PORTABLE SYSTEM DESIGN ELEMENTS
Portable System Design Elements Portable systems are designed to be smaller and lighter than desktops, and much of the development work that has been done on desktop components has certainly contributed to this end. Much of this development has been in simple miniaturization. For example, whereas 3.5-inch hard drives may be popular on desktops, most laptops would not have room for these devices. Instead, they normally use 2.5-inch hard drives, which are a direct result of the miniaturization that has occurred in hard-drive technology over the past few years. Some of the subnotebook and Tablet PC systems use even smaller 1.8-inch drives first made popular in portable music players. In addition to miniaturization, however, advancements in three other areas have contributed greatly to the design of today's laptop computers: flat-panel displays, power systems, and thermal management. Flat-Panel Displays The sleek lines of flat-panel Liquid Crystal displays (LCDs) have caused them to be...