Part 1 The Laptop Computer CO PY RI GH TE D MA TE RI AL Whatever you call it — laptop, notebook, portable, tablet, or Al — the concept behind its design is to squeeze 25 pounds of stuff into a 5-pound box. In this part, I tell you what’s inside that sealed box and show you all the ways you can plug things into a device with more compartments, slots, and connectors per square inch than any other consumer device in your home or office. In this part . . .
Part 1: The Laptop Computer Checking Out Basic Hardware Your laptop is good to go all by itself. Okay, let me amend that slightly: You’ll probably want to bring along an AC adapter to recharge the battery or run the machine off wall current. But other than that, when it comes to basic functions, it’s all in the box. See Figure 1-1.
Checking Out Basic Hardware 3 computer. The upper part may have a few indicator lights, LEDs, or a miniature LCD screen displaying information about its status, and some of the most current machines offer miniature video cameras in the top lip of the frame. The lower part is where all the action is: the motherboard and its microprocessor, the memory, the hard disk, a CD or DVD drive (on most modern machines), or the latest: a Blu-ray drive (a high-capacity, high-resolution version of a DVD).
Part 1: The Laptop Computer modern machines offer a set of VCR-like buttons to directly control the playback of a video or audio disc in the CD or DVD player. Pointing device: Here’s how to give your computer a hand, essentially reaching into the screen to identify, choose, or move text or graphics.
Checking Out Basic Hardware — Cornering Input and Output 5 or sitting out in the woods. The power supply’s other use is to charge and recharge a battery that installs in a bay on the side or bottom of the laptop. (You can also run many laptops using a special power adapter that plugs into an automobile’s DC output — what used to be called the cigarette lighter — or into a power source offered by some airlines.
Part 1: The Laptop Computer USB port: This high-speed, highly adaptable port (some laptops offer two or even three of them) can be used for almost any type of device, from printers to external keyboards to various forms of add-on storage. A USB port provides both data and electrical power to attached devices, although some high-demand devices may require their own AC or battery power source.
Cornering Input and Output 7 cameras, by Apple (marketing it as FireWire) for a broad range of devices, and by the 1394 Trade Association for anything and anyone. Specialized memory slot: Many modern laptops can directly read from tiny memory cards used in products including digital cameras, music players, PDAs, and cell phones. There is a dizzying array of these cards, including Memory Stick, Secure Digital, SmartMedia, xD Picture Cards, and CompactFlash.
Part 1: The Laptop Computer points, instead advising users to attach old-style devices to the multipurpose USB port or to purchase a special cable that converts a USB signal to a parallel or standard serial connection.
Cornering Input and Output — Delving into Basic Software 9 And does it really matter? The second question is the easy one. When it comes down to it, it’s the software that gives your computer its personality and the tools you use to do your work. The hardware is very important, but it is just apparatus. Let me put it another way: If you’re buying a new laptop, you should determine what kinds of programs you intend to run on it and then go out and buy hardware that works well with that software.
Part 1: The Laptop Computer • You need an Internet browser, which can be the nearly ubiquitous Microsoft Internet Explorer or one of several competitors such as Firefox (from Mozilla) or Safari (from Apple). • Finally, you want an e-mail client and here the choices begin with Microsoft’s Outlook Express or Windows Live Mail, or third-party products such as Thunderbird. The utilities: Problems happen. Your hard disk can become fragmented or corrupted.
Delving into Basic Software — Diving into Laptop Types and Models 11 You could put either car on a race track, although one engine will scream as it powers you from 0 to 60 mph in 13.3 seconds and the other will purr to the same speed in 3.4 seconds. Can you guess which one has the giddy-up? More importantly, both cars will get you through heavy traffic to the supermarket in exactly the same amount of time. Okay, enough about cars. Back to laptops.
Part 1: The Laptop Computer A large (but not huge) hard drive, perhaps about 80GB in capacity Basic I/O facilities including two or three USB ports, an ExpressCard slot, a built-in Ethernet port, and a built-in modem Built-in WiFi transceiver for wireless communication A 1.5"-thick box that weighs about 5.
Diving into Laptop Types and Models 13 A fingerprint reader to add a highly personalized form of security to the login process A larger battery for extended usage A 11⁄2"-thick box that weighs about 6 pounds Since this book’s first edition, the price of this highly capable road warrior has remained about the same, but has improved in many important ways.
Part 1: The Laptop Computer box less than 3⁄4 inch thick and weighing short of 3 pounds. The price? Well, early buyers could expect to pay somewhere between $2,700 and $3,000, but some people can never be too rich or too thin. Entering the Box I describe the laptop as a sealed box, and for the vast majority of people, that’s the way it will always be. This is very different from a desktop PC, which is readily opened and is built with the expectation that it will be adapted, changed, or expanded.
Diving into Laptop Types and Models — Entering the Box 15 CPU The central processing unit (CPU), or microprocessor, is the brain, or at least the manager, of all the data and instructions that pass back and forth within the machine.
Part 1: The Laptop Computer Chipset If the CPU is the brain or the manager, then the chipset is the loyal, handpicked, and highly skilled support staff. The devices in the chipset, which must be carefully matched to the CPU by the laptop’s designers, are in charge of executing the instructions put forth by the processor and determine the personality of the hardware side of the hardware/software equation.
Entering the Box — Foraging for Hardware 17 two or four slots is common.) These modules are usually industry-standard sizes and shapes; you don’t ordinarily have to buy memory that bears the logo of the manufacturer of your laptop. Be sure, though, to exactly follow the required specifications.
Part 1: The Laptop Computer Most — but not all — external devices require a separate power source and are generally used when the laptop is at a desk with an AC power supply. In the list that follows, I’ve marked the ones that usually require independent power with an asterisk.
Foraging for Hardware — Going Through Windows 19 Memory card reader: An alternative to directly downloading using a cable from a digital camera is to use a card reader that plugs into a . . . say it with me . . . USB port on the laptop. Some readers are specific to a particular type of memory media, such as CompactFlash or SmartMedia, and some offer four to six slots intended to work with most of the common designs.
Part 1: The Laptop Computer of a set of interlocked tables and indexes of files. It’s all invisible to you, but oh so important. Show a pretty (and simpler) face. For most users, this is what it’s all about: Putting lipstick on an electronic pig. Those of us old enough to have used computers before the introduction of Windows (or Apple’s Macintosh operating system) remember that the screen was harsh and black.
Going Through Windows — Hitting the Internet 21 of interconnected human and computer minds.) Today we call that place the Internet, and here’s what it encompasses. The World Wide Web The best-known part of the Internet isn’t a thing, and it isn’t owned or directly managed by any individual, company, or government agency. That’s mostly a good thing, although sometimes a world without limits can be taken over by bandits, vandals, and other evildoers.
Part 1: The Laptop Computer Instant messaging If that’s not quite fast enough for you, you can employ another technology that wasn’t in the plans when personal computers were introduced. Instant messages (IMs) are intended for use in situations when both the sender and the recipient are at their computers and connected to the Internet; both parties make a connection to a central server, which routes messages between the computers at near-instant speed.
Hitting the Internet — Organizing Files, Extensions, and Folders 23 The operating system stores other information along with the name, including the date and time the file was last stored. Some other programs record additional information including the original date of the file’s creation, the number of revisions, and other details.
Part 1: The Laptop Computer
