laptop a modernday lenovo laptop a laptop also called a notebook computer or simply a notebook is a small portable personal computer with a clamshell form factor having typically a thin lcd or led computer screen mounted on the inside of the upper lid of the clamshell and an alphanumeric keyboard on the inside of the lower lid the clamshell is opened up to use the computer laptops are folded shut for transportation and thus are suitable for mobile use laptops are commonly used in a variety of settings such as at work in education in playing games internet surfing for personal multimedia and general home computer use laptops combine the components inputs outputs and capabilities of a desktop computer including the display screen small speakers a keyboard hard disk drive optical disc drive pointing devices such as a touchpad or trackpad a processor and memory into a single unit most modern laptops feature integrated webcams and builtin microphones while many also have touchscreens laptops can be powered either from an internal battery or by an external power supply from an ac adapter hardware specifications such as the processor speed and memory capacity significantly vary between different types makes models and price points design elements form factor and construction can also vary significantly between models depending on intended use examples of specialized models of laptops include rugged notebooks for use in construction or military applications as well as low production cost laptops such as those from the one laptop per child olpc organization which incorporate features like solar charging and semiflexible components not found on most laptop computers portable computers which later developed into modern laptops were originally considered to be a small niche market mostly for specialized field applications such as in the military for accountants or for traveling sales representatives as portable computers evolved into the modern laptop they became widely used for a variety of purposes terminology variants the terms laptop and notebook are used interchangeably to describe a portable computer in english although in some parts of the world one or the other may be preferred there is some question as to the original etymology and specificity of either termthe term laptop appears to have been coined in the early 1980s to describe a mobile computer which could be used on ones lap and to distinguish these devices from earlier much heavier portable computers informally called luggables the term notebook appears to have gained currency somewhat later as manufacturers started producing even smaller portable devices further reducing their weight and size and incorporating a display roughly the size of a4 paper these were marketed as notebooks to distinguish them from bulkier laptops regardless of the etymology by the late 1990s the terms were interchangeable history history of laptops alan kay holding the mockup of his dynabook concept photo 2008 in mountain view california the epson hx20 the first laptop computer was invented in 1980 and introduced in 1981 as the personal computer pc became feasible in 1971 the idea of a portable personal computer soon followed a personal portable information manipulator was imagined by alan kay at xerox parc in 1968 as 8bit cpu machines became widely accepted the number of portables increased rapidly the first laptopsized notebook computer was the epson hx20 the portable micro computer portal of the french company r2e micral ccmc officially appeared in september 1980 at the sicob show in paris it was a portable microcomputer designed and marketed by the studies and developments department of r2e micral at the request of company ccmc specializing in payroll and accounting it was based on an intel 8085 processor 8bit clocked at 2mhz it was equipped with a central 64 kb ram a keyboard with 58 alpha numeric keys and 11 numeric keys separate blocks a 32character screen a floppy disk capacity 140 00 characters of a thermal printer speed 28 characters second an asynchronous channel a synchronous channel a 220 v power supply it weighed 12kg and its dimensions were 45 x 45 x 15cm it provided total mobility its operating system was the aptly named prologue a siemens laptop from 1989 the osborne 1 released in 1981 was a luggable computer that used the zilog z80 and weighed 245 pounds 111kg from 1983 onward several new input techniques were developed and included in laptops including the touchpad gavilan sc 1983 the pointing stick ibm thinkpad 700 1992 and handwriting recognition linus writetop 1987 some cpus such as the 1990 intel i386sl were designed to use minimum power to increase battery life of portable computers and were supported by dynamic power management features such as intel speedstep and amd powernow in some designs displays reached 640x480 vga resolution by 1988 compaq slt286 and color screens started becoming a common upgrade in 1991 with increases in resolution and screen size occurring frequently until the introduction of 17 screen laptops in 2003 hard drives started to be used in portables encouraged by the introduction of 35 drives in the late 1980s and became common in laptops starting with the introduction of 25 and smaller drives around 1990 capacities have typically lagged behind physically larger desktop drives optical storage readonly cdrom followed by writeable cd and later readonly or writeable dvd and bluray players became common in laptops early in the 2000s types compaq presario laptop from the late 1990s apple macbook air an ultraportable laptop weighing under 30lb 136kg lenovos thinkpad business laptop originally an ibm product asus transformer pad a hybrid tablet powered by android os microsoft surface pro 3 2in1 detachable alienware gaming laptop panasonic toughbook cfm34 a rugged laptopsubnotebook since the introduction of portable computers during