Although laptops are not perfect systems, they do offer tremendous advantages. Fortunately, what problems they do have can be ameliorated to a surprising degree. Below are the common problems and solutions covered in the following sections.
Common Notebook Computer Shortcomings and Possible Solutions Notebook Problem:
Problem: Expensive relative to an equivalent desktop
Solution: Actually, on a per-hour basis, a notebook may be more inexpensive.
Problem: Increased risk of damage, loss, and theft
Solution: Laptop insurance, extended warranties, frequent data backups, and encrypted hard disks.
Problem: Slower performance relative to high-end desktops
Solution: Buy a desktop as a notebook peripheral.
Problem: Difficult to upgrade and repair
Solution: No true solution. You must perform either limited upgrades or replace the notebook.
Actually Cheaper Than Desktops
A simple comparison of price tags suggests that desktops are less expensive than notebooks. A more intensive examination on a cost/benefit basis may suggest otherwise. Because a notebook may be used more often than a desktop, it could actually be less costly on a per-hour basis.
Laptop Insurance
Physical damage to notebooks can be lessened by following two simple rules dictated by common sense. First, always transport your notebook in a well-cushioned bag specifically designed for that purpose. Second, never leave cables attached to your notebook in a place where someone can trip over them.
Even the most careful person, however, will occasionally subject the notebook to an environmental stress for which it was not designed. This could involve the notebook being dropped, dropped upon, run over, dunked, or a dozen other catastrophes. The only way to combat these mishaps is to be sure you're covered by either insurance or an extended warranty.
Protection from System Loss
Just as with desktops, frequent disk backups are a must. In fact, because the rougher environment that the laptop has to endure, backups are even more vital. Unfortunately, because laptops are often not attached to LANs and large backup storage devices, these portable devices are rarely backed up. Despite the difficulty, laptop users must make a habit of connecting to some type of storage device and backing up their data.
The increasing popularity of CD-RW disc drives on laptops may make this easier. It is a fairly simple task of popping in an inexpensive CD-R disc and copying the My Documents portion from one's hard drive to the optical disc. A good rule of thumb is to do this backup every time your antivirus software requires an update of its virus definitions.
People who have sensitive information on their laptops need some additional protection. Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional offer a decent encryption facility. Be sure to turn this feature on and use an appropriate password.
For Games, a Cheap Desktop
It was not long ago that corporate buyers of notebook computers would purposefully specify that the systems would lack high-quality audio, DVD drives, and high-speed video accelerators. The reason was that the corporations did not want to spend extra money so that their employees could waste time playing games. Employees have countered that even the most devoted working stiff occasionally needs to work off steam. When many employees began buying their own notebooks, the manufacturers began equipping them with all the latest entertainment features that could fit into a 7-pound battery-powered device. But the fact is that notebooks will never be quite as fast as a high-end desktop for these purposes. If you need the absolute best performance possible, you may be better off buying a desktop and using it as a game-playing peripheral for your notebook.
Upgrades Are Indeed Possible
Because of their small size, notebooks are difficult to repair or upgrade. The components are often so small that you need special tiny tools to access them. And, without the right guidance, you could really get into trouble. But despite the challenges involved, it is indeed possible to upgrade or repair a notebook—as long as you have the proper guidance. And that, of course, is what this book is all about.
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Advantages of Laptops
If you are reading this book, you are probably already aware of at least some of the benefits of using a portable computer. Here is a list that possibly includes some benefits you had not considered before.
Multiple Uses
By their nature, portable computers are generally much more useful than desktops. Except for a mere handful of exceptions, portables can do anything that a desktop can, plus a range of other tasks that would be impossible for desktops.
The chief strength of the portable is its freedom from the desk. It can be used almost anywhere. Indeed, anywhere a human can go without protective clothing, so can a laptop.
Some uses for a laptop would not even make sense for a desktop. For example, an increasing number of notebook computers are being equipped with GPS antennas and mapping software. The same could be done with desktops, of course, but with much less interesting results.
Ideal for People with Multiple Workplaces
For many people, the idea of working in a single workplace is no longer practical. Many workers have to travel as part of their job, whether across the country or around a metropolitan region. Even those workers who never travel may find it advantageous to bring work home, or to work while commuting. For all these workers, the notebook computer is ideal.
Instead of going through the expense of purchasing a desktop computer for each workplace, you can buy a single notebook. The notebook can be carried with you, from one workplace to another. If its battery is charged up, it can even be used while en route from one workplace to the other.
Flat-Panel Displays
The days of eyestrain-inducing low-contrast displays for laptops are long gone. The screens now adorning the latest notebooks are as good as if not better than most desktop monitors. The proof of this point is that an increasing number of desktop users are paying a significant premium to be able to enjoy the same flat-panel displays used on notebooks.
