In this chapter, you will learn how to
• Describe the many types of portable computing devices available
• Explain ways to expand portable computers
• Manage and maintain portable computers
• Upgrade and repair portable computers
• Troubleshoot portable computers
There are times when the walls close in, when you need a change of scenery to get that elusive spark that inspires greatness…or sometimes you just need to get away from your coworkers for a few hours because they’re driving you nuts! For many occupations, that’s difficult to do. You need access to your documents and spreadsheets; you can’t function without e-mail or the Internet. In short, you need a computer to get your job done.
Portable computing devices combine mobility with accessibility to bring you the best of both worlds; portables enable you to take some or even all of your computing capabilities with you when you go. Featuring all the bells and whistles of a desktop system, many portables offer a seamless transition from desk to café table.
This chapter looks at the classic portable computer, essentially a desktop transformed into a mobile format. While classic portables usually run Windows, Mac OS X, or some flavor of Linux, operating systems based on Linux—like Chrome OS—can also be found on portable computers.
Other portable devices, such as smartphones and tablets, run mobile operating systems—such as Apple iOS on the iPad and iPhone—designed to take advantage of small form factors and touchscreens. In practice (and on the CompTIA A+ exams), such mobile devices differ a lot from classic portable computers. While these devices get their own chapters later in the book, it is worth being aware that mobility has encouraged a lot of innovation in recent years and some of the resulting products do a really good job of blurring the line between these categories.
All portable devices share certain features. For output, they use LCD screens, although these vary from 20-inch behemoths to diminutive 10-inch displays. Portable computing devices employ sound of varying quality, from bland mono playback to fairly nice faux-surround reproductions. All of them run on DC electricity stored in batteries when not plugged into an AC outlet.
When asked about portable computing devices, most folks describe the traditional clamshell notebook computer, such as the one in Figure 24-1, with built-in LCD monitor, keyboard, and input device (a touchpad, in this case). The notebook is also called a portable or a laptop. All the terms are synonymous. A typical laptop functions as a fully standalone computer, potentially even replacing the desktop. The one in Figure 24-1, for example, has all of the features you expect a modern computer to have, such as a fast CPU, lots of RAM, a high-capacity hard drive, an optical drive, and an adequate sound system. Attach it to a network and you can browse the Internet and send e-mail.
Figure 24-1 A notebook computer
The rampant experimentation and innovation within the mobile and portable device categories in recent years (driven in part by the evolution of Windows as a combined desktop/mobile device OS) has introduced new device categories, made others obsolete, and continued blurring the lines between them. Let’s take a look at some of the terms used to describe these devices and put them in context. Keep in mind that, because these categories can be slippery, you shouldn’t think of them as mutually exclusive. Sometimes more than one of these terms can be applied to a single device.
A desktop replacement features a massive screen, a full-size keyboard, an optical drive (or maybe two), and plenty of hard drive space (see the portable on the left in Figure 24-2). Considering that it weighs almost as much as a mini-tower (or at least it feels like it does when I’m lugging it through the airport!), such a portable can be considered a desktop replacement because it does everything most people want to do with a desktop and doesn’t compromise on performance just to make the laptop a few pounds lighter or the battery last an extra hour. Think power first, portability second.
Figure 24-2 Desktop replacement (left) next to a standard portable computer (right)
The current sweet spot for desktop replacements is a 15- to 17-inch monitor with 16+ GB of memory and either dual 1- to 2-TB HDDs or a single 512-GB to 1-TB SSD. Dedicated graphics are a must. Desktop replacements run the latest Intel high-end mobile processors and, of course, Windows 10 Pro. Such perfection in computing in a sub-8-pound format doesn’t come cheap, so the question that immediately arises is, why buy a desktop replacement?
Desktop replacements appeal to a diverse group of users. Most obviously, dedicated road warriors need to do everything on the plane, on the train, and in the hotel room. Second, having a computer that can work well on the road and in the office is convenient. Finally, some folks just prefer the compactness of a laptop. You can, after all, put it out of sight when you’re finished with it and not have to dedicate space to an equally powerful desktop computer.