late 1970s their form has changed significantly spawning a variety of visually and technologically differing subclasses except where there is a distinct legal trademark around a term notably ultrabook there are rarely hard distinctions between these classes and their usage has varied over time and between different sources despite these setbacks the laptop computer market continues to expand introducing a number of laptops like acers aspire and travelmate asus transformer book vivobook and zenbook dells inspiron latitude and xps hps elitebook envy pavilion and probook lenovos ideapad and thinkpad and toshibas portg satellite and tecra that incorporate the use of laptop computers traditional laptop the form of the traditional laptop computer is a clamshell with a screen on one of its inner sides and a keyboard on the opposite facing the screen it can be easily folded to conserve space while traveling the screen and keyboard are inaccessible while closed devices of this form are commonly called a traditional laptop or notebook particularly if they have a screen size of 11 to 17 inches measured diagonally and run a fullfeatured operating system like windows 10 macos or linux traditional laptops are the most common form of laptops although chromebooks ultrabooks convertibles and 2in1s described below are becoming more common with similar performance being achieved in their more portable or affordable forms subnotebook subnotebook a subnotebook or an ultraportable is a laptop designed and marketed with an emphasis on portability small size low weight and often longer battery life subnotebooks are usually smaller and lighter than standard laptops weighing between 08 and 2kg 25lb since the introduction of netbooks and ultrabooks the line between subnotebooks and either category has blurred netbooks are a more basic and cheap type of subnotebook and while some ultrabooks have a screen size too large to qualify as subnotebooks certain ultrabooks fit in the subnotebook category one notable example of a subnotebook is the apple macbook air netbook netbook the netbook is an inexpensive lightweight energyefficient form of laptop especially suited for wireless communication and internet access although machines that would have once been called netbookssmall inexpensive and low powerednever ceased being sold in particular the smaller chromebook models convertible hybrid 2in1 2in1 pc the latest trend of technological convergence in the portable computer industry spawned a broad range of devices which combined features of several previously separate device types the hybrids convertibles and 2in1s emerged as crossover devices which share traits of both tablets and laptops all such devices have a touchscreen display designed to allow users to work in a tablet mode using either multitouch gestures or a stylusdigital pen convertibles are devices with the ability to conceal a hardware keyboard keyboards on such devices can be flipped rotated or slid behind the back of the chassis thus transforming from a laptop into a tablet hybrids have a keyboard detachment mechanism and due to this feature all critical components are situated in the part with the display 2in1s can have a hybrid or a convertible form often dubbed 2in1 detachables and 2in1 convertibles respectively but are distinguished by the ability to run a desktop os such as windows 10 2in1s are often marketed as laptop replacement tablets 2in1s are often very thin around 10 millimetres 039in and light devices with a long battery life 2in1s are distinguished from mainstream tablets as they feature an x86architecture cpu typically a low or ultralowvoltage model such as the intel core i5 run a fullfeatured desktop os like windows 10 and have a number of typical laptop io ports such as usb 3 and mini displayport 2in1s are designed to be used not only as a media consumption device but also as valid desktop or laptop replacements due to their ability to run desktop applications such as adobe photoshop it is possible to connect multiple peripheral devices such as a mouse keyboard and a number of external displays to a modern 2in1 microsoft surface proseries devices and surface book are examples of modern 2in1 detachables whereas lenovo yogaseries computers are a variant of 2in1 convertibles while the older surface rt and surface 2 have the same chassis design as the surface pro their use of arm processors and windows rt do not classify them as 2in1s but as hybrid tablets similarly a number of hybrid laptops run a mobile operating system such as android these include asuss transformer pad devices examples of hybrids with a detachable keyboard design which do not fall in the category of 2in1s desktop replacement desktop replacement computer see also gaming computer gaming laptop computers a desktopreplacement laptop is a class of large device which is not intended primarily for mobile use these devices are bulkier and not as portable as other laptops and are intended for use as compact and transportable alternatives to a desktop computer rugged laptop rugged computer a rugged 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 laptops are bulkier heavier and much more expensive than regular laptops and thus are seldom seen in regular consumer use the design features found in rugged laptops include a rubber sheeting under the keyboard keys sealed port and connector covers passive cooling very bright displays easily readable in daylight cases and frames made of magnesium alloys that are much stronger than plastics found in commercial laptops and solidstate 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 business laptop a business laptop is a laptop designed for those in a workplace typically it is ruggedised with consumer facing features like high resolution sound removed to allow the device to be used for pure productivity hardware this section needs additional citations