using the new lithium polymer technology. These two technologies have largely

replaced the older nickel metal-hydride batteries. Typical battery life for standard

laptops is two to five hours of light-duty use, but may drop to as little as one hour

when doing power-intensive tasks. Batteries' performance gradually decreases

with time, leading to an eventual replacement in one to five years, depending on

the charging and discharging pattern. This large-capacity main battery should not

be confused with the much smaller battery nearly all computers use to run the

real-time clock and to store the BIOS configuration in the CMOS memory when

the computer is off.



 Video display controller - on standard laptops video controller is usually

integrated into the chipset. This tends to limit the use of laptops for gaming and

entertainment, two fields which have constantly escalating hardware demands[22].

Higher-end laptops and desktop replacements in particular often come with

dedicated graphics processors on the motherboard or as an internal expansion

card. These mobile graphics processors are comparable in performance to

mainstream desktop graphic accelerator boards.[23]



 Display - Most modern laptops feature 12 inch (30 cm) or larger color active

matrix displays with resolutions of 1024×768 pixels and above. Many current

models use screens with higher resolution than typical for desktop PCs (for

example, the 1440×900 resolution of a 15" Macbook Pro[24] can be found on 19"

widescreen desktop monitors).









A size comparison of 3.5" and 2.5" hard disk drives



 Removable media drives - a DVD/CD reader/writer drive is standard. CD drives

are becoming rare, while Blu-Ray is not yet common on notebooks[25]. Many

ultraportables and netbooks either move the removable media drive into the

docking station or exclude it altogether.



 Internal storage - Hard disks are physically smaller—2.5 inch (60 mm) or

1.8 inch (46 mm) —compared to desktop 3.5 inch (90 mm) drives. Some new

laptops (usually ultraportables) employ more expensive, but faster, lighter and

power-efficient Flash memory-based SSDs instead. Currently, 250 to 320 Gb

sizes are common for laptop hard disks (64 to 128 Gb for SSDs).

 Input - A pointing stick, touchpad or both are used to control the position of the

cursor on the screen, and an integrated keyboard is used for typing. External

keyboard and mouse may be connected using USB or PS/2 (if present).



 Ports - several USB ports, an external monitor port (VGA or DVI), audio in/out,

and an Ethernet network port are found on most laptops. Less common are legacy

ports such as a PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, serial port or a parallel port. S-video or

composite video ports are more common on consumer-oriented notebooks.



[edit] Docking stations



A docking station is a relatively bulky laptop accessory that contains multiple ports,

expansion slots and bays for fixed or removable drives. A laptop connects and

disconnects easily to a docking station, typically through a single large proprietary

connector. A port replicator is a simplified docking station that only provides

connections from the laptop to input/output ports. Both docking stations and port

replicators are intended to be used at a permanent working place (a desk) to offer instant

connection to multiple input/output devices and to extend a laptop's capabilities.



Docking stations became a common laptop accessory in the early 1990s. The most

common use was in a corporate computing environment where the company had

standardized on a common network card and this same card was placed into the docking

station. These stations were very large and quite expensive. As the need for additional

storage and expansion slots became less critical because of the high integration inside the

laptop, the "port replicator" has gained popularity. The port replicator was a cheaper,

often passive device that simply mated to the connectors on the back of the notebook and

allowed the user to quickly connect his laptop so that his monitor, keyboard, printer and

other devices were instantly attached. As higher speed ports such as USB and Firewire

became common, the connection of a port replicator to a laptop was accomplished by a

small cable connected to one of the USB or FireWire ports on the notebook. Wireless

Port Replicators are available as well.



A recent variant of the port replicator is the combined power/display/USB hub cable

found in the new Apple Cinema Display[26].



[edit] 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.[21] Subtle incompatibilities and

variations in dimensions, however, are not uncommon.[27] Depending on the

manufacturer and model, a laptop may range from having several standard, easily

customizable and upgradeable parts to a proprietary design that can't be reconfigured at

all.

In general, components other than the four categories listed above are not intended to be

replaceable, and thus rarely follow a standard. In particular, motherboards, locations of

ports, design and placement of internal components are usually make- and model-

specific. Those parts are neither interchangeable with parts from other manufacturers nor

upgradeable. If broken or damaged, they must be substituted with an exact replacement

part. The 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.



