Jan 152010
Laptops
Posted by: LaptopsArena in Other
We have spoken of different laptop parts and models but how about an article about laptops in general? As many of you know, in the past there was a huge price gap between laptops and regular desktop computers. Laptops were seen as an accessory for business men as they used to cost very much and were considered a luxury product. Today, laptops have become like cell phones: a portable and useful item for most of us. Since technology has become essential in our everyday lives, most office jobs require the personnel to have a minimum in computer knowledge because everyone, from the manager to the accountant, store important files and get lots of work done with the help of a computer.
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With the help of a computer and a webcam, you can make business Skype video calls with business partners from different corners of the planet. They facilitate our work as well as communication. People today don't write letters any more, they write e-mails. They don't send Christmas cards anymore, they send electronic greeting cards. They don't use regular small computers to calculate balances; they use Excel formulas and spread sheets. Students don't bother turning in hand written essays anymore; they type them on their laptops. Old friends don't get together to drink beers and catch-up anymore, they chat using instant messaging programs. In a way, the evolution of technology helps us to simplify our lives and our work but spending too much time in front of the computer can make you forget about the other leisure activities. Kids with laptops rarely practice sports anymore. All they do is play shooting games and surf the internet. Other people forget mathematic equations because the computers help them calculate most of them. I guess it's true what they say: laptops really are the "necessary evil".

Do you know which are the main components that give power to the laptop we all need so much? First, we have the motherboard. This is a big component to which all the other laptop parts are connected, like the processor. The processor is the brain of the laptop and as we explained in one of our previous articles, it's the components that read different types of data and all the application we run have to be filtered first by the processor. There are numerous types of processors available on the market today and the newer our laptop is, the better processor it will have. Dual core processor have basically two brains that can works simultaneously, therefore application can run twice as fast. It's ideal for people that use their laptop to do several things at once.

The RAM is a special type of memory module. It is called random access memory because it can literally access different parts of the memory. One part does not have to be connected in any way with the previous module. The graphics card can also be known as the video display controller. Every image you see on the display of your laptop is made by millions of colored pixels. In order to display these images, there is a set of data that needs to be taken from the processor and translate it into a picture. This is why we have graphic cards. All the information about images that go to the processor is then sent to the graphics card. Laptop LCDs are not very different from regular monitors. The term LCD some from liquid crystal display. There are a lot of technical details that we could give about how those liquid crystals move around the display how an LCD is made and what it contains but that will probably bore most of you.

The battery is another important part of the laptop but it is not essential to make the laptop run. Laptops can run by simply connecting them with their power adapters to a power outlet. They don't even need to have the battery inside. Batteries for laptops are created for portability reasons, just like we have batteries for cell phones to use them wherever we are, the same way laptops are powered by batteries when we don't have a power outlet in handy to connect the laptop to. It is knows that the power of batteries decreases in time. A tip would be to take out the battery of the laptop whenever you have the power adapter connected to the laptop. When you use your laptop at home, you will most likely keep it plugged in so the presence of the battery inside he laptop is becoming pretty useless. Simply take it out and not only will you save some battery life, you will also be removing a heat source from your laptop (and we all know how heat sources can damage our notebooks).

Another important part of the laptop is the internal storage, also known as a hard disk. New laptops have hard disks which provide more storage room. The more GB your hard drive has the more files and applications you can store on your laptop. We have explained in a previous article how hard disk works and what it has inside. It is basically composed of platters and a needle (this is the simplest way we can explain it). Those platters are like bigger CD and the needle writes the information on the disk every time you give a command to your computer. The files you copy or install on your laptop are stored on these platters and can later be accesses. Compared to RAM, this type of memory is different because its permanent.

This mean a file will stay in the hard disk's memory until you delete it yourself, while RAM is only temporary and every time you restart your laptop, that temporary memory is erased. These are the basic components of the laptop, but there are many more features, like ports and connections that help increase the functionality of your laptop. Some laptops also have integrated webcams, microphones, Bluetooth devices, optical drives but we'll leave that information for another article.


















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