for verification july 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message personal 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 a sodimm memory module the basic components of laptops function identically to their desktop counterparts traditionally they were miniaturized and adapted to mobile use although desktop systems increasingly use the same smaller lowerpower parts which were originally developed for mobile use the design restrictions on power size and cooling of laptops limit the maximum performance of laptop parts compared to that of desktop components although that difference has increasingly narrowed in general laptop components are not intended to be replaceable or upgradable with the exception of components which can be detached such as a battery or cdcdrdvd drive this restriction is one of the major differences between laptops and desktop computers because the large tower cases used in desktop computers are designed so that new motherboards hard disks sound cards ram and other components can be added in a very compact laptop such as laplets there may be no upgradeable components at all intel asus compal quanta and some 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 and inability to upgrade components the following sections summarizes the differences and distinguishing features of laptop components in comparison to desktop personal computer parts display most modern laptops feature a 13 inches 33cm or larger color active matrix display based on led lighting with resolutions of 1280800 1610 or 1366768 169 pixels and above models with ledbased lighting offer lesser power consumption and often increased brightness netbooks with a 10 inches 25cm or smaller screen typically use a resolution of 1024600 while netbooks and subnotebooks with a 116 inches 29cm or 12 inches 30cm screen use standard notebook resolutions having a higher resolution display allows more items to fit onscreen at a time improving the users ability to multitask although at the higher resolutions on smaller screens the resolution may only serve to display sharper graphics and text rather than increasing the usable area since the introduction of the macbook pro with retina display in 2012 there has been an increase in the availability of veryhigh resolution 19201080 and higher displays even in relatively small systems and in typical 15inch screens resolutions as high as 32001800 are available external displays can be connected to most laptops and models with a mini displayport can handle up to three central processing unit a laptops central processing unit cpu has advanced powersaving features and produces less heat than one intended purely for desktop use typically laptop cpus have two processor cores although 4core models are also available for low price and mainstream performance there is no longer a significant performance difference between laptop and desktop cpus but at the high end the fastest 4to8core desktop cpus still substantially outperform the fastest 4core laptop processors at the expense of massively higher power consumption and heat generation the fastest laptop processors top out at 56 watts of heat while the fastest desktop processors top out at 150 watts there have been a wide range of cpus designed for laptops available from both intel amd and other manufacturers on nonx86 architectures motorola and ibm produced the chips for the former powerpcbased apple laptops ibook and powerbook many laptops have removable cpus although this has become less common in the past few years as the trend has been towards thinner and lighter models in other laptops the cpu is soldered on the motherboard and is nonreplaceable this is nearly universal in ultrabooks in the past some laptops have used a desktop processor instead of the laptop version and have had high performance gains at the cost of greater weight heat and limited battery life but the practice was largely extinct as of 2013 unlike their desktop counterparts laptop cpus are nearly impossible to overclock a thermal operating mode of laptops is very close to its limits and there is almost no headroom for an overclockingrelated operating temperature increase the possibility of improving a cooling system of a laptop to allow overclocking is extremely difficult to implement graphical processing unit on most laptops a graphical processing unit gpu is integrated into the cpu to conserve power and space this was introduced by intel with the core iseries of mobile processors in 2010 and similar accelerated processing unit apu processors by amd later that year prior to that lowerend machines tended to use graphics processors integrated into the system chipset while higher end machines had a separate graphics processor in the past laptops lacking a separate graphics processor were limited in their utility for gaming and professional applications involving 3d graphics but the capabilities of cpuintegrated graphics have converged with the lowend of dedicated graphics processors in the past few years higherend laptops intended for gaming or professional 3d work still come with dedicated and in some cases even dual graphics processors on the motherboard or as an internal expansion card since 2011 these almost always involve switchable graphics so that when there is no demand for the higher performance dedicated graphics processor the more powerefficient integrated graphics processor will be used nvidia optimus is an example of this sort of system of switchable graphics memory most laptops use sodimm small outline dual inline memory module memory modules as they are about half the size of desktop dimms they are sometimes accessible from the bottom of the laptop for ease of upgrading or placed in locations not intended for user replacement most laptops have two memory slots although some of the lowestend models will have only one and some high end models