[edit] Advantages









Laptop computers are portable and can be used in many locations (Former Mexican

President, Vicente Fox).



Portability is usually the first feature mentioned in any comparison of laptops versus

desktop PCs[28]. Portability means that a laptop can be used in many places - not only at

home and at the office, but also during commuting and flights, in coffee shops, in lecture

halls and libraries, at clients' location or at a meeting room, etc. The portability feature

offers several distinct advantages:



 Getting more done - using a laptop in places where a desktop PC can't be used,

and at times that would otherwise be wasted. For example, an office worker

managing his e-mails during an hour-long commute by train, or a student doing

her homework at the university coffee shop during a break between lectures.[29]



 Immediacy - Carrying a laptop means having instant access to various

information, personal and work files. Immediacy allows better collaboration

between coworkers or students, as a laptop can be flipped open to present a

problem or a solution anytime, anywhere.

 Up-to-date information - If a person has more than one desktop PC, a problem

of synchronization arises: changes made on one computer are not automatically

propagated to the others. There are ways to resolve this problem, including

physical transfer of updated files (using a USB stick or CDs) or using

synchronization software over the Internet. However, using a single laptop at both

locations avoids the problem entirely, as the files exist in a single location and are

always up-to-date.



 Connectivity - A proliferation of Wi-Fi wireless networks and cellular broadband

data services (HSDPA, EVDO and others) combined with a near-ubiquitous

support by laptops [30] means that a laptop can have easy Internet and local

network connectivity while remaining mobile. Wi-Fi networks and laptop

programs are especially widespread at university campuses.[31]



Other advantages of laptops include:



 Size - laptops are smaller than standard PCs. This is beneficial when space is at a

premium, for example in small apartments and student dorms. When not in use, a

laptop can be closed and put away.



 Low power consumption - laptops are several times more power-efficient than

desktops. A typical laptop uses 20-90 W, compared to 100-800 W for desktops.

This could be particularly beneficial for businesses (which run hundreds of

personal computers, multiplying the potential savings) and homes where there is a

computer running 24/7 (such as a home media server, print server, etc.)



 Quiet - laptops are often quieter than desktops, due both to better components

(quieter, slower 2.5-inch hard drives) and to less heat production leading to use of

fewer and slower cooling fans.



 Battery - a charged laptop can run several hours in case of a power outage and is

not affected by short power interruptions and brownouts. A desktop PC needs a

UPS to handle short interruptions, brownouts and spikes; achieving on-battery

time of more than 20-30 minutes for a desktop PC requires a large and expensive

UPS.[32]



[edit] Disadvantages

Compared to desktop PCs, laptops have disadvantages in the following fields:



[edit] Performance



While the performance of mainstream desktops and laptops is comparable, laptops are

significantly more expensive than desktop PCs at the same performance level.[33] The

upper limits of performance of laptops are a little bit lower, and "bleeding-edge" features

usually appear first in desktops and only then, as the underlying technology matures, are

adapted to laptops.



However, for Internet browsing and typical office applications, where the computer

spends the majority of its time waiting for the next user input, even netbook-class laptops

are generally fast enough.[34] Standard laptops are sufficiently powerful for high-

resolution movie playback, 3D gaming and video editing and encoding. Number-

crunching software (databases, math, engineering, financial, etc.) is the area where the

laptops are at the biggest disadvantage.



[edit] Upgradeability



Upgradeability of laptops is very limited compared to desktops, which are thoroughly

standardized. In general, hard drives and memory can be upgraded easily. Optical drives

and internal expansion cards may be upgraded if they follow an industry standard, but all

other internal components, including the CPU and graphics, are not intended to be

upgradeable.



The reasons for limited upgradeability are both technical and economic. There is no

industry-wide standard form factor for laptops; each major laptop manufacturer pursues

its own proprietary design and construction, with the result that laptops are difficult to

upgrade and have high repair costs. With few exceptions, laptop components can rarely

be swapped between laptops of competing manufacturers, or even between laptops from

the different product-lines of the same manufacturer.



