HOW LAPTOPS WORK
SPECIFICATIONS AND EVALUATION
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PREPARED BY
RICHARD NELSON
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5/5/08
GENERAL
From what I read laptops (ALSO CALLED NOTEBOOKS) are currently outselling other computer configurations such as desktops and towers.
The big deal of course is that laptops are small and quite portable. I use my laptop to give lectures and workshops that I conduct outside my residence, and like most people I take it on vacation. At home I use my laptop as a regular computer. It now seems that a laptop and a notebook are about the same thing. There is a variation of the laptop called the Tablet. I am not yet familiar enough with a tablet to comment about them, except that they seem to be gaining favor in the education environment.
Bits and Bytes
Computers only know two things a zero or a one. To accommodate computers, the human alphabet is translated into a coding system called the American Standard Code for Information Interchange or ASCII using zeros and ones. As an example a = 01100001, and a b = 01100010, and a 1 = 00110001 and a 9 = 0011001. Each zero or one is called a bit and the 8 zeros and ones are called a byte.
So a byte is an alphabetical character or a number from zero thru 9. A byte is composed of 8 bits of zeros and ones.
So in computer world when you see an upper case B it means byte and when you see a lower case b it means a bit. Modems are rated in bits per second, like 10 Mbps. That means that a modem is capable of sending 10,000,000 bits per second.
Below I talk about MB and GB. The B stands for Bytes and the M stands for one million (six zeros) and the G stands for one billion (9 zeros). So 256 MB is 256,000,000 Bytes, and 80 GB is 80,000,000,000 Bytes. Translating this into alphabetical characters One Byte is equal to one alphabetical character like an A or a B or a z or a y. So a RAM of 1024MB would hold 1024 million alphabetical characters. 1024 MB are also identified as 1.0 GB
SPECIFICATIONS FOR A
LAPTOP
THE OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE
Computer hardware cannot do anything by itself. Computer hardware needs software instructions to make it work. Windows is software instructions called an Operating System used to make the hardware of Personal Computers or laptop computers do operations for you. An operating system controls the hardware and the computers peripheral equipment like the printer, keyboard, and mouse, and finally Windows controls the computer applications software that do work for humans like word processing
WINDOWS XP
Windows XP has been around for about 5 years and
is a good solid system. At least one of the laptop manufacturers is still
offering XP on its new computers as well as
Also we are experimenting on laptops that are
dual-boot. That is they can run both XP and
Your hard drive is where your programs reside and where you can save your documents... It is the main permanent storage unit in your computer, 160 and 250 GB is common.
Hard drives are getting bigger and cheaper. With 160 GB, your main storage unit will hold 160,000,000,000 characters or bytes. If you are going to store a lot of pictures or do a log o graphics work then you should go for 250 Gigs.
Random Access Memory (RAM)
This is your main memory where all the work is done, so it is very important when it comes to processing large files and especially graphics, video and music.
The standard on low priced laptops seems to be 1024 MB (1.0 GB DDR2 MEMORY). I suggest you get 2028 MB (2.0 GB DDR2 MEMORY) as a minimum. Many laptops are now coming with 3.0 GB. With this size RAM your computer will run faster particularly with the advent of more graphics and video on the Internet, the bigger the RAM the better. Also compared to some of the earlier versions, Windows Vista takes a lot more RAM.
DDR2 SDRAM or
double-data-rate two - synchronous dynamic random
access memory
Screen
Most laptop screens are about 14 to 17 inches and that seems to be adequate. Some people attach a regular monitor to their laptop when they use it in their home. The screen on a laptop seems to be brighter if you tip it at the best angle.
There are laptops with larger screens but they get pricey.
VIDEO ADAPTER
For
The specs go something like this: Support for Direct X9 graphics with a WDDM driver, 128 graphics memory (minimum) Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32 bits per pixel (I am not sure what all this means)
Or
NVIDIA 256 MB graphic adapter card. NVIDIA is an American company that manufactures graphics and video cards for computers
Or another video adaptor
An Intel 950 which is an Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 chip built into the mother board
Or
128MB ATI X1600 – this is another graphics adaptor card
It is not clear yet what all this means as far as the operation of your laptop.