usually mobile engineering workstations and a few highend models intended for gaming have four slots most midrange laptops are factory equipped with 46 gb of ram netbooks are commonly equipped with only 12 gb of ram and are generally only expandable to 2 gb if at all laptops may have memory soldered to the motherboard to conserve space which allows the laptop to have a thinner chassis design soldered memory cannot be easily upgraded internal storage traditionally laptops had a hard disk drive hdd as a main nonvolatile storage but these proved inefficient for use in mobile devices due to high power consumption heat production and a presence of moving parts which can cause damage to both the drive itself and the data stored when a laptop is unstable physically eg during its use while transporting it or after its accidental drop with the advent of flash memory technology most mid to highend laptops opted for more compact power efficient and fast solidstate drives ssd which eliminated the hazard of drive and data corruption caused by a laptops physical impacts compared to hdds however hdds have a significantly lower cost most laptops can contain a single 25inch drive but a small number of laptops with a screen wider than 15 inches can house two drives some laptops support a hybrid mode combining a 25inch drive typically a spacious hdd for data with an msata or m2 sdd drive typically having less capacity but a significantly faster readwrite speed the operating system partition would be located on the ssd to increase laptop io performance another way to increase performance is to use a smaller ssd of 1632 gb as a cache drive with a compatible os some laptops may have very limited drive upgradeability when the ssd used has a nonstandard shape or requires a proprietary daughter card some laptops have very limited space on the installed ssd instead relying on availability of cloud storage services for storing of user data chromebooks are a prominent example of this approach a variety of external hdds or nas data storage servers with support of raid technology can be attached to virtually any laptop over such interfaces as usb firewire esata or thunderbolt or over a wired or wireless network to further increase space for the storage of data many laptops also incorporate a card reader which allows for use of memory cards such as those used for digital cameras which are typically sd or microsd cards this enables users to download digital pictures from an sd card onto a laptop thus enabling them to delete the sd cards contents to free up space for taking new pictures removable media drive optical disc drives capable of playing cdroms compact discs cd dvds and in some cases bluray discs bd were nearly universal on fullsized models by the early 2010s a disc drive remains fairly common in laptops with a screen wider than 15 inches 38cm although the trend towards thinner and lighter machines is gradually eliminating these drives and players these drives are uncommon in compact laptops such as subnotebooks and netbooks laptop optical drives tend to follow a standard form factor and usually have a standard msata connector it is often possible to replace an optical drive with a newer model in certain laptop models there is a possibility to replace an optical drive with a second hard drive using a caddy that fills the extra space the optical drive would have occupied inputs closeup of a touchpad on an acer laptop closeup of a trackpoint cursor and ultranav buttons on a thinkpad laptop an alphanumeric keyboard is used to enter text and data and make other commands eg function keys a touchpad also called a trackpad a pointing stick or both are used to control the position of the cursor on the screen and an integrated keyboard is used for typing an external keyboard and mouse may be connected using a usb port or wirelessly via bluetooth or similar technology with the advent of ultrabooks and support of touch input on screens by 2010era operating systems such as windows 81 multitouch touchscreen displays are used in many models some models have webcams and microphones which can be used to communicate with other people with both moving images and sound via skype google chat and similar software laptops typically have usb ports and a microphone jack for use with an external mic some laptops have a card reader for reading digital camera sd cards inputoutput io ports on a typical laptop there are several usb ports an external monitor port vga dvi hdmi or mini displayport an audio inout port often in form of a single socket is common it is possible to connect up to three external displays to a 2014era laptop via a single mini displayport utilizing multistream transport technology although being common until the end of the 2000s decade ethernet network port are rarely found on modern laptops due to widespread use of wireless networking such as wifi legacy ports such as a ps2 keyboardmouse port serial port parallel port or firewire are provided on some models but they are increasingly rare on apples systems and on a handful of other laptops there are also thunderbolt ports but thunderbolt 3 uses usbc laptops typically have a headphone jack so that the user can connect external headphones or amplified speaker systems for listening to music or other audio expansion cards in the past a pc card formerly pcmcia or expresscard slot for expansion was often present on laptops to allow adding and removing functionality even when the laptop is powered on these are becoming increasingly rare since the introduction of usb 30 some internal subsystems such as ethernet wifi or a wireless cellular modem can be implemented as replaceable internal expansion cards usually accessible under an access cover on the bottom of the laptop the standard for such cards is pci express which comes in both mini and even smaller m2 sizes in newer laptops it is not