Some upgrades can be performed by adding external devices, either USB or in expansion

card format such a PC Card: sound cards, network adapters, hard and optical drives, and

numerous other peripherals are available. But those upgrades usually impair the laptop's

portability, because they add cables and boxes to the setup and often have to be

disconnected and reconnected when the laptop is moved.



[edit] Ergonomics and health









Laptop coaster preventing heating of lap and improving laptop airflow.



Because of their small and flat keyboard and trackpad pointing devices, prolonged use of

laptops can cause RSI.[35] Usage of ergonomic keyboards and pointing devices is

recommended to prevent injury when working for long periods of time; they can be

connected to a laptop easily by USB or via a docking station. Some health standards

require ergonomic keyboards at workplaces.



The integrated screen often causes users to hunch over for a better view, which can cause

neck or spinal injuries. A larger and higher-quality external screen can be connected to

almost any laptop to alleviate that and to provide additional "screen estate" for more

productive work.



A study by State University of New York researchers found that heat generated from

laptops can raise the temperature of the scrotum, potentially putting sperm count at risk.

The small study, which included little more than two dozen men aged 13 to 35, found that

the sitting position required to balance a laptop can raise scrotum temperature by as much

as 2.1 °C (3.8 °F). Heat from the laptop itself can raise the temperature by another 0.7 °C

(1.4 °F), bringing the potential total increase to 2.8 °C (5.2 °F). However, further research

is needed to determine whether this directly affects sterility in men.[36]



A common practical solution to this problem is to place the laptop on a table or desk.

Another solution is to obtain a cooling unit for the laptop, these units are usually USB

powered consist of a hard thin plastic case housing 1, 2 or 3 cooling fans (the whole thing

is designed to sit under a laptop) which results in the laptop remaining cool to the touch,

and greatly reduces laptop heat generation. There are several companies which make

these coolers.



Heat from using a laptop on the lap can also cause skin discoloration on the thighs.[37]



[edit] Durability









A clogged heatsink on a 2.5 year old laptop.



Due to their portability, laptops are subject to more wear and physical damage than

desktops. Components such as screen hinges, latches, power jacks[38] and power cords

deteriorate gradually due to ordinary use. A liquid spill onto the keyboard, a rather minor

mishap with a desktop system, can damage the internals of a laptop and result in a costly

repair. One study found that a laptop is 3 times more likely to break during the first year

of use than a desktop.[39]



Original external components are expensive (a replacement AC adapter, for example,

could cost $75); other parts are inexpensive - a power jack can cost a few dollars - but

their replacement may require extensive disassembly and reassembly of the laptop by a

technician. Other inexpensive but fragile parts often cannot be purchased separate from

larger more expensive components.[40] The repair costs of a failed motherboard or LCD

panel may exceed the value of a used laptop.



Laptops rely on extremely compact cooling systems involving a fan and heat sink that

can fail due to eventual clogging by accumulated airborne dust and debris. Most laptops

do not have any sort of removable dust collection filter over the air intake for these

cooling systems, resulting in a system that gradually runs hotter and louder as the years

pass. Eventually the laptop starts to overheat even at idle load levels. This dust is usually

stuck inside where casual cleaning and vacuuming cannot remove it. Instead, a complete

disassembly is needed to clean the laptop.



Battery life of laptops is limited; the capacity drops with time, necessitating an eventual

replacement after a few years.



[edit] Security



Being expensive, common and portable, laptops are prized targets for theft. The cost of

the stolen business or personal data and of the resulting problems (identity theft, credit

card fraud, breach of privacy laws) can be many times the value of the stolen laptop

itself. Therefore, both physical protection of laptops and the safeguarding of data

contained on them are of the highest importance.



Most laptops have a Kensington security slot which is used to tether the computer to a

desk or other immovable object with a security cable and lock. In addition to this, modern

operating systems and third-party software offer disk encryption functionality that

renders the data on the laptop's hard drive unreadable without a key or a passphrase.



[edit] Other portable computing devices

There are several categories of portable computing devices that can run on batteries but

are not usually classified as laptops: portable computers, keyboardless tablet PCs,

Internet tablets, PDAs, Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) and smartphones.