All new laptops do not have a built-in floppy drive. Floppy drives are well on there way out. But if you are still using floppies from an older computer, an external floppy drive can be purchased if desirable. They cost about $75 or less.
CD’s can hold 700MB
Many laptops now come with combination drives like DVD+/-RW /CD-RW that reads and writes DVD’s and CD’s.
And some come with Double layer DVD+/-RW /CD-RW that can use a double layer DVD disks.
Single layer DVD’s can hold 4.7 GB’s and double layer DVD’s can hold 9.4 GB’s
Read/Write CD’s and DVD’s must be formatted before they are used, and that takes burner software like Roxio or Nero.
CD and/or DVD Disk burners are required today if you are going to do work with computer graphics, also for backing up your Hard Disk Drive in case it fails.
If your older laptop does not have an internal burner drive, an external burner drive can be plugged into your laptop thru one of the USB ports or a hub.
USB FLASH DRIVES
Within the last few years a new storage devise has come on
the market that is great. It is called the
Flash drives come in capacities of 1.0 GB to 32 GB, and they
are quite reasonable price wise starting at about $10.00. I use Flash Drives to
back up my most important folders and files from my hard drive. Also when I use
another computer or go on out of town, I carry my flash drive with me. I can do
work on any computer that has a USB port and Windows XP or
All laptops have USB ports, usually 2 or 3 of them. USB ports are used to plug in your peripheral equipment such as a printer, scanner or USB flash drives. The most recent laptops have USB 2.0 ports. The older laptops may have USB 1.1 ports.
When you are using your laptop at home, it is usually better to plug a USB hub into your laptop then plug the peripherals into the USB Hub ports on the computer. See below for USB Hubs.
I find an external USB Hub very handy as I add and remove peripherals to my laptop, since I mostly use my laptop like a regular computer.
There are two kinds of hubs, active and passive. The active hub is the better choice if you are using equipment that requires significant power.
Another good feature about hubs is it saves wear and tear on your laptop USB ports from frequent plugging and unplugging peripheral equipment.
Hubs cost about $15.00
EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE
In addition to being able to connect a flash drive to your laptop, you can also connect an external mini external USB hard drive. They come in many different sizes and prices.
External hard drives come in many sizes, from 100 GB to 500 GB.
ZIP DRIVE
A zip drive is like a bigger capacity floppy drive. They are becoming less popular with the advent of the CD burners, external hard drives, and USB Flash drives.
Most all standard printers will work with a laptop. There are some small printers available that are more portable.
THE OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE (WINDOWS)
All new PC computers including laptops come with Windows Vista.
There are four versions of Windows Vista: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Business Ultimate. Most laptops used at home use Home Premium. Most laptops come with Windows Vista Home Premium. A few come with Windows Home Basic.
There are at least two computer companies (HP and Dell) that
will sell you a new laptop with Windows XP professional installed. However you must buy copy of
APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE
As far as Applications software, some but not all laptops come with Microsoft Works. Works includes application software like a word processor, a spreadsheet, a database, and some other packages. Most people will find Works applications software satisfactory.
After market applications software is easily available and quit easy to install. I bought a Home and Student version of Microsoft Office for about $125.00 and it works very well. I bought it for the Power Point software but the version Word 2007 and Excel 2007 that came with the package is very good. I have to say the 2007 version is very different for the 2003 version.
Internet access from a laptop can be either wired or wireless
Wired access is when the laptop is connected to the internet equipment with a cable (called an Ethernet cable of RJ 45 cable)
Wireless access is when the laptop is connected to the internet using a wireless device identified as 802.11b/g or 802.11n
Access speeds vary – you can test your access speeds at www.bandwidth.com
Dial-up modems are what you use to access the Internet over a telephone line.