Gaming Laptops There’s a lot of overlap between the broad category of desktop replacements and a popular subcategory: gaming laptops. Gaming laptops are an expensive compromise between the high requirements of the latest computer games and the ability to set up shop away from home. While they tend to have flashy designs that distinguish them from more reserved desktop replacements, it helps to look past the stylistics and realize that gaming laptops are purpose-built to replace desktop gaming rigs. They’ll typically come loaded with the latest top-end processors, graphics cards, RAM, SSDs, and large, high-quality displays. They also tend to come with thoughtful touches like high-quality keyboards that are extensively customizable.
Unsurprisingly, the term subnotebook describes a portable computer that is smaller and lighter than a regular notebook or laptop. This distinction is becoming increasingly moot as more and more of the portable computer sales consist of devices that are technically subnotebooks.
Netbooks For a time, netbooks offered a lightweight computing platform with low cost and long battery life. These machines usually had displays in the 10-inch range, small hard drives, and CPUs geared more for minimal power usage than raw speed. While you may find some netbooks still in use, the category is basically dead. It’s worth realizing that even though the term netbook has fallen out of vogue, the need it met for highly portable computing is bigger than ever. The netbook lives on in a few of the newer portable device categories we’re about to discuss.
A prime example of the netbook is the ASUS Eee PC, shown in Figure 24-3 sitting on a full-sized laptop. This netbook has a 9-inch screen, a 1.6-GHz Intel Atom CPU, a small solid-state drive, and runs a customized Linux distribution. One distinguishing feature of these netbooks is the use of Intel’s Atom processor. The Atom CPU is very useful for keeping power usage down but has much less computing power than its more power-hungry siblings. Therefore, most netbooks run lightweight operating systems better suited for their limited resources.
Figure 24-3 ASUS Eee PC sitting on a normal laptop
Chromebooks The most direct successor to the netbook is the Chromebook. Technically a Chromebook is just a portable computer running Google’s Linux-based Chrome OS, but the majority of Chromebooks are light, inexpensive, relatively modest in computing power and storage, and on the small end of the laptop spectrum. Where netbooks had to make a lot of sacrifices to deliver an ultra-portable with an emphasis on e-mail and Web browsing, Chromebooks offer an experience focused on Web applications by making use of virtually unlimited data storage in the cloud and software as a service (SaaS) applications available over the Web. The rapid adoption of Chromebooks, especially in schools, is in many ways a story about just how far Web applications have come in the last several years.
Ultrabooks Thin, light, and powerful, Ultrabooks are as much about power and portability as they are about looks. Ultrabooks are for people who can’t give up the power of high-end computers but can afford to pay more for a smaller package. Intel set up the Ultrabook specifications in 2011, defining the form factor to use power-sipping Intel processors with integrated graphics. According to the most recent 2013 update, Ultrabooks have maximum dimensions (20 to 23 mm thick, depending on the size of the screen) and a minimum battery life (6 hours of HD video playback). You won’t find optical drives on these, and most use solid-state drives for storage.
Ultrabooks reveal how the near-ubiquity of portable computers and the demanding expectations of consumers are driving the industry to marry form and function in lightweight, attractive, powerful portable computers that aren’t a chore to carry, use, or keep charged. As such, most major laptop makers have at least a few Ultrabook models. Though many copy the thin-slice aesthetic of the MacBook Air (see Figure 24-4 for an example), some Ultrabooks come equipped with touchscreens and can also be used as tablets. We’ll discuss these so-called convertibles later in this chapter.
Figure 24-4 MacBook Air
Today, devices marketed or sold as a 2-in-1 can be roughly understood as a touchscreen computer somewhere along the spectrum from laptop-and-tablet to tablet-and-laptop. Because this is a pretty large spectrum covering several form factors, there are a number of more specific terms floating around, each with its own slippery definition, much overlap among them, and plenty of misuse to keep everything clear as mud. First we’ll take a look at the Microsoft Tablet PCs that pioneered the category, and then we’ll take a look at two terms used to describe these devices today: hybrid, and convertible.
NOTE You may run into a recent term, laplet, which describes a hybrid device with a full desktop OS and laptop-level specs—all in a tablet form factor.
Tablet PCs Microsoft started the Tablet PC initiative way back in 2001, defining the devices as fully featured portables running a tablet-aware version of Windows and using a stylus to interact directly with the screen. Many Tablet PCs have come to market since then, fulfilling the needs of specific professions, notably medicine.
NOTE Tablet PC is a Microsoft term (though you’ll rarely catch Microsoft using the term itself anymore) and is not the equivalent of a tablet such as the Apple iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab. The latter devices derive from the mobile phone market. Chapters 25 and 26 cover mobile devices in detail.
