Portable PCs

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Portable PCs

• Chapter 14

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Overview

• In this chapter, you will learn to
• Describe the many types of portable computing
  devices available
• Enhance and upgrade portable PCs
• Troubleshoot portable PCs

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Portable Computing Devices
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Whats in a Name?

• Whats the difference between a portable, a
  laptop, and a notebook?
• Nothing!
• Theres no industry standard for names
• However, most notebooks are laptops in the 8 ½ x
  11-inch range

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Desktop Replacements

• Typical laptops function as a fully
  standalone PC which may be considered
  a desktop replacement
• Input devices
• Trackballs on early laptops
• IBMs TrackPoint pencil
  eraser-sized joystick in the middle
  of the keyboard
• Touchpads
• LCD monitors

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Desktop Extenders

• Desktop extenders are portable devices that are
  not intended to take the place of a desktop
• Think of them as a smaller, lighter, less
  powerful laptop for less intensive uses

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PDAs

• Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) are tiny,
  hand-held portable computing devices
• Address book, personal notes, appointments, word
  processors, image viewers
• Often use handwriting recognition with a
  pen-style stylus for pen-based
  computing
• Uses specialized OSs such as Windows CE,
  PocketPC, PalmOS, and Linux
• Made by Palm, Sony, Toshiba,
  Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and other
  companies

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HotSync PDA Memory

• HotSync
• You can easily synchronize your data on your PDA
  with your office PC
• Just put it on your cradle by the PC and click
  the button to synchronize

• PDA Memory
• Internal flash ROM of 1 MB or more
• Compact Flash cards that are removable and
  upgradable for removable storage needs

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Enhance and Upgrade the Portable PC
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PC Cards

• PC Cards are commonly known as the Personal
  Computer Memory Card International Association
  (PCMCIA)
• Hot-swappable devices that perform every PC
  function
• Easy to use, inexpensive, and convenient

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PC Cards

• CardBus card is a 32-bit PC Card with a special
  slot
• PCI bus mastering
• Can perform up to 8 functions compared with 2
  functions for a regular PC card (such as a modem
  and network card combined)
• Regular PC cards will work in a CardBus slot
• CardBus uses 3.3 volts of power regular PC
  cards use 5 volts

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PC Cards

• Two levels of software drivers
• Socket services
• Device drivers that enable the system to detect
  when a PC Card is inserted or removed, and
  provide necessary I/O to the device
• Standardized and handled by the system BIOS
• Card services
• Recognize the function of a particular PC Card
  and provide the specialized drivers required to
  make the card work
• Handled by Windows
• Accessed via PCMCIA option in Control Panel

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PC Card Types
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Limited-Function Ports

• All portable PCs and many PDAs come with a
  variety of ports
• VGA connection for hooking up an external monitor
• PS/2 port for an external keyboard or mouse
• Speaker ports
• Built-in NICs and modems for network support
• All of these work the same as in desktop PCs
• Video ports
• Allow displaying the laptop LCD, the external
  monitor, a projector, or a combination
• Extra function key (like the Control or Alt keys)

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General-Purpose Ports

• USB ports
• Support up to 127 devices
• Usually most USB sharing is limited to 3 or 4
  devices
• 12 Mbps throughput
• Maximum cable length of 5 meters only
• Due to electrical interference, its better to
  stay around 2 meters maximum
• Hi-Speed USB
• Backwards compatible with regular USB
• 480 Mbps throughput

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USB Configuration

• Ensure that the CMOS provides an IRQ for USB
  ports
• Ensure that the operating system supports USB
• All versions of Windows from Win95B and newer
  (except for NT) support USB
• Always install device drivers
  before plugging in a
  new USB device

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Port Replicators

• Port replicators are devices that plug into a USB
  port and offer common PC ports such as serial,
  parallel, network, and PS/2

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Docking Stations

• Easily gives laptops access to large monitors,
  regular mice, network connections, full size
  keyboards
• Provides an easy way to take your laptop in and
  out of the office
• Basically a port replicator with extra features
  such as a DVD drive or PC Card slots

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FireWire

• FireWire has faster transfer rates than USB
• Uses a 6-pin powered connector that can provide
  power to an attached device (like USB)
• Or a 4-pin unpowered connector

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The Modular Laptop
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The Modular Laptop