57 Kbps (kilobits per second). A dial-up modem can be internal or external. And you can always add an external modem later. I have an internal modem in my laptop and found it very handy during the hurricanes when most telephone lines were still working, and other means of Internet access was down or not available.
Broadband Modems
Cable modems and DSL modems are replacing dial up modems. Cable modems and DSL modems are all external types. And most laptops have a network port (Ethernet or RJ 45 port) to attach to a cable modem or DSL modem.. DSL works at about 1,500Kbps and Cable works at about 3,000Kbps. Also please see wireless cards below
Wireless Equipment
One of the big deals about laptops is that most all airports and hotels, Starbucks and some entire cities have wireless access to the Internet. You just go into one of these places and turn on your laptop and you will usually have free access to the Internet. So it is highly desirable to purchase a laptop with the wireless card already installed. The good news is that all new laptops are equipped that way.
However if you have an older laptop without an internal wireless equipment, you can add one. External wireless cards cost between $30 and $50.
The specs for wireless equipment internal or external will look something like this: 802.11g wireless.. The internal antenna is considered to be much better than the external antenna because it can detect weaker signals, in other words it reaches out farther.
Recently new more powerful wireless equipment came on the market. It is identified by 802.11n. The range is somewhat greater and the speed is increased over the 802.11g.
Sprint (Embarq) and Verizon is offering a wireless card that plugs into a slot in the side of your laptop and can connect to the internet via cellular connection from most any location.
It is a faster than a dial-up modem (57 Kbps). Cellular wireless works at 1.8 Mbps which is comparable to DSL speeds. It is important to understand that these speeds vary considerable from location to location.
COMSIDER A WARRANTEE
Most laptops are fragile. They cannot be dropped. It has been recorded that the biggest problem with laptops in schools is laptops being dropped. That is why many publications recommend getting a 2-year warrantee.
EXTERNAL KEYBOARD
The keyboard on a laptop is flat and the keys do not stick up enough to be comfortable for some people. It is possible to attach a regular keyboard to your laptop to make typing more comfortable. That is what I have done.
Some laptops come with a keyboard that does not have words on some of the keys. An example of this is the Enter key does not have the word Enter printed on it, and the Shift key does not have the word Shift printed on it. Each of these keys had the symbol like an arrow pointing left on the Enter key and an arrow pointing up on the Shift key. I would think this would be a serious disadvantage, because the keys on a laptop are in some cases different than on a desktop or console.
If you spill something like coffee on a regular keyboard, it is easily replaced for about $25. If you spill coffee on a laptop keyboard you may be buying a new laptop. But sometimes this can be overcome by buying an external keyboard that plugs into one of the USB ports.
TOUCH PADS VS AN EXTERNAL MINI MOUSE
Laptops come with a touch pad instead of a mouse. Some people find it difficult to use a touch pad instead of a mouse. I like both of them, but I think a mouse is faster. As indicated above it is possible to purchase a USB mouse for less than $20,
SCREEN SIZE
Because of the desire to stay small in size and cost you are pretty limited to a 15-inch monitor on a laptop. There are laptops with larger screens but of course the whole case is larger, heavier, and they are much more expensive. It is also possible to connect a regular monitor to a laptop. There is a monitor port on most laptops. adjusting the screen on the laptop monitor can make a big difference in the brightness and clarity. This is usually done by using the fn key and f8 keys together
LCD PROJECTOR PORTS
You will find that you will be giving lectures with your laptop . So it is desirable to have a monitor port available. All laptops that I have seen have a port for an external monitors and this port can be used for an LCD when not being used with a monitor. This port is called a DB15 port. But you must have a special cable to plug in a LCD. It is a male-male DB15 cable and they are sometimes hard to find. You can also plug your laptop into an LCD using an S-Video cable but the picture on the screen is not as good.
One of the downsides for laptops is the battery life.
It seems about that 2 to 3 hours on the battery is average. But there are several ways of supplementing the power to your laptops battery when it is not plugged in to a 120v outlet. One is to buy a second laptop battery as a back up and keep it charged by using it in your laptop .