uncommon to also see micro sata msata functionality on pci express mini or m2 card slots allowing the use of those slots for satabased solid state drives battery and power supply smart battery almost all laptops use smart batteries 2016era laptops use lithium ion batteries with some thinner models using the flatter lithium polymer technology these two technologies have largely replaced the older nickel metalhydride batteries battery life is highly variable by model and workload and can range from one hour to nearly a day a batterys performance gradually decreases over time substantial reduction in capacity is typically evident after one to three years of regular use depending on the charging and discharging pattern and the design of the battery innovations in laptops and batteries have seen situations in which the battery can provide up to 24 hours of continued operation assuming average power consumption levels an example is the hp elitebook 6930p when used with its ultracapacity battery a laptops battery is charged using an external power supply which is plugged into a wall outlet the power supply outputs a dc voltage typically in the range of 7224 volts the power supply is usually external and connected to the laptop through a dc connector cable in most cases it can charge the battery and power the laptop simultaneously when the battery is fully charged the laptop continues to run on power supplied by the external power supply avoiding battery use the battery charges in a shorter period of time if laptop is turned off or sleeping the charger typically adds about 400 grams 088lb to the overall transporting weight of a laptop although some models are substantially heavier or lighter most 2016era laptops use a smart battery a rechargeable battery pack with a builtin battery management system bms the smart battery can internally measure voltage and current and deduce charge level and soh state of health parameters indicating the state of the cells cooling waste heat from operation is difficult to remove in the compact internal space of a laptop early laptops used heat sinks placed directly on the components to be cooled but when these hot components are deep inside the device a large spacewasting air duct is needed to exhaust the heat modern laptops instead rely on heat pipes to rapidly move waste heat towards the edges of the device to allow for a much smaller and compact fan and heat sink cooling system waste heat is usually exhausted away from the device operator towards the rear or sides of the device multiple air intake paths are used since some intakes can be blocked such as when the device is placed on a soft conforming surface like a chair cushion it is believed that some designs with metal cases like apples aluminum macbook pro and macbook air also employ the case of the machine as a heat sink allowing it to supplement cooling by dissipating heat out of the device core secondary device temperature monitoring may reduce performance or trigger an emergency shutdown if it is unable to dissipate heat such as if the laptop were to be left running and placed inside a carrying case aftermarket cooling pads with external fans can be used with laptops to reduce operating temperatures docking station docking station and laptop a docking station sometimes referred to simply as a dock is a laptop accessory that contains multiple ports and in some cases expansion slots or bays for fixed or removable drives a laptop connects and disconnects to a docking station typically through a single large proprietary connector a docking station is an especially popular laptop accessory in a corporate computing environment due to a possibility of a docking station to transform a laptop into a fullfeatured desktop replacement yet allowing for its easy release this ability can be advantageous to road warrior employees who have to travel frequently for work and yet who also come into the office if more ports are needed or their position on a laptop is inconvenient one can use a cheaper passive device known as a port replicator these devices mate to the connectors on the laptop such as through usb or firewire charging trolleys laptop charging trolleys also known as laptop trolleys or laptop carts are mobile storage containers to charge multiple laptops netbooks and tablet computers at the same time the trolleys are used in schools that have replaced their traditional static computer labs laptop charging trolleys are also used to deter and protect against opportunistic and organized theft schools especially those with open plan designs are often prime targets for thieves who steal highvalue items laptops netbooks and tablets are among the highestvalue portable items in a school moreover laptops can easily be concealed under clothing and stolen from buildings many types of laptopcharging trolleys are designed and constructed to protect against theft they are generally made out of steel and the laptops remain locked up while not in use although the trolleys can be moved between areas from one classroom to another they can often be mounted or locked to the floor or walls to prevent thieves from stealing the laptops especially overnight solar panels solar notebook in some laptops solar panels are able to generate enough solar power for the laptop to operate accessories a common accessory for laptops is a laptop sleeve laptop skin or laptop case which provides a degree of protection from scratches sleeves which are distinguished by being relatively thin and flexible are most commonly made of neoprene with sturdier ones made of lowresilience polyurethane some laptop sleeves are wrapped in ballistic nylon to provide some measure of waterproofing bulkier and sturdier cases can be made of metal with polyurethane padding inside and may have locks for added security metal padded cases also offer protection against impacts and drops another