Notebooks Vs Laptops: What is the difference?

August 2009
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Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 @ 10:36 am | Misc

The differences between a notebook and a laptop have been the subject of a never-ending passionate debate. You have probably come across these two terms before and you have been asking yourself:

What exactly is the difference between these two things?

Well, the two terms can be used interchangeably, depending on where you are coming from.

In-fact, some people argue that laptops and notebooks are the same thing, and the word “notebook” came about as “they” decided to stop using the word “laptop” so as to stop people from using the machines while they are on their laps.

So what are the main differences?

Weight and Size

In many cases, notebooks are usually stripped down laptops. The essence of this is to reduce the cost (and make notebooks more affordable,) and to increase the portability of the notebooks. What happens is that unlike laptops which have a built in CD/DVD drive, notebooks would usually let you connect to these devices via a USB cable.

In terms of width and length, laptops are usually wider and longer than notebooks. This also reinforces the portability of notebooks compared to laptops. However, the small length of the notebook makes it to have a much shorter keyboard and hence making it totally unsuitable for typing in a lot of work. Some notebooks will come in the sizes of real notebooks to their near PDA size.

Functionality

In order to save on cost and increase portability, it is obvious that manufacturers have to trade something to achieve this. The manufacturers simply do away with features which they consider to be unnecessary hence compromising on some great features that are available with some laptops.

Generally, notebooks have got reduced processing capacity and they have limited abilities to handle graphics, and heavy engineering software. In addition to this, the screen resolution of many notebooks is much less than that of a laptop.

Batter longevity

If you are looking for something to travel with and go to places where you may not have access to power sockets, then notebooks are the way to go. This is because, compared to laptops, notebooks have got quite a low sense of power consumption. Ultimately, this means a longer battery life compared to that of a laptop. There are cases where the life of a notebook battery has been put at 6 hours compared to that of a laptop which has been placed at 3 hours of continued usage.

Whether you will choose to go with a laptop or a notebook will greatly depend on the work that you would like to use it on, the amount of cash available and the degree of portability that you desire. A notebook is generally less able (due to its low processing speed,) cheaper, and more portable – due to its size. However, as the world continues to advance in technology, the gap between notebooks and laptops is getting smaller and smaller. Features that were previously a preserve of expensive laptops are currently being incorporated into modern notebooks.