What is a computer portable enough to fit on a lap or in a bag and has its own power source or battery?

Unit 6. Basic computer terminologies

Click play on the following audio player to listen along as you read this section.

  • Supercomputers
  • Mainframe computers
  • Minicomputers
  • Personal computers (PCs) or microcomputers

Supercomputers

What is a computer portable enough to fit on a lap or in a bag and has its own power source or battery?

– a powerful computer that can process large amounts of data and do a great amount of computation very quickly.

Supercomputers are used for areas related to:

  • Science
  • Engineering
  • Education
  • Defence
  • Aerospace

Supercomputers are useful for applications involving very large databases or that require a great amount of computation.

Supercomputers are used for complex tasks, such as:

  • Weather forecasting
  • Climate research
  • Scientific simulation
  • Oil and gas exploration
  • Quantum mechanics
  • Cryptanalysis

Mainframe computers

What is a computer portable enough to fit on a lap or in a bag and has its own power source or battery?

– a high-performance computer used for large information processing jobs.

Mainframe computers are primarily used in :

  • Institutions
  • Research
  • Academics
  • Health care
  • Libraries
  • Large businesses
  • Financial institutions
  • Stock brokerage firms
  • Insurance agencies

Mainframe computers are useful for tasks related to:

  • Census taking
  • Industry and consumer statistics
  • Enterprise resource planning
  • Transaction processing
  • e-business and e-commerce

Minicomputers

What is a computer portable enough to fit on a lap or in a bag and has its own power source or battery?

– a mid-range computer that is intermediate in size, power, speed, storage capacity, etc., between a mainframe and a microcomputer.

Minicomputers are used by small organizations.

“Minicomputer” is a term that is no longer used much. In recent years, minicomputers are often referred to as small or midsize servers (a is a central computer that provides information to other computers).

Personal computers

What is a computer portable enough to fit on a lap or in a bag and has its own power source or battery?

(PC) – a small computer designed for use by a single user at a time.

A PC or microcomputer uses a single chip (microprocessor) for its central processing unit (CPU).

“Microcomputer” is now primarily used to mean a PC, but it can refer to any kind of small computer, such as a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet, smartphone, or wearable.

Types of personal computers

– a personal computer that is designed to stay at one location and fits on or under a desk. It typically has a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and a tower (system unit).

What is a computer portable enough to fit on a lap or in a bag and has its own power source or battery?

Laptop computer (or notebook) – A portable personal computer that is small enough to rest on the user’s lap and can be powered by a battery. It includes a flip down screen and a keyboard with a touchpad.

What is a computer portable enough to fit on a lap or in a bag and has its own power source or battery?

– A wireless touchscreen PC that is slightly smaller and weighs less than the average laptop.

What is a computer portable enough to fit on a lap or in a bag and has its own power source or battery?

– A mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a personal computer.

What is a computer portable enough to fit on a lap or in a bag and has its own power source or battery?

a powerful computer that can process large amounts of data and do a great amount of computation very quickly.

a high-performance computer used for large information processing jobs.

a mid-range computer that is intermediate in size, power, speed, storage capacity, etc., between a mainframe and a microcomputer.

a central computer that provides information to other computers.

a small computer designed for use by a single user at a time. Also known as a PC or a microcomputer.

a personal computer that is designed to stay at one location and fits on or under a desk. It typically has a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and a tower (system unit).

a portable personal computer that is small enough to rest on the user's lap and can be powered by a battery. It includes a flip down screen and a keyboard with a touchpad. Also known as a notebook.

a wireless touchscreen PC that is slightly smaller and weighs less than the average laptop.

a mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a personal computer.

A laptop computer is a small personal computer. They are designed to be more portable than traditional desktop computers, with many of the same abilities. Laptops are able to be folded flat for transportation and have a built-in keyboard and touchpad.

Most laptops are powerful enough for everyday business administrative, home, or school use. However, if a user does graphical work such as 3D rendering or movie encoding, a more advanced and powerful laptop is needed. As advanced as laptops are, the top-end ones still cannot compete with high powered desktops and workstations when processing power is needed.