Instead of (or in addition to) a keyboard and mouse, Tablet PCs provide a screen that doubles as an input device. With a special pen, called a stylus, you can actually write on the screen (see Figure 24-5). Unlike some touchscreens, most Tablet PC screens are not pressure sensitive—you have to use the stylus to write on the screen. There are two main Tablet PC form factors: convertibles, which include a keyboard that you can fold out of the way, and slates, which do away with the keyboard entirely. The convertible Tablet PC in Figure 24-5, for example, looks and functions just like the typical clamshell laptop shown back in Figure 24-1. But here it’s shown with the screen rotated 180 degrees and snapped flat so it functions as a slate.
Figure 24-5 A Tablet PC
Tablet PCs worked well when you had limited space or had to walk around and use a laptop. Anyone who has ever tried to type with one hand while walking around holding a laptop with the other will immediately appreciate the beauty of a Tablet PC. In this scenario, Tablet PCs were most effective when combined with applications designed to be used with a stylus instead of a keyboard. An inventory control program, for example, might present drop-down lists and radio buttons to the user, making a stylus the perfect input tool.
Convertible Most of the time, the term convertible is used (much like it was in the preceding “Tablet PCs” section) to describe a laptop that uses one of several mechanisms to “convert” into something you can use like a tablet. More specifically, you can find convertibles with completely removable screens that become standalone tablets (leaving behind any functionality or power that depends on hardware built into the keyboard portion of the device), and others that use one of a few hinge-based mechanisms:
• The laptop’s hinges allow the screen to open all the way until it’s flush with the bottom of the laptop, leaving the keyboard exposed on the underside of the tablet.
• The laptop’s hinge has a vertical or horizontal swivel mechanism so you can rotate the screen and leave it exposed when you close the lid.
• The laptop has novel hinges that pop the screen up from a default tablet position and angle it toward the user, exposing a keyboard (usually a narrow one) underneath.
Hybrid A hybrid laptop/tablet is most often a device with a tablet form factor that is designed to integrate with a detachable keyboard (which may or may not come bundled with the device). Some of these keyboards may double as soft/pliable covers for the tablet (see Figure 24-6), while others are built more like a traditional keyboard in miniature. The line between a hybrid tablet that can attach to a separate hardware keyboard and a convertible laptop with a removable tablet screen can be hard to draw—but focus on whether any functionality or power is lost when the tablet portion is used alone. If all you lose is a keyboard, it’s a hybrid.
Figure 24-6 Microsoft Surface Pro 3 with its keyboard cover
NOTE Innovative portable form factors like those in the hybrid and convertible categories are often designed to be handled, rotated, flipped, and passed around. As a result, Windows now supports the automatic screen-rotation tricks we’ve seen on smartphones and tablets for years. Anyone who has used a device like this for long knows that occasionally you’ll run into problems with the automatic screen-orientation sensor; see the troubleshooting section later in the chapter for fixes.
Portable computers come with a variety of input devices. Most have a fully functional keyboard and a device to control the mouse pointer.
Laptop keyboards differ somewhat from those of desktop computers, primarily because manufacturers have to cram all the keys onto a smaller form factor. They use the QWERTY format, but manufacturers make choices with key size and placement of the non-alphabet characters. Almost every portable keyboard uses a Function (FN) key to enable some keys to perform an extra duty. Figure 24-7 compares a standard desktop keyboard with a large portable keyboard. You’ll note that the latter has no separate number pad on the right. To use the number pad, you press the FN key (lower left in this case) to transform the (7, 8, 9), (U, I, O), (J, K, L), and (M) keys into the (7, 8, 9), (4, 5, 6), (1, 2, 3), and (0) keys.
Figure 24-7 Keyboard comparison
NOTE The FN key also enables you to toggle other features specific to a portable, such as GPS tracking or the keyboard backlight to save battery life.
Portables need a way to control your mouse pointer, but their smaller size requires manufacturers to come up with clever solutions. Beyond the built-in solutions, portables usually have USB ports and can use every type of pointing device you’d see on a desktop. Early portables used trackballs, often plugged in like a mouse and clipped to the side of the case. Other models with trackballs placed them in front of the keyboard at the edge of the case nearest the user, or behind the keyboard at the edge nearest the screen.
