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A laptop is a small transportable computer with a flat screen which may be connected to a PowerPoint or used wireless.
According to scientist, the first laptop to be developed was by a guy named Adam Osborne, previously a book publisher. The computer was available on the market in 1981, weighing 24 pounds and a five-inch screen (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllaptop.htm).
Laptops are one of the many tools incorporated in mobile learning. Their popularity can be attributed to their “portability, compactness, and convenience.�? As a result, the increasing demand for laptops over past decades, has led the computer industry to foster the move from desktops to laptops. They are available in a number of brands including Acer, Avertec, Dell, Fujitsu, Sony, Toshiba and Hewlett Packard/Compaq. while the laptop can be referred to as a notebook, notebooks are distinguished by their smaller size and thus emerged much later to laptops (Rupley, 2005, p.255).
Aside from being used in offices and at home for leisure or competing otherwise time consuming tasks such as banking, students are using it as one of the many mobile devices available to accompany their learning. Whilst in the past, using a computer meant “cramming a bulky desktop computer and an even bulkier monitor into the minivan to be part of the off-to-college ritual…today students typically head off to school with flexible, convenient and space-saving laptops.�? Youth are embarrassing the latest technology trend with opens, at the same time “the spending power of college students is something that retailers are just beginning to grasp…�? This extra income can be linked with most teenagers already working whilst at high school/college to facilitate their cash needs. “kids want to take new stuff off to school, they want their living space to reflect their own personal style, to look nice and be organized (Tracy and Turner, 2005).
Laptops are continually being upgraded with a number of features including the latest range released by LG International and Amtel Corporation “incorporating a Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB). Also, due to security and privacy issues, Absolute software has developed the Computertrace system which can “remotely delete sensitive data from a stole computer when privacy is a concern. The owner signs permission for the company to rigger a switch deleting sensitive, confidential data on stolen computer (Lombardi, R. 2005).
To overcome the problems and risk associated with laptop usage in outdoor environments, manufactures “…are now turning out what they call “toughbooks,�? portables that can take a punch. As a result of laptops being used in wireless settings, “it is likely that users will demand ubiquitous access, and the technologies too make it happen are finally coming together (Suciu, P. 2005).
(2005) “Laptop Computer History,�? retrieved 8 September, 2005 from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllaptop.htm
Rupley, et al. (2005) “Desktops and Notebooks,�? Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, vol. 19, no.3, pp. 255
Turner and Tracy (2005) “College students spend billions on room décor, electronics,�? Columbus Dispatch
Suciu, P. (2005) “Computers You Don’t Coodle,�? Newsweek vol.146, no.9/10
Lombardi, R. (2005) “Software helps recover stolen laptops,�? Computer World Canada, vol, 21, no. 18
