1.1 Laptop Hardware and Components

Question 1

What is a SSD?

Answer 1

• Solid State Drive
• All memory, no moving parts
• 2.5 are standard, 1.8 are being phased out. 2.5 are higher performance

Question 2

What is a Hybrid Disk (SSHD)?

Answer 2

• Solid State Hybrid Drive
• Traditional moving parts and flash memory
• SSD caches the hard drive data

Question 3

What is a Magnetic Disk?

Answer 3

• Traditional Spinning Hard Drive Platters, can also be 2.5’

Question 4

What are the names of Laptop memory?

Answer 4

SO-DIMM

Micro-DIMM

Question 5

What is a smart card used for?

Answer 5

An integrated card reader for authentication.

Question 6

What are the features that Optical Drives have in a laptop?

Answer 6

Read and Write CD-RW/CD-ROM and DVD-RW/DVD-ROM

Question 7

What are the Wireless adapter spots in a laptop?

Answer 7

• 802.11 Wireless Connection
• WWAN (Cellular based wireless connection)
• WPAN (Bluetooth)

Question 8

What are the 2 common for factors that you would use for adapter cards for a laptop?

Answer 8

• Mini PCI

- Mini PCIe

Question 9

Explain the specs of the Video Cards in a laptop?

Answer 9

• Often built into the processor
• Not upgradeable
• Sometimes a separate chip on the system board
• Integrated graphics cards don’t have their own CPU (or ‘processor’) instead using system RAM and system CPU. Dedicated graphics cards have their own CPU that’s known as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and RAM of their own.

Question 10

What are the displays we use on laptops? What is special about the resolution?

Answer 10

• LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)
• LCD is fragile.
• Resolutions are fixed. You cannot buy a larger screen
• Use the native resolution for the best image.

Question 11

How does power work on a laptop?

Answer 11

• Power conversion is done on an external device that provides DC power
• Power supplies are specific to the laptop
• Converts AC to DC
• Input voltage 110 volts / 220 volts

Question 12

What are the common battery technologies for laptops?

Answer 12

• Lithium Ion (Li-ion)
• Charging the battery diminishes the capacity.
• No “memory effect” (you don’t have to deplete the entire battery)

Question 13

Laptop Frame

Answer 13

• Can be plastic- Lightweight, mobile, and cost effective

- Can be metal- More durable than plastic, can be difficult to repair.

Question 14

Speakers

Answer 14

• Self contained

- Low quality sound

Question 15

System Board

Answer 15

• Proprietary- built to fit the specific laptop

- Most components are on the system board

Question 16

CPU

Answer 16

• They’re designed for mobile systems- so made for power management
• Integrated features- Memory controller and video controller
• Often can’t upgrade
• Heat and size are a concern,