The next wave to hit the laptop market was IBM’s TrackPoint device, a joystick the size of a pencil eraser, situated in the center of the keyboard (see Figure 24-8). With the TrackPoint, you can move the pointer around without taking your fingers away from the “home” typing position. You use a forefinger to push the joystick around, and then click or right-click, using two buttons below the spacebar. This type of pointing device has since been licensed for use by other manufacturers, and it continues to appear on laptops today.
Figure 24-8 IBM TrackPoint
By far the most common laptop pointing device found today is the touchpad (see Figure 24-9)—a flat, touch-sensitive pad just in front of the keyboard. To operate a touchpad, you simply glide your finger across its surface to move the pointer, and tap the surface once or twice to single- or double-click. You can also click by using buttons just below the pad. Most people get the hang of this technique after just a few minutes of practice. The main advantage of the touchpad over previous laptop pointing devices is that it uses no moving parts—a fact that can really extend the life of a hard-working laptop.
Figure 24-9 Touchpad on a laptop
Some manufacturers today include a multitouch touchpad that enables you to perform gestures, or actions with multiple fingers, such as scrolling up and down or swiping to another screen or desktop. The Multi-Touch trackpad on Apple’s laptops pioneered such great improvements to the laptop-pointing-device experience that the lack of a mouse is no longer a handicap on many laptops.
EXAM TIP In the past it was common to accidentally “use” a touchpad with your palm while typing, so you may find some devices with a hardware switch or FN key combination for disabling the touchpad. More recent touchpads are usually capable of detecting and ignoring accidental input like this on their own.
Continuing the trend of mobile’s influence on more traditional portables, a growing number of laptops now come equipped with a touchscreen like you would find on a smartphone or tablet, again relying heavily on gestures to enable users to fluidly perform complex actions. In some cases these are otherwise very traditional laptops that happen to include a touchscreen, but in other cases they are devices that are intended to be used as both a tablet and a laptop.
The ability to communicate with others through real-time video is such a common expectation of mobile and portable devices these days that most of these devices (including laptops) come equipped with some sort of front-facing video camera—a webcam in the case of laptops—and one or more built-in microphones. A single microphone may be suitable for picking up the user’s voice, and additional microphones can help noise-cancellation routines improve the audio quality.
Even though most of us may just use the microphone in conjunction with the webcam, a growing number of programs support voice commands. Take Google, for example, which has ported its popular “Ok Google” functionality from its Google Now Android app to its full Chrome browser. Any Chrome user on a system with a microphone, as long as they can live with letting Chrome listen in on them, can perform voice searches and other actions from anywhere within earshot (mic-shot?) of their device.
The downside of these input devices becoming ubiquitous is the security risk they pose. It might be bad enough if a nefarious hacker or government agency (from any country…) managed to get malware into my computer to see everything I click or type, but the risks are amplified if they can also hear and see anything going on near the device. It’s common enough for webcams to include a light that indicates when they’re recording, but built-in microphones don’t do the same. In some cases, vulnerabilities allow the recording indicator to be disabled anyway.
NOTE If you pay careful attention when you’re visiting offices or in a place people with laptops congregate, you may see tape over someone’s built-in webcam; risks like these are why.
Laptops come in a variety of sizes and at varying costs. One major contributor to the overall cost of a laptop is the size of the LCD screen. Most laptops offer a range between 10.1-inch to 17.3-inch screens (measured diagonally), while a few offer just over 20-inch screens.
EXAM TIP Laptop LCDs are the same in almost every way as desktop LCDs with a TFT screen, an inverter (if using a CCFL backlight), and a backlight (CCFL or LED). You know all about these screens from Chapter 19, “Display Technologies.” Expect questions about laptop displays, but know that they’re pretty much the same as desktop displays. The only major difference is that the LCD frame contains an antenna, and may contain a camera and microphone, but we’ll discuss this later in the chapter.
In the past, 4:3 aspect ratio screens were common, but these days it’s hard to find one on anything but special-purpose or ruggedized laptops; almost all regular laptops come in one of two widescreen format ratios. Aspect ratio is the comparison of the screen width to the screen height, as you’ll recall from Chapter 19. While widescreens can have varying aspect ratios, almost all of the screens you find in present-day laptops will be 16:9 or 16:10.
