7.1. Identifying Portable Computer Components
Although a number of different laptop brands are on the market, each make and model of laptop has common components. This section introduces you to some of the common components found in laptop computers. Figure 7-1 displays these components.
Figure 7.1. Identifying the major components of a portable computer.
The following is a quick description of some of the major components found on laptop computers. Some of these components are also found on desktop computers and serve the same purpose for the laptop. For example, a video board built into a laptop does the same thing as a video board built into a desktop computer.
Battery: The battery supplies power to the laptop and its components. The battery is charged or maintains its charge from an AC adapter that plugs the laptop into the wall outlet.
AC adapters: The AC adapter supplies power to the battery so that the battery can either recharge or pass that power on to the laptop components.
DC controllers: The DC controller is responsible for protecting devices such as cards, chips, adapters, and circuitry from power surges.
PCMCIA cards: Personal Computer Memory Card Industry Association (PCMCIA) cards are used to add external drives, modems, and LAN adapters to laptop computers that didn't ship with one of these components. PCMCIA cards expand upon the computer's capabilities.
Video adapters: ...
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