There are three main benefits of the flat screens used on notebooks. The first is, of course, its flatness. Unlike most CRT screens, it does not bow out slightly in the middle. Instead, it is perfectly flat, just as a piece of paper. Many new CRT displays are emulating this flat-screen look to a remarkable degree. But even on these screens, the center of the display tends to bow out toward the user ever so slightly.
The second advantage is size. Actually, there are two benefits in this category. The first is plain truthfulness. The fact is that a 15-inch CRT monitor does not actually measure 15 inches diagonally. The usable display space is only about 14 inches in size. By convention, CRT manufacturers for some reason measure not just the usable display space on these monitors but the entire front surface of the tube. By contrast, with LCD screens, the manufacturers have been more honest. As you might expect, a 15-inch screen actually measures 15 inches.
The viewable surface is, of course, only one aspect of a screen's size. There is also the thickness to consider. Here, LCDs have a huge advantage. The traditional CRT monitor may be as thick as it is tall. The end result is that these monitors take up an extraordinary amount of desk space. By contrast, an LCD screen may be only 2 inches thick or less. But a laptop does an even better job of saving space: On these systems the LCD screen is usually less than a half-inch thick.
The third advantage of flat-panel screens is their sharpness. If you look at a CRT screen under high magnification, you will see that each pixel has indistinct borders and is slightly blurry. Sometimes the pixels exhibit microscopic jittery motions. Under the same magnification on an LCD screen, however, you'll see pixels with distinctly sharp edges and no jittery motion at all.
Low-Energy Consumption
In these days of energy consciousness, laptops have a tremendous advantage over desktops. Even an Energy Star–compliant desktop system uses up a fairly large amount of electricity. People who leave their systems powered up most of the day would be surprised to find out how much this adds to their monthly electrical bill. Notebook computers do not generally comply with the government's Energy Star conservation initiative. The simple reason is that they do not need to; they already use comparatively little electricity.
Built-in UPS
Power failures can be real calamities for computer users. When power is cut off to a system, everything in memory disappears. If the system was writing something to a disk, the write process may have been only partially completed, leading to a corrupted disk. In some cases whole files may be lost; in the worst case, a whole disk. To avoid this danger, many computer users have gone to considerable expense to purchase an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). This is a battery-powered device that will keep a system powered for a few minutes after a power failure so that it can be shut down properly. The cost of a UPS may be several hundred dollars.
Notebook computers are already equipped with a very good uninterruptible power supply. It is called the notebook's battery, and it will last not just for a few minutes, but for a few hours. If you work in an area where the local power company is not reliable, a notebook computer is a must.
Integrated Design
Notebook computers have a highly integrated design. All components are assembled by the manufacturer and tested prior to sale. By contrast, in the case of some small desktop vendors, components may be thrown together without sufficient testing, leading to all sorts of headaches for the user.
More Space Efficient
Even the largest notebook computers can be safely hidden inside a desk drawer. Indeed, some thin and light notebooks are so small that you might be able to stash several of these devices in a single drawer. On a small or cluttered desk, a notebook can easily find enough space for a home. In small offices, a notebook's ability to save space is highly appreciated. Ecologically oriented users will also be interested to know that at the end of the notebook's useful life, it will take up less space in a community's waste stream.
Basic Troubleshooting Guidelines
Troubleshooting laptop and portable PC hardware problems can seem like a huge challenge, even if you're experienced with solving problems on desktop PCs. Some components that can be easily removed and replaced on desktop computers, such as hard disks, floppy drives, optical drives, processors, and BIOS chips, are built in to the system or use different interfaces than desktop PCs. Some types of diagnostic procedures, such as power supply testing, BIOS POST code analysis, and others, must be performed in different ways because of the differences between portable and desktop hardware.
The proprietary nature of typical portable hardware is another challenge. Although the basic layout of one desktop PC is similar to another, different brands of portables are often extremely different internally, making it essential to obtain model-specific information before you open the system or make repairs.
Although these challenges make laptop and portable computer problem solving and troubleshooting a bigger challenge than for desktop systems, you can still solve many hardware problems yourself by applying the techniques covered in this chapter.
Modern Laptop Computers—More Complicated and More Reliable
Consider this: The modern laptop computer is an incredible collection of hardware and software. When you consider only the hardware, there are tens of millions of transistors in typical processors alone, nearly 4.3 billion transistors in a 512MB stick of RAM, hundreds of millions of transistors in the motherboard chipset, video processor, and video RAM, and millions more in the other adapter cards and logic boards in the system.
Not only must each of these billions of interconnected transistors function properly, they must all operate in an orderly fashion within strictly enforced timing windows, some of which are measured in picoseconds (trillionths of a second)! When you realize that your laptop will lock up or crash if any one of these transistors fails to operate properly and on time, and/or if any one of the billions of circuit paths and interconnections between the transistors or devices containing them fails in any way, it is a wonder that laptops work at all!