The Compaq Portable

A keyboard-less tablet PC









A Palm TX PDA









A Nokia N800 Internet tablet









An OQO Ultra Mobile PC

An Apple iPhone smartphone



A Portable computer is a general-purpose computer that can be easily moved from place

to place, but cannot be used while in transit, usually because it requires some "setting-up"

and an AC power source. The most famous example is the Osborne 1. Also called a

"transportable" or a "luggable" PC.



A Tablet PC that lacks a keyboard (also known as a non-convertible Tablet PC) is shaped

like slate or a paper notebook, features a touchscreen with a stylus and handwriting

recognition software. Tablets may not be best suited for applications requiring a physical

keyboard for typing, but are otherwise capable of carrying out most tasks that an ordinary

laptop would be able to perform.



An Internet tablet is an Internet appliance in tablet form. Unlike a Tablet PC, an Internet

tablet does not have much computing power and its applications suite is limited - it can

not replace a general purpose computer. Internet tablets typically feature an MP3 and

video player, a web browser, a chat application and a picture viewer.



A Personal digital assistant (PDA) is a small, usually pocket-sized, computer with limited

functionality. It is intended to supplement and to synchronize with a desktop computer,

giving access to contacts, address book, notes, e-mail and other features.



An Ultra Mobile PC is a full-featured, PDA-sized computer running a general-purpose

operating system.



A Smart phone is a PDA with an integrated cellphone functionality. Current smartphones

have a wide range of features and installable applications.



Boundaries that separate these categories are blurry at times. For example, the OQO

UMPC is also a PDA-sized tablet PC; the Apple eMate had the clamshell form factor of a

laptop, but ran PDA software. The HP Omnibook line of laptops included some devices

small enough to be called Ultra Mobile PCs. The hardware of the Nokia 770 internet

tablet is essentially the same as that of a PDA such as the Zaurus 6000; the only reason

it's not called a PDA is that it doesn't have PIM software. On the other hand, both the 770

and the Zaurus can run some desktop Linux software, usually with modifications.



[edit] Major brands and manufacturers

Main article: List of laptop brands and manufacturers

There is a multitude of laptop brands and Major laptop brands

manufacturers; several major brands,

offering notebooks in various classes, are  Acer - TravelMate, Extensa, Ferrari

listed in the box to the right. and Aspire

 Apple - MacBook, MacBook Air

The major brands usually offer good service and MacBook Pro

and support, including well-executed  ASUS - Asus Eee, Lamborghini

documentation and driver downloads that  Compaq - Evo, Armada, LTE, and

will remain available for many years after a Presario

particular laptop model is no longer  Dell - Inspiron, Latitude,

produced. Capitalizing on service, support Precision,Studio, Vostro and XPS

and brand image, laptops from major brands  Gateway

are more expensive than laptops by smaller  Hewlett-Packard - HP Pavilion, HP

brands and ODMs. Omnibook, HP Compaq Notebooks

 Lenovo - ThinkPad, IdeaPad, and

Some brands are specializing in a particular 3000 series

class of laptops, such as gaming laptops  Panasonic - Toughbook, Satellite,

(Alienware), netbooks (EeePC) and laptops Let's Note (Japan only) [42]

for children (OLPC).  Samsung - SENS: M, P, Q, R and X

series

Many brands, including the major ones, do  Sony - VAIO: FJ Series, UX, TZ,

not design and do not manufacture their NR, SZ, CR, FZ, and AR series

laptops. Instead, a small number of Original  Toshiba - Dynabook, Equium,

Design Manufacturers (ODMs) design new Portege, Tecra, Satellite, Qosmio,

models of laptops, and the brands choose the Libretto

models to be included in their lineup. In

2006, 7 major ODMs manufactured 7 of

every 10 laptops in the world, with the

largest one (Quanta Computer) having 30%

world market share.[41] Therefore, there

often are identical models available both

from a major label and from a low-profile

ODM in-house brand.



[edit] Sales

For year 2008 it is estimated that 145.9 million notebooks were sold, and in 2009 the

number will grow to 177.7 million.[43] The third quarter of 2008 was the first time when

notebook PC shipments exceeded desktops, with 38.6 million units versus 38.5 million

units.[44]