common accessory is a laptop cooler a device which helps lower the internal temperature of the laptop either actively or passively a common active method involves using electric fans to draw heat away from the laptop while a passive method might involve propping the laptop up on some type of pad so it can receive more air flow some stores sell laptop pads which enable a reclining person on a bed to use a laptop obsolete features a modem pcmcia card on an old thinkpad features that certain early models of laptops used to have that are not available in most 2017 laptops include reset cold restart button in a hole needed a thin metal tool to press instant power off button in a hole needed a thin metal tool to press integrated charger or power adapter inside the laptop floppy disk drive serial port parallel port modem shared ps2 input device port vhs or 8mm vcr irda svideo port pc card pcmcia slot expresscard slot comparison with desktops advantages a teacher using laptop as part of a workshop for school children wikipedia cofounder jimmy wales using a laptop on a park bench portability is usually the first feature mentioned in any comparison of laptops versus desktop pcs physical portability allows a laptop to be used in many placesnot only at home and at the office but also during commuting and flights in coffee shops in lecture halls and libraries at clients locations or at a meeting room etc within a home portability enables laptop users to move their device from the living room to the dining room to the family room portability offers several distinct advantages productivity using a laptop in places where a desktop pc cannot be used can help employees and students to increase their productivity on work or school tasks for example an office worker reading their work emails during an hourlong commute by train or a student doing their homework at the university coffee shop during a break between lectures immediacy carrying an laptop means having instant access to information including personal and work files this allows better collaboration between coworkers or students as a laptop can be flipped open to look at a report document spreadsheet or presentation anytime and anywhere uptodate 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 flash memory stick or cdroms or using synchronization software over the internet such as cloud computing however transporting a single laptop to both locations avoids the problem entirely as the files exist in a single location and are always uptodate connectivity in the 2010s a proliferation of wifi wireless networks and cellular broadband data services hsdpa evdo and others in many urban centers combined with nearubiquitous wifi support by modern laptops other advantages of laptops size laptops are smaller than desktop 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 in a desk drawer low power consumption laptops are several times more powerefficient than desktops a typical laptop uses 20120 w compared to 100800 w for desktops this could be particularly beneficial for large businesses which run hundreds of personal computers thus multiplying the potential savings and homes where there is a computer running 247 such as a home media server print server etc quiet laptops are typically much quieter than desktops due both to the components quieter slower 25inch hard drives and to less heat production leading to use of fewer and slower cooling fans battery a charged laptop can continue to be used in case of a power outage and is not affected by short power interruptions and blackouts a desktop pc needs an uninterruptible power supply ups to handle short interruptions blackouts and spikes achieving onbattery time of more than 2030 minutes for a desktop pc requires a large and expensive ups allinone designed to be portable most 2010era laptops have all components integrated into the chassis however some small laptops may not have an internal cdcdrdvd drive so an external drive needs to be used for desktops excluding allinones this is divided into the desktop tower the unit with the cpu hard drive power supply etc keyboard mouse display screen and optional peripherals such as speakers disadvantages compared to desktop pcs laptops have disadvantages in the following areas performance while the performance of mainstream desktops and laptop is comparable and the cost of laptops has fallen less rapidly than desktops laptops remain more expensive than desktop pcs at the same performance level the upper limits of performance of laptops remain much lower than the highestend desktops especially workstation class machines with two processor sockets and bleedingedge features usually appear first in desktops and only then as the underlying technology matures are adapted to laptops for internet browsing and typical office applications where the computer spends the majority of its time waiting for the next user input even relatively lowend laptops such as netbooks can be fast enough for some users 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 motherboard cpu and graphics are not always intended to be upgradeable intel asus compal quanta and some 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 the reasons for limited upgradeability are both technical and economic there is no industrywide 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 devices such as sound cards network adapters hard and optical drives and numerous other peripherals are available but these upgrades usually impair the laptops portability because they add cables and boxes to the setup and often have to be disconnected and reconnected when the laptop is on the move ergonomics and health effects wrists laptop cooler silver under laptop white preventing heating of lap and improving laptop airflow prolonged use of laptops can cause repetitive strain injury because of their small flat keyboard and