Portable Devices
When CompTIA says “portable devices” or “portable computing” they mean laptops (or notebooks).
Types of Laptops
- Desktop replacements
- Thin-and-lights
- Gaming laptops
- Chromebooks
- 2-in-1s
- Convertibles
- Hybrids
Input Devices
- Keyboards
- Trackballs
- TrackPoint / point sticks
- Touchpads (possibly multi-touch)
- Webcams
- Microphones
Displays
Don’t forget the “VGA Cutoff Switch”, “display toggle function keys”, “display options switch” or any similar term for a function key combination (like Function – F10) that toggles through the connected displays.
Older laptop displays used an AC-powered CCFL (cold cathode florescent lamp), which required an Inverter to change internal DC to AC. This inverter, and the florescent tube, are major points of failure..
Newer laptops use LED-backlit LCD panels.
OLED panels combine the LEDs and LCDs into single components made with organic materials.
Aspect Ratio
- 4:3
- 16:10
- 16:9
Networking
Note the possibility of an external switch for WiFi!
- WiFi
- Bluetooth (BT)
- Wired Ethernet
External IO Connectors
- PCMCIA cards (or “PC cards”, not to be confused with PCI slot cards used in desktops
- ExpressCard (ExpressCard/34 and ExpressCard/54)
- USB
- Thunderbolt
- FireWire
- eSATA
Docks, Bays etc.
- Docking Stations
- Port Replicators
- USB/Thunderbolt port adapters
Batteries
- NiCad (Ni-MH, Ni-CD)
- Lithium-ion
- Lithium polymer (Li-Po)
- Swollen
Battery recalibration
Drives
- Disk drives (2.5″ and rare 1.8″)
- SSDs (generally people mean 2.5″ form-factor SSDs when they say this)
- M-2 slots (mSATA or NVMe) (also used for WiFi cards etc.)
Mobile computing
When CompTIA talks about “mobile devices” they generally mean wireless phones and tablets.
Textbook Time
Chapters 23 and 24