A desktop computer includes a motherboard, video card, hard drive and other components in a large case.

The monitor, keyboard, and other peripherals connect wirelessly or with cables. Whether the case sits vertically or horizontally, it has lots of space for add-in cards, cables and air circulation.

The inside of a PC tower

A laptop, however, is much smaller and lighter than even the most compact PC tower. Its screen is an integrated part of the unit, as is its keyboard. Instead of a spacious case with lots of room for air circulation, a laptop uses a small, flat design in which all the pieces fit together snugly.

The inside of an IBM ThinkPad

Because of this fundamental design difference and because of a laptop's inherent portability, components have to:

Fit into a compact space Conserve power Produce less heat than desktop components

Often, these differences make the components more expensive, which can contribute to higher laptop prices. In the following sections, we'll examine how laptops handle these differences. Your Browser Does Not Support iFrames Processor The microprocessor, or CPU, works with the operating system to control the computer. It essentially acts as the computer's brain. The CPU produces a lot of heat, so a desktop computer uses circulating air, a fan and a heat sink -- a system of plates, channels and radiator fins used to draw heat off of the processor -- to cool off. Since a laptop has far less room for each of these cooling methods, its CPU usually:

Runs at a lower voltage and clock speed -- This reduces heat output and power consumption but slows the processor down. Most laptops also run at a higher voltage and clock speed when plugged in, and at lower settings when using the battery. Mounts to the motherboard without using pins -- Pins and sockets take up a lot of room in desktop PCs. Some motherboard processors mount directly to the motherboard without the use of a socket. Others use a Micro-FCBGA (Flip Chip Ball Grid Array), which uses balls instead of pins. These designs save space, but in some cases mean that the processor cannot be removed from the motherboard for replacement or upgrading. Has a sleep or slow-down mode -- The computer and the operating system work together to reduce the CPU speed when the computer is not in use or when the processor does not need to run as quickly. The Apple G4 processor also prioritizes data to minimize battery drain.

An IBM ThinkPads processor

Some laptops use desktop CPUs that are set to run at lower clock speeds. Although this can improve performance, these laptops typically run much hotter and have a significantly reduced battery life.

A laptop heat sink and fan

Laptops usually have small fans, heat sinks, heat spreaders or heat pipes to help dissipate the heat from the CPU. Some higher end laptop models reduce heat even further with liquid coolant kept in channels alongside the heat pipe. Also, most laptop CPUs are near the edge of the unit. This allows the fan to move the heat directly to the outside instead of across other components. Memory and Storage A laptop's memory can make up for some of the reduced performance that comes from a slower processor. Some laptops have cache memory on or very near the CPU, allowing it to access data more quickly. Some also have larger busses, allowing data to move between the processor, motherboard and memory more quickly.

SODIMM modules

Laptops often use smaller memory modules to save space. Memory types used in laptops include:

Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module (SODIMM) Dual Data Rate Synchronous RAM (DDR SDRAM) Single data rate Synchronous RAM (SDRAM) Proprietary memory modules

Some laptops have upgradeable memory and feature removable panels for easy access to the memory modules. Like a desktop, a laptop has an internal hard disk drive, which stores the operating system, applications and data files. However, laptops generally have less disk space than desktops. A laptop hard drive is also physically smaller than that of a desktop. In addition, most laptop hard drives spin more slowly than desktop hard drives, reducing both heat and power consumption. Desktop computers have multiple bays for installing additional drives, such as CD and DVD ROM drives. However, space in a laptop is in much shorter supply. Many laptops use a modular design, allowing a variety of drives to fit in the same bay. These drives come in three different designations:

Hot swappable - The computer can stay on while changing the drive. Warm swappable - The computer can stay on while changing the drive, but the corresponding bus (the path the drive uses to send data to the CPU) must be inactive. Cold swappable - The computer must be off during the swap.

A desktop computer includes a motherboard, video card, hard drive and other components in a large case. The monitor, keyboard, and other peripherals connect wirelessly or with cables. Whether the case sits vertically or horizontally, it has lots of space for add-in cards, cables and air circulation.

Type of Computers There are four basic types of computers: PC (Personal Computer), Workstations, Laptops, Servers. The PC, or Personal Computer, is the most common category of computers. This category would include your home PCs and most of your business class PCs

A workstation is a breed of computer which is a high performance version of the PC. Workstation manufacturers took many of the high speed and high availability components normally found in servers and created a workstation PC which is a high performance version of the original. Throughout the rest of this tutorial, you will find the word PC and the word workstation used interchangeably, while technically there is a difference, we will begin using workstation now as a word to describe a PC since the two are in the same basic category. Laptops are portable computers. Originally, laptops were large, heavy, short battery life beasts. Nowadays, laptops (also referred to as notebooks) are light, powerful, have good battery life, and serve as a desktop replacement for many individuals (including myself). A server is a machine developed to allow for file or print serving, application hosting, or some other task usually involving many simultaneous connections. Common features of servers include redundancy, multiple drives, large amounts of memory, multiple processors.

Personal or micro
Computers for personal use come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny PDAs (personal digital assistant) to hefty PC (personal computer) towers. More specialized models are announced each week - trip planners, expense account pads, language translators...

Hand-held (HPC)

PDA

Tablet Laptop/Noteb PC ook

Desktop

Tower

Workstation

Popular terms beginning with 'M': What is Multimedia? As the name implies, multimedia is the integration of multiple forms of media. This includes text, graphics, audio, video, etc. For example, a presentation involving audio and video clips would be con... continue What is Microprocessor? This little chip is the heart of a computer. Often referred to as just the "processor," the microprocessor does all the computations like adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. In PCs, the mo... continue

What is Motherboard? Also known as the mainboard or logic board, this is the main circuit board of your computer. If you ever open your computer up, the biggest piece of silicon you see is the motherboard. This is where y... continue What is Mainframe? A computer used to control large databases, perform high volume transaction processing, and generate reports from large databases. What is MAC Address? Stands for "Media Access Control Address," and no, it is not related Apple Macintosh computers. A MAC address is a hardware identification number that uniquely identifies each device on a network. The... continue What is Menu Bar? A menu bar is a horizontal strip that contains lists of available menus for a certain program. In Windows programs, the menu bar resides at the top of each open window, while on the Mac, the menu bar ... continue What is Macro? A macro is a set of individual commands for use as a group within a program, such as Excel, Word or Access. The macro executes just as a batch file or JCL file. What is MIPS? Stands for "Million Instructions Per Second." It is a method of measuring the raw speed of a computer's processor. Since the MIPS measurement doesn't take into account other factors such as the comput... continue What is MP3? Stands for "MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3." It is the most popular compressed audio file format. An MP3 file is about one tenth the size of the original audio file, but the sound is nearly CD-quality. Because ... continue What is Mini DV? Most digital camcorders record video and audio on a Mini DV tape. The cassettes measure 2.6 x 1.9 x 0.5 inches (L x W x H), while the tape itself is only .25 inches thick. A Mini DV tape that is 65 me... continue