Portable Devices

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• Notebook computers incorporate the system unit, input unit, and output unit into a single, lightweight package, that can be carried around by the user.
• They are also called portables, laptop computers, palmtops, or personal digital assistant (PDA), depending on their size and what they can do.

• Portables are built with the intention of being lightweight and fitting within a certain size or form factor.
• Portable devices include batteries, hard drives, PCMCIA Cards, and memory.
• Originally, portables used Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cad) batteries and were in an external battery pack that would attach to the portable device.

• More recently, Nickel Metal-Hydride (NiMH) and Lithium-Ion batteries have been used in portable devices.
• These batteries usually last for a little over two hours, depending on their size and the power consumption by the device.
• Hard drives have been developed to be smaller and use less power to accommodate size and power limitations.

• The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) card, is a special expansion card type designed primarily to accommodate the needs of the portable computer market.
• There are three types of PCMCIA slots and cards:

1. Type I cards are 3.3mm thick and used as memory expansion units
2. Type II cards are 5mm thick and are used for any expansion device except hard drives.
3. Type III cards are 10.5mm thick and designed to be used solely for hard drives.

• Notebook and laptop computers use non-CRT type displays, also referred to as flat panel displays.
• Two examples of such displays are Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and gas-plasma panels.

1. They are much lighter and more compact than CRT monitors.
2. They require much less electrical energy to operate.
3. Both types of display units can be operated from batteries.

• A docking station is a device that can be used to allow a portable PC to use the normal hardware devices associated with desktop computers.

• A port replicator is similar to a docking station. It connects multiple peripherals to a notebook but it does not contain any slots for expansion, speakers or peripherals.

• Use the system tools on a regular basis to keep the system running smoothly.
• Overheating can cause the system to slow down and malfunction.
• Keeping the notebook cooler can be as simple as raising the notebook slightly to allow air to circulate under the computer.
• Notebook cooler pads can be purchased that utilize fans powered by the USB port help keep the notebook cool.

• Infrared technology, also known as Infrared Radiation (IR) is used for wireless transmission between computer devices and in remote controls for television and stereo systems.
• To successfully link two devices, there must be a transmitter and receiver with an unobstructed line of sight between the devices.

• Radio signals are used in wireless networking technologies to enable computers to broadcast their information to one another using.
• A wireless access point is utilized so that computers in a client/server network communicate.