trackpad pointing devices usage of separate external 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 neck and spine a laptops integrated screen often requires users to lean over for a better view which can cause neck or spinal injuries a larger and higherquality external screen can be connected to almost any laptop to alleviate this and to provide additional screen space for more productive work another solution is to use a computer stand possible effect on fertility a study by state university of new york researchers found that heat generated from laptops can increase the temperature of the lap of male users when balancing the computer on their lap potentially putting sperm count at risk the study which included roughly two dozen men between the ages of 21 and 35 found that the sitting position required to balance a laptop can increase scrotum temperature by as much as 21c 4f however further research is needed to determine whether this directly affects male sterility a common practical solution to this problem is to place the laptop on a table or desk or to use a book or pillow between the body and the laptop another solution is to obtain a cooling unit for the laptop these are usually usb powered and consist of a hard thin plastic case housing one two or three cooling fans with the entire assembly designed to sit under the laptop in question which results in the laptop remaining cool to the touch and greatly reduces laptop heat buildup thighs heat generated from using a laptop on the lap can also cause skin discoloration on the thighs known as toasted skin syndrome durability a clogged heat sink on a laptop after 25 years of use laptops are generally not durable however there are certain exceptions laptop keyboard with its keys except the space bar removed revealing crumbs pet hair and other detritus to be cleaned away equipment wear because of their portability laptops are subject to more wear and physical damage than desktops components such as screen hinges latches power jacks and power cords deteriorate gradually from ordinary use and may have to be replaced a liquid spill onto the keyboard a rather minor mishap with a desktop system given that a basic keyboard costs about us20 can damage the internals of a laptop and destroy the computer result in a costly repair or entire replacement of laptops one study found that a laptop is three times more likely to break during the first year of use than a desktop parts replacement original external components are expensive and usually proprietary and noninterchangeable other parts are inexpensivea power jack can cost a few dollarsbut 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 for example the video display cable and the backlight power cable that pass through the lid hinges to connect the motherboard to the screen may eventually break from repeated opening and closing of the lid these tiny cables usually cannot be purchased from the original manufacturer separate from the entire lcd panel with the price of hundreds of dollars although for popular models an aftermarket in pulled parts generally exists the repair costs of a failed motherboard or lcd panel often exceeds the value of a used laptop parts can also be ordered from third party vendors heating and cooling laptops rely on extremely compact cooling systems involving a fan and heat sink that can fail from blockage caused by accumulated airborne dust and debris most laptops do not have any type of removable dust collection filter over the air intake for these cooling systems resulting in a system that gradually conducts more heat and noise as the years pass in some cases the laptop starts to overheat even at idle load levels this dust is usually stuck inside where the fan and heat sink meet where it can not be removed by a casual cleaning and vacuuming most of the time compressed air can dislodge the dust and debris but may not entirely remove it after the device is turned on the loose debris is reaccumulated into the cooling system by the fans a complete disassembly is usually required to clean the laptop entirely however preventative maintenance such as regular cleaning of the heat sink via compressed air can prevent dust build up on the heat sink many laptops are difficult to disassemble by the average user and contain components that are sensitive to electrostatic discharge esd battery life battery life is limited because the capacity drops with time eventually requiring replacement after as little as a year a new battery typically stores enough energy to run the laptop for three to five hours depending on usage configuration and power management settings yet as it ages the batterys energy storage will dissipate progressively until it lasts only a few minutes the battery is often easily replaceable and a higher capacity model may be obtained for longer charging and discharging time some laptops specifically ultrabooks do not have the usual removable battery and have to be brought to the service center of its manufacturer or a thirdparty laptop service center to have its battery replaced replacement batteries can also be expensive security and privacy laptop theft because they are valuable commonly used portable and easy to hide in a backpack or other type of travel bag laptops are often stolen every day over 1600 laptops go missing from us airports software such as lojack for laptops laptop cop and gadgettrack have been engineered to help people locate and recover their stolen laptop in the event of theft setting ones laptop with a password on its firmware protection against going to firmware setup or booting internal hddssd protection against accessing it and loading an operating system on it afterwards and every user account of the operating system are additional security measures that a user should do sales manufacturers major laptop brands acer gateway emachines packard bell travelmate