Laptop and Portable Devices

Use of Laptops

Small size and design Portable – size and battery What are today’s common uses? ??

Other Portable Devices

PDAs – organizer, apps Smart phones – phone, camera, apps.

Laptop Components

Ports USD S video Sound Network Video Cards – more later Ventilation

Laptop Components

Optical Drive Battery Hard Drive access panel Ram Access Panel Doc Station connection Display

LCD Displays

Matrix – made of columns and rows Passive – the display is created at one time Active Matrix – a single pixel can be changed

Passive matrix

Color super-twist nematic (CSTN) Dual Scan Ferroelectric High-Performance Addressing (HPA) Usually can’t run projectors or LCD panels

from these types of laptops

Active matrix

Metal-insulator-metal (MIM) Plasma-addressed liquid crystal (PALC) Thin-film transistors (TFT)

Display resolutions

XGA – Extended graphics – 1024x768 SXGA+ - Super XGA – 1400x1050

14-15 inch display – typically max resolution for projectors

UXGA – Ultra XGA – 1600x1200 WUXGA – Wide screen 1920x1200

Docking stations

Port Replicator – cheapest – Docking station – difference is network

access Cold docking – laptop is off Warm docking – laptop must be put in

suspend mode Hot docking – a change can be made while

running normal operations.

Batteries

Nickel-cadmium (NiCad) least preferable must be charged every 3-4 hours

Nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) – store up to 50% more power and don’t suffer loss of functionality from partial draining and recharging

Lithium ion (Lion) – Lightweight and long life – more expensive

Fuel cell -

Batteries cont.

Fuel cell – Casio plans to produce a hydrogen fuel cell that will last 20 hours. High price.

Battery Disposal

Don’t put in mutilate Don’t crush, puncture, or incinerate or short

external circuits Don’t short-circuit – can cause burns

PCMCIA Cards

Expansion cards for Type III or Type II or Type I devices Type I – 3.3 mm thick Usually used for

memory Type II – 5.5 mm thick - most common – NICs

Will work with Type 1 Type III – 10.5 mm thick - used for drive – not

common Both Type I, II, III can be used in a III slot

Today new technology called CardBus Mini PCI slot – wireless

32-bit bus Operates at 32MHz 3.3 volts Uses type III, II, I

Most designs have only two Type II slots You can plug in two Type I or type II or One Type III

Ports and Communication Connections

Bluetooth - how mobile phones, computers, and personal digital assistants ( PDA s) can be easily interconnected using a short-range wireless connection

Infrared – line of site - used for short- and medium-range communications and control.

WAN WiFI – wireless network. Cellular -

Pointing and Input Devices

Touchpad's, point sticks, and track points Digitizer – pen Fn – function key -

Power Management

Know how to access – XP – start/control panel/power options

Advanced configuration Power Interface (ACPI) – in ACPI the BIOS provides the OS with necessary methods of controlling the hardware.

Three main state of power management

Hibernate – saves all contents of memory to the hard drive and preserves all data/applications where they are.

Standby – leaves memory active but saves everything to disk.

Suspend – same as hibernate. In XP hibernate is used instead of Suspend.

Battery changing

Know that a battery is hot-swappable but you either need a second battery or be plugged in to change.

Common Laptop Issues

Stylus Issues – Can go bad and be replaced Antenna wires – remove interference Backlight – can go bad and need to be

replaced. Know that the inverter can go bad also and be replaced.

DC power – replace the battery. Set to fully drain if possible

External monitors – usually will see when booting if not use the Fn key

Common Laptop Issues

External Keyboards – replace Pointers – can gain dust – clean or use

external mouse. Unneeded peripherals – disable if possible

they drain the battery Video – incorrect settings – have current

drivers

Maintenance

Cleaning – mild soap and water on a clean, lint-free cloth

Make sure power is off Use a glass cleaner designed for monitors and a

soft cloth. Clean environment Run Disk Defrag, Scandisk, Check Disk, and

Disk cleanup Perform scheduled maintenance to prolong life

Maintenance

Temperature – 45 to 90 degrees Humidity – between 10 to 80 percent

Memory

SODIMM – Small Outline DIMM 72 – 32-bit data bus 144- 64 bits wide New MicroDIMM – smaller no notch –

144-pin 32MBx64

Memory Upgrades

Make sure you refer to the documetation.

Use the internet – research Meomry problems –

Laptop not working at all Beep-code error Soft memory errors Short memory counts in post Locking up in boot