Comparative Analysis: Different Types of Laptops

Now computers are important part of the life for many people. Computers can be different: mobile, stationary, special, universal, and so on. For a regular user, there are two major types of computers: desktop and laptop (notebook). Notebook mobility enables you to move around freely and easily while holding or using a laptop. These days, laptop manufacturers make a wide range of different types of laptops – thin/light, portable, ultra-portable, netbooks, desktop replacements, etc. The performance of current high-end notebook is sufficient for running most applications fluently.

A thin and light laptop is almost the same as regular one but optimized in terms of weight and size. These systems can vary widely in terms of their price and performance. They are able to perform most computing tasks on a certain level. They tend to perform better than the counterparts in the ultraportable category but they are smaller and more portable than regular notebooks (although may have the same LCD panel size) and large desktop replacements. These systems are designed for those people who travel a lot, who want a system that is simple and useful enough, and who are willing to sacrifice computing power for portability.

The type of mini notebook, ultraportable laptop computer (sometimes, called subnotebook) is smaller and lighter than a typical notebook. It is able to run a normal desktop operating system. Subnotebooks often have smaller LCD screens, less than 14 inches. Usually smaller size and weight are achieved by omitting ports or having removable disc drives. However, most of them can be paired with docking stations and become as fully-functional notebooks.

There are mini notebooks with a new concept, commonly called netbooks, that are less expensive than subnotebooks and optimized for use as portable Internet capable devices. Netbooks made compact as possible yet powerful enough for most common applications such as web browsers, e-mail, word processing, presentation and other simple software. ASUS EEE PC was the first of a new class of netbooks.

A few years ago it was unimaginable that notebooks could come close to the performance of desktops. Nevertheless, current top technologies allow making your notebook performance almost equal to the performance of a desktop. The notebooks that called “desktop replacement notebooks” are designed to be complete systems that have almost equivalent processing power and capability to desktop systems but in a mobile package. Current high-end desktop replacement notebooks should be capable of replacing a desktop computers in many areas soon. Their performance is getting close to desktop performance. However, their cost is greater and they are larger and bulkier than regular notebooks.

Comparing laptops and desktops, we need to note that laptop processors (CPU) differ from their desktop counterparts. The reasons for this is a limited amount of power they have to run and difficulties to provide a good temperature conditions. To do this, the manufacturers use different tricks such as CPU scaling where a processor scales its power usage (and consequently, performance) to the tasks. This presents a major challenge in balanced performance and power consumption. The less power the laptop uses, the longer the system should be able to run on batteries.

Another disadvantage of using laptops is that laptop's keyboard and mouse may be not so convenient as it is with desktop. Also an extra-big screen size may be the most important parameter for some types of works. Therefore, the desktops that have been specially designed as servers, or ones for professional video processing, complex computing, scientific research, may never be replaced by notebooks. To this end, desktop replacement notebooks may never be the same as the top-end desktops.

© Alex Smartson. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.