extensa ferrari and aspire packard bell easynote chromebook apple macbook air and macbook pro asus asus eee lamborghini asus rog clevo dell alienware inspiron latitude precision studio vostro and xps falcon northwest drx tlx i o fujitsu lifebook gigabyte aorus hcl india me laptop me netbook leaptop and mileap hewlettpackard compaq hp pavilion hp envy hp probook hp elitebook compaq presario lenovo thinkpad ideapad and the essential b and g series lg xnote medion akoya oem version of msi wind msi e c p g v a x u series and windnetbook panasonic toughbook satellite lets note japan only samsung sens n p q r and x series chromebook ativ book tg sambo korea averatec averatec buddy toshiba dynabook portege tecra satellite qosmio libretto vaio vte list of laptop brands and manufacturers further information market share of personal computer vendors there are many laptop brands and manufacturers several major brands that offer notebooks in various classes are listed in the adjacent box the major brands usually offer good service and support including wellexecuted documentation and driver downloads that remain available for many years after a particular laptop model is no longer produced capitalizing on service support and brand image laptops from major brands are more expensive than laptops by smaller brands and odms some brands specialize in a particular class of laptops such as gaming laptops alienware highperformance laptops hp envy netbooks eeepc and laptops for children olpc many brands including the major ones do not design and do not manufacture their laptops instead a small number of original design manufacturers odms design new models of laptops and the brands choose the 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 of world market share therefore identical models are available both from a major label and from a lowprofile odm inhouse brand market share batterypowered portable computers had just 2 worldwide market share in 1986 may 2005 was the first time notebooks outsold desktops in the us over the course of a full month at the time notebooks sold for an average of 1131 while desktops sold for an average of 696 laptop disposal the list of materials that go into a laptop computer is long and many of the substances used such as beryllium lead chromium and mercury compounds are toxic or carcinogenic to humans although these toxins are relatively harmless when the laptop is in use concerns that discarded laptops cause a serious health risk and toxic environment damage were so strong that the waste electrical and electronic equipment directive weee directive in europe specified that all laptop computers must be recycled by law similarly the us environmental protection agency epa has outlawed landfill dumping or the incinerating of discarded laptop computers most laptop computers begin the recycling process with a method known as demanufacturing demanufacture this involves the physical separation of the components of the laptop these components are then either grouped into materials eg plastic metal and glass for recycling or more complex items that require more advanced materials separation eg circuit boards hard drives and batteries corporate laptop recycling can require an addition process known as data destruction the data destruction process ensures that all information or data that has been stored on a laptops hard drive can never be retrieved again below is an overview of some of the data protection and environmental laws and regulations applicable for laptop recycling data destruction data protection act 1998 dpa eu privacy directive due 2016 financial conduct authority sarbanesoxley act pcidss data security standard waste electronic electrical equipment directive weee basel convention bank secrecy act bsa facta sarbanesoxley act fda security regulations 21 cfr part 11 grammleachbliley act glba hipaa health insurance portability and accountability act nist sp 80053 add nist sp 800171 identity theft and assumption deterrence act patriot act of 2002 pci data security standard us safe harbor provisions various state laws jfan 63 grammleachbliley act dcid extreme use see also international space station computers the ruggedized grid compass computer was used since the early days of the space shuttle program the first commercial laptop used in space was a macintosh portable in 1991 aboard space shuttle mission sts43 laptops operating in harsh usage environments and conditions such as strong vibrations extreme temperatures and wet or dusty conditions differ from those used in space in that they are custom designed for the task and do not use commercial offtheshelf hardware list of computer size categories list of laptop brands and manufacturers mobile broadband mobile internet device mid mobile modem novena netbook personal digital assistant smartbook smartphone stereoscopy glasses subscriber identity module opensource computer hardware ultrabook tethering via openbook xjack portal laptop computer wikimedia commons has media related to laptops vtecomputer sizesclasses of computersmicrocomputerpersonalcomputerstationary workstation desktop home personal supercomputer portable tabletop smart tv interactive kiosk game arcade cabinet system board home console microconsole sff nettop plug smart speaker mobilelaptop desktop replacement 2in1 subnotebook netbook smartbook ultrabook ultramobile pc tablet ultramobile pc 2in1 phablet tabletop handheld handheld pc palmtop pc pocket computer pda electronic organizer mobile phone feature phone smartphone phablet pmp ereader handheld game console portablemobile data terminal calculator scientific programmable graphing wearable digital wristwatch calculator watch smartwatch smartglasses smart ring midrange server minicomputer supermini large super mainframe minisuper others microcontroller nanocomputer singleboard computer smartdust wireless sensor network 