• The common components that can be replaced or
  upgraded in a portable PC are
• RAM
• 72-pin or 144-pin SO-DIMMs
• Hard drives
• ATA drives in the 2.5-inch format dominate
  laptops today
• Check for the proper settings (Cable Select,
  Master, Slave) but otherwise the same as regular
  3.5-inch drives
• Modular CPUs
• Just replace with a newer module from Intel or
  AMD
• Video cards
• Least standardized

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Replacing RAM

• Theres no standard but you usually have to
  unscrew or pop open a panel on the underside of
  the portable

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Modular Drives

• Laptop manufacturers may include modular drives
  that may be swapped in and out
• CD-ROM
• DVD-ROM
• CD-R/W
• Floppy disk drives

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Managing and Maintaining Portables
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Maintenance

• Everything you normally do to maintain a PC
  applies to portable PCs
• Windows patches and Service Packs
• Upgraded drivers
• Check Disk
• ScanDisk
• Defragment
• Disk Cleanup

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Batteries

• Types of Batteries
• Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cd)
• Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH)
• Lithium Ion (Li-Ion)

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Nickel-Cadmium Batteries

• Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cd) batteries were the first
  batteries commonly used in mobile PCs
• Provide a steady voltage but subject to battery
  memory problem
• Battery memory is the tendency of a Ni-Cd battery
  to lose a significant amount of its recharge
  ability if charged repeatedly without being
  totally discharged
• To avoid this problem, these batteries had to be
  discharged completely before each recharging
• Susceptible to self-discharge over time

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Nickel Metal Hydride

• Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) batteries were the
  next generation of mobile PC batteries
• Less susceptible to memory problems and
  last longer between recharges
• Still susceptible to heat
• Popular replacement for Ni-CD
  systems

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Lithium Ion

• Lithium Ion is the most common type of battery
  used today
• Powerful and completely immune to memory problems
• Built-in circuitry to prevent accidental
  overcharging

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Other Portable Power Sources

• Smart batteries tell the computer when they need
  to be charged, conditioned, or replaced
• Fuel cells are a promising new technology that
  could power a laptop for up to 40 hours before
  refilling

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Battery Maintenance

• Batteries should be stored in a cool place
• Ni-Cd and Ni-MH batteries should be conditioned
  by using a charger
• Battery contacts should be kept clean using a
  little alcohol or dry cloth
• Used or old batteries should be recycled

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Power Management
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Power Management

• Power Management must
• Shut down unused devices selectively
• Define a maximum period of inactivity
• Shut down the entire system during longer periods
  of inactivity
• Ready to restart if triggered by a wake-up event
• Sensitive to potential hazards like shutting down
  the hard drive in the middle of a write operation
• Keep the system cost about the same

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System Management Mode

• System Management Mode (SMM) is a set of features
  that enables the CPU to slow down or stop its
  clock without deleting the register information
• Stops the CPU and all of the peripherals
• Requires a specialized BIOS and OS
• To further power management capabilities, Intel
  introduced Advanced Power Management (APM) in
  1992 and Advanced Configuration and Power
  Interface (ACPI) in 1996

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Requirements for APM/ACPI

• APM and ACPI require the following in order to
  function properly
• An SMM-capable CPU
• APM-compliant BIOS
• Devices that will accept being shut off (Energy
  Star)
• A system OS that knows how to request for the
  shut down of a particular device

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APM/ACPI Levels

• Full On
• No power management everything running at full
  power
• APM Enabled
• CPU and RAM running at full power
• Unused device may or may not be shut down
• APM Standby
• CPU is stopped
• RAM still stores all the programs
• All peripherals are shut down
• APM Suspend
• Everything is shut down or at its lowest
  power-consumption
• Hibernation (stores everything in RAM on the hard
  drive before powering down)

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APM/ACPI Configuration

• CMOS settings

• Windows
• Overrides CMOS settings
• Display applet in Control Panel
• Settings?Advanced ?Monitor tab
• Power Management applet in Control Panel

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Configuration of APM/ACPI Windows
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Cleaning Heat

• Cleaning
• Use a screen cleaner to clean the LCD screen (not
  a glass cleaner!)
• Compressed air to clean out the keyboard and PC
  Card sockets

• Heat
• Use power management
• Keep air space between the bottom of the laptop
  and the surface it sits on
• Dont use a keyboard protector
• Listen for your fan running a lot if it is
  allow your laptop to cool off

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Beyond A

• Intels Centrino Technology
• Extremely low power
• Fast CPUs
• Integrated wireless networking
• ExpressCard
• Shorter than previous PC Cards
• Same width as a Type II card

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