Your line of work will dictate the laptop type you need. Since there are so many options, tt's important to know what laptops with different specifications can do so that you can choose the right one for your business and budget.

A laptop computer is smaller than a desktop computer, generally less than three inches thick, and weigh less than desktop computers. The laptop's size makes it convenient for transportation in briefcases, backpacks, and other bags.

The device derives its name from being able to be used by resting on a person's lap without the need for a desk or other surface. Laptop computers may also be referred to as notebook computers, though a notebook computer usually describes a computer that is smaller and lighter than a laptop computer.

Similar to personal computers, laptops require a power source—they can be plugged into an outlet or operate on their internal battery. Laptop computers can be used at a desk by themselves, or as a desktop-style computer by connecting a separate monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

These small computers can also be hooked into docking stations—devices that allow some laptops to easily connect to peripherals like monitors and keyboards at a desk—and then "undock" for easy mobile use and transport.

Components such as processors, motherboards, memory sticks, hard drives, graphics cards, and interface devices are all items that form a laptop computer. The smaller these components are, the smaller and lighter a laptop can be.

The drawback with reduced size, however, is that smaller components are generally not capable of performing as fast as larger components in certain scenarios.

Manufacturers of computer components continuously work to reduce their size, while keeping performance as high as possible. Laptops also are designed to require less power to operate, which can also lower their capabilities for intensive work.

These factors should be considered when choosing a laptop for your business or professional needs. Size, necessary performance, the operating system, and price are all aspects to consider when looking for the right computer. The right one for you depends on how you are going to use it.

While there are no specific types of laptops, retailers generally give them categories for consumers to help them find one for their needs. Some of the labels you might find at a retailer are:

  • Value
  • Everyday
  • Gaming
  • Professional
  • Ultraportable or notebook

Value laptops usually have lower price tags, with lower-performing hardware, and less storage and memory for people that only do basic computing such as a few hours of internet browsing, playing a movie, or writing some papers.

Everyday laptops might have slightly higher performance with more storage and memory for people that use computers more than a value-user would. This might be someone who uses the laptop for work or school but doesn't require significant processing power and storage for 3D applications like 3d Max or gaming.

Some manufacturers design their laptops to be upgradeable. When choosing one, look to see if you can get more memory or storage put in. This can help lower-end laptops perform better at a lower cost than purchasing a higher-performing one.

Gaming laptops have mid-to-high-end mobile 3D graphics cards and processors designed to play graphically intensive games while being able to do all the other tasks expected of computers.

Professional targeted laptops will have graphics cards designed for studio uses such as 3D graphics creation and rendering, analyzing large amounts of data, or other professionally intensive uses. They will have high-end processors, more memory, and more storage to handle demanding workloads.

Ultraportables and notebooks are even smaller than laptops. They generally sacrifice capabilities, peripheral ports, and performance for their size and price.

Laptops have ports and other interfaces similar to desktop computers, such as USB ports, network interface cards, audio speakers, digital media drives, and memory card slots (such as SD card readers), which are often built into the laptop computer by the manufacturer. Additional peripherals may be connected to a laptop computer through available expansion slots, through USB or serial ports or wirelessly via a Bluetooth connection. 

Laptops have several ways of connecting to networks. A wireless connection, or WiFi, is the most common means of connecting a laptop. Laptops may also have ethernet ports that allow the computer to connect to a local area network (LAN) through an ethernet cable.

A Bluetooth connection is another means for a computer to communicate with devices or other computers. For example, a Bluetooth mouse or keyboard can be connected wirelessly to a laptop. A laptop can also connect to a smartphone via Bluetooth (this connection may also be made via USB port and cable) to access the Internet over the phone's mobile network. This is commonly referred to as "tethering."

  • Laptops are computers designed for portability. They have all the same components and capabilities of traditional desktops, but are smaller and can fold up.
  • Laptops are generally less powerful than desktops.
  • There are different categories of laptops designed for various uses.
  • Many laptops come with options to upgrade specific components to tailor them to the needs of the user.