Note
A typical mobile processor such as the Intel Mobile Pentium 4-M contains 55 million processors, whereas the latest mobile processor from Intel, the Pentium M, has 77 million processors. The Pentium M is the processor component of Intel's Centrino technology, which also includes a sophisticated chipset (the Intel 855) and the Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b wireless network adapter.
The latest mobile processor from AMD, the Athlon XP-M, contains 37.5 million transistors. The smaller transistor count compared to the Pentium M or Mobile Pentium 4-M is due in large part to the Athlon XP-M's smaller L2 cache.
Every time I turn on one of my systems and watch it boot up, I think about the billions upon billions of components and trillions upon trillions of machine/program steps and sequences that have to function properly to get there. As you can now see, there are many opportunities for problems to arise.
Although modern laptop computers are exponentially more complicated than their predecessors, from another point of view, they have also become simpler and more reliable. When you consider the complexity of the modern laptop computers, it is not surprising that occasionally problems do arise.
However, modern design and manufacturing techniques have made laptop computers more reliable and easier to service despite their ever-increasing internal complexity. Today's systems have fewer and fewer replaceable components and individual parts, which is sort of a paradox. The truth is that as laptop computers have become more complex, they have become simpler and easier to service in many ways as well!
Desktop and Laptop Components Compared
Although laptop and portable computers use the same operating systems and external peripherals as their desktop siblings, internally they are much different. Although there are industry standards for processors, memory, hard drives, and other components inside a typical laptop computer, these are much different from the standards supported by a typical desktop computer, as you can see from Table 16.1.
As you can see from Table 16.1, many of the components used in notebook computers follow different standards than those used in desktop computers. As a consequence, most parts cannot be freely interchanged between different models and brands of notebook computers the way they can be between desktop computers. However, many of the parts listed in Table 16.1, as well as the CMOS battery used to maintain BIOS settings, can normally be removed for upgrades or repairs.
Devices that are normally not industry standard (and therefore not generically replaceable) include the following:
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Motherboard.
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CPU heatsink/fan.
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Chassis.
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Video card (integrated into the motherboard chipset, or a separate graphics chip might be built in to the motherboard).
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LCD display panel.
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Modem (if not part of a mini-PCI card; it might be integrated into the motherboard on some systems).
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Sound card (might be integrated into the motherboard chipset or might be a separate chip built in to the motherboard).
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Speakers.
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Keyboard (built in).
Although many of these components may not be industry standard, they can occasionally be repaired or replaced (depending on the specific make, model, and implementation of the component). From a hardware troubleshooting/repair perspective, any one of these components could be either improperly installed (configured) or defective. If improperly installed or configured, the component can be "repaired" by merely reinstalling or configuring it properly. If truly defective, the component can be replaced. When any laptop or desktop PC is broken down into its basic replaceable parts, you can see that it really isn't too complicated, which is why I've spent my career helping people easily perform their own repairs and upgrades, and even build entire systems from scratch.
Reinstall or Replace?
When dealing with hardware problems, the first simple truth to understand is that we do not normally repair anything, we reinstall or replace it instead. Reinstall comes from the fact that the many laptop hardware problems are due to a particular component being improperly installed or configured. I remember hearing from IBM many years ago that it had found 60% or more of the problems handled by their service technicians were due to improper installation or configuration, meaning the hardware was not actually defective. This was in fact the major impetus behind the Plug and Play revolution, which has eliminated the need to manually configure jumpers and switches on most hardware devices, minimizing the expertise needed to install hardware properly, and thus also minimizing installation, configuration, and resource-conflict problems. Still, Plug and Play has sometimes been called "Plug and Pray," because it does not always work perfectly, sometimes requiring manual intervention to get things to work properly. Although most laptop hardware is built in to the system or attaches to hot-swappable connections such as PC Card or CardBus slots, USB ports or IEEE 1394a (FireWire 400, i.LINK) ports, problems with BIOS configuration, Windows configuration, or improper internal connections can still cause laptop hardware to fail.
Replace comes from the economics of the situation with computer hardware. The bottom line is that it financially is much cheaper to replace a failed component with a new one than to repair it. Modern boards use surface-mounted chips that have pin spacing measured in hundredths of an inch, requiring sophisticated and expensive equipment to attach and solder the chip. Even if you could figure out which chip had failed and had the equipment to replace it, the chips themselves are usually sold in quantities of thousands, and obsolete chips are normally not available. The net effect of all this is that the replaceable components in your laptop have become disposable technology, including drives and LCD panels. Even a component as comprehensive as the motherboard is replaced, rather than repaired.
