In the 1940s when the pioneering computers were invented, they would take the size of a room. Nobody would foresee at that moment that such a big machine would attain the size of a book and take a gigantic market share in all technological devices. Around 1970s the computers took shape of Desktops which could fit on a table desk and were called P.Cs: Personal Computers. They were followed by another type of P.Cs: Portable Computers or laptops which had mobility, rechargeable battery and could do all the functions of Desktops. It is recently in 2000 that the sale of Laptops outran the sale of Desktops. Since then the laptops have evolved into various forms like Notebooks, Netbooks and tablets.
If you are probable buyer you’ll have to choose from a lot of options, as the options increase so does the requirement of skills to select the right one; the one that can really help you and is worth the bucks. Computers are something we don’t buy every day, unless of course you run a business of computers.
Let us try to understand in this post what the different names mean and what your options are when you are looking forward to own one, at the end of it the decision is yours!:
Desktop:
A Desktop is a Personal Computer which can fit on a table desk; is mostly stationary and can work with ease with various peripherals and accessories. Such a device has higher upgradability features than compared to other I.T devices and are supposed to be less complicated to repair. Previous desktops worked with CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display monitors, which is the technology used to make T.V screens. The TrendZ of replacing these CRT monitors with LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors is now catching up. LCDs are smarter in looks, take little space on the desk and are easily rotatable in most cases.
All in One:
They were the desktops which would appear like a CRT monitor and would contain inbuilt CPU (Central Processing Unit) and inbuilt speakers. There were too many things stuffed in the main monitor and the monitor was the central controlling point for all the functions. Hence, they were difficult to repair and upgrade; such a device didn’t become much popular than, but later became inspiration for the next generation innovations which works on the same concept and which we shall read further.
Laptops:
Laptops are mobile Personal computers which are portable and hence also rechargeable. A laptop can perform all the tasks of a regular desktop and can work smoothly with most of the accessories. Laptops essentially have foldable screens and are roughly between 16 to 11 inches in size. As time passed laptops evolved into more mobile and portable devices but compromising some functions. However that’s what evolution means, the lizard lost the legs to become a snake.
Notebooks:
Notebooks are laptops, mostly smaller than 11 inches and resemble the laptops in functions. In fact they accomplish all the tasks of a desktop including burning DVDs, but have smaller displays and keyboards than ordinary laptops. The notebooks are sort of connecting links between the laptops and the netbooks which evolved later.
Netbooks:
As the world is becoming more and more digital and internet friendly; much of the files and digital matter is now downloaded or uploaded. The CDs and DVDs which are time consuming to burn and less resistant to scratches are losing the popularity and are now preferred with other accessories like memory cards, flash disks and external hard disks. The netbooks sacrificed the optical (CD/DVD) drives to gain smaller size barely accommodating the keyboard. They also made a compromise with the processing speed by not accommodating the ordinary and widespread processors but they’ll be worked upon in future. The netbooks are meant for the generation which spends much time on internet and hence had enhanced connectivity options. Most of them come with WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet ports and USB ports. CDs and DVDs can still be used on these devices with the aid of External DVD writers. Such a decision was made to make them more portable, smaller and cheaper.
Tablets:
As the Netbooks sacrificed the utility of CDs and DVDs the tablets sacrificed the utility of keyboards. Though the previous models had much smaller keyboards, the latest models have touch screen for typing and hence are much more slate like and almost work in one flat dimension; meaning that there is no foldable screen but there is a flap jacket to protect the screen. Such devices have their own special operating systems and may not do certain functions like connecting with printers and certain applications necessary for office use. In these devices the display screen itself is the device just like the old inspiring “All in One” computers, one such example is iPad. With time these tablet P.Cs are improvising to be able to work with printers using wireless technologies and are working forward to be more helpful in office environments.
As this post is drafted and many a enthusiastic probable buyers are searching through the markets for more options; the ambitious businessmen and innovative scientists are working towards ideal devices which are similar to mobile phones and can do all the functions of a full- fledged Desktop computer, such devices may be named “Palmtops”.
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