A
laptop computer is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop has most of the same components as a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device such as a touchpad (also known as a trackpad) and/or a pointing stick, and speakers into a single unit. A laptop is powered by mains electricity via an AC adapter, and can be used away from an outlet using a rechargeable battery. Laptops are also sometimes called
notebook computers,
notebooks or
netbooks.
Portable computers,
originally monochrome CRT-based and developed into the modern laptops,
were originally considered to be a small niche market, mostly for
specialized field applications such as the military, accountants and
sales representatives. As portable computers became smaller, lighter,
cheaper, more powerful and as screens became larger and of better
quality, laptops became very widely used for all sorts of purposes.