Another way is to buy an adaptor to plug into the cigarette outlet in an automobile. That will extend the battery life indefinitely as long as you have access to an automobile. Another trick is to buy a Jump-It battery that you normally use to jump-start an automobile, and using the cigarette adaptor mentioned above, you can plug into the Jump-It battery and extent the battery of you laptop several hours. I used mine during the last hurricane.
It is desirable to run your laptop on its battery without being plugged into a wall outlet at least once a month. That way you can tell if the battery is still ok.
A laptop does not have to be plugged into an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to protect it from power surges and outages, because the laptop battery acts just like a UPS. But if the battery is no good then this protection is just not there.
PRINTER
It is as easy to connect a printer to a laptop, as it is a
regular computer. I have found that
OTHER PERIPHERAL EQUIPMENT
Almost any peripheral equipment that connects to a desktop can be connected to a laptop. This usually can be done thru one of its USB Ports or thru a USB hub.
LAPTOP PLATFORMS
There is a laptop platform that can be purchased that allows you to use your laptop as a desktop and provides extra cooling and USB ports in the process. At one time these were called docks, but I think a dock also provided some other features like a port to keep your laptop battery charged. These are worth looking into if you want to add an external monitor to your laptop.
Another type of laptop platform for a HP laptop holds the laptop base at a 45 degree angle so that the laptop keyboard and touch pad is exposed and has a wireless keyboard and mouse as part of the kit. It costs about $250 extra. There are also some knock offs for much less $35.00.
IDENTIFYING THE PLUG IN PORTS ON A TYPICAL LAPTOP
There are usually drawings included in a booklet that comes with your laptop , that identifies the various ports on your laptop and describes their purpose.
Getting information about your laptop is easy, just right
click on the My Computer (Computer on
There are several very important displays for your laptop you should use frequently.
My Computer (It is called just “Computer” in
One of these is the My Computer display. There are several places that the button for accessing this display can be found. One is and icon on your computer desktop, and the other is found on the Main Start Menu that is activated by clicking on the Start button in the lower left corner of your screen. Clicking on either of these the My Computer buttons will activate the My Computer display, and you can see all the storage units on your computer.
Control Panel
Another important display is the Control Panel. It can be accessed from the Master Start Menu by clicking on the Start button in the lower left corner of your screen. The Control Panel gives you access to all the hardware and software associated with your computer.
All Programs
The All Programs display can be accessed from the Master Start Menu as above. When you get to the Master Start Menu just put you mouse arrow on top of the words All Programs (don’t click) and a menu will pop out, showing you all the software that is installed on your computer
If you right click on an open space on the task bar you will get a menu. Slide up to Task Manager on the menu and left click. To see how your computer is performing left click on any of the tabs and it will give you a display. Example if you are on the Internet left click on Networking.
SUMMARY
The cost of a reasonable performing laptop is now about $500.00 for the low-end models. I suggest you go with the ones that cost in the neighborhood of $800+, with at least 2048 MB RAM (2.0 GB RAM), and many at that price are coming with 3.0 GB RAM.
We have become a mobile society and because of its size, weight, and portability, laptops are becoming the computer configuration of choice. Many of us have two residents and we move back and forth during different times of the year. Laptops are perfect for those people.
ONE FINAL THOUGHT
Finally as our society grows older and we move to smaller quarter’s laptops require significant less space than regular computer configurations. Also, if there is an extended stay in a rehab center, a laptop is the perfect solution for that situation.
LEARNING HOW TO USE WORD 2007
AND EXCEL 2003 – EXCEL 2007
As mentioned above Word 2007
and Excel 2007 is very different from its older brothers of 2003- so Microsoft
has created a web site to help users adjust to these new versions
Below are the web sites that
address this situation for each of them:
WORD
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100744321033.aspx
EXCEL
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA101491511033.aspx?pid=CH100648241033