Laptop LCD screens come in a variety of supported resolutions, described with acronyms such as XGA, WXGA, WSXGA, and more. The W in front of the letters indicates widescreen. Though the number of aspect ratios on new laptops has fallen quickly, you’ll still find a few resolutions for each ratio, and you may find more resolutions in use on older systems.
Laptop screens typically come with one of two types of finish: matte or high-gloss. The matte finish was the industry standard for many years and offered a good trade-off between richness of colors and the reduction of glare. The better screens have a wide viewing angle and decent response time. The major drawback for matte-finished laptop screens is that they wash out a lot in bright light. Using such a laptop at an outdoor café, for example, is almost hopeless during daylight.
Manufacturers released high-gloss laptop screens in 2006, and they rapidly took over many store shelves. The high-gloss finish offers sharper contrast, richer colors, and wider viewing angles when compared to the matte screens. The drawback to the high-gloss screens is that, contrary to what the manufacturers’ claim, they pick up lots of reflection from nearby objects, including the user! So although they’re usable outside during the day, you’ll need to contend with increased reflection as well.
With the advent of LED backlighting for LCD panels, many manufacturers have switched back to an anti-glare screen, though they’re not quite the matte screens of old. When the LED brightness is up high, these are lovely screens. (See the “Troubleshooting Portable Computers” section, later in this chapter, for issues specific to LED-backlit portables.)
As with other LCD technologies that you’ll recall from Chapter 19, most LCD/LED screens use twisted nematic (TN) technology. Some laptop screens use In-Plane Switching (IPS) panels for the greater viewing angle and better color quality. You’ll mostly find IPS panels on higher-grade portables.
What you will not find on portables are two other display technologies, plasma and organic light-emitting diode (OLED). Plasma displays demand a lot more electricity than LCDs demand and are completely inappropriate for portable devices. OLED screens sip energy when compared to LCDs, but they’re still so expensive that you’ll only find them on smartphones and tablets today. Chapter 25, “Mobile Devices,” discusses OLED screen technology.
EXAM TIP The CompTIA A+ 901 exam objectives refer to OLED displays for laptops, but these don’t exist. You’ll find OLED displays on a few smartphones, but not on portable PCs, at least not at the time of this writing.
In the dark ages of mobile computing, you had to shell out top dollar for any device that would operate unplugged, and what you purchased was what you got. Upgrade a laptop? Connect to external devices? You had few if any options, so you simply paid for a device that would be way behind the technology curve within a year and functionally obsolete within two.
Portable computers today offer a few ways to enhance their capabilities. Most feature external ports that enable you to add completely new functions, such as attaching a scanner, mobile printer, or both. You can take advantage of the latest wireless technology breakthrough simply by slipping a card into the appropriate slot on the laptop.
I’ll first describe single-function ports, and then turn to networking options. Next, I’ll cover card slots, and then finish with a discussion of general-purpose ports.
All portable computers come with one or more single-function ports. You’d have a hard time finding a portable computing device that doesn’t have an audio port, for example. Laptops often provide a video port for hooking up an external monitor, though wireless screen sharing and screencasting are gaining popularity as an alternative.
Ports work the same way on portable computers as they do on desktop models. You plug in a device to a particular port and, as long as the operating system has the proper drivers, you will have a functioning device when you boot.
Portable computers have a standard 3.5-mm audio-out port and some have a similarly sized microphone-in port (see Figure 24-10), though built-in microphones are increasingly common. You can plug in headphones, regular PC speakers, or even a nice surround sound set to enable the laptop to play music just as well as a desktop computer can.
Figure 24-10 Standard audio ports
You can control the sound (both out and in) through either the appropriate Control Panel applet in Windows, System Preferences in Mac OS X, or some kind of switches on the laptop. The portable in Figure 24-11, for example, enables you to mute the speakers by pressing a special mute button above the keyboard. Other portables use a combination of the fn key and another key to toggle mute on and off, as well as to play, pause, fast-forward, and rewind audio (or any other media options). Most portables will have volume up/down controls in the same location.
Figure 24-11 The mute button on a laptop
Most laptops support a second monitor via a digital port of some sort. There are many of these—you may find HDMI (including Mini-HDMI and Micro-HDMI), Display-Port (including USB Type-C and Thunderbolt), and DVI; on ancient or special-purpose portables, there’s even a chance you may still find an analog VGA. With a second monitor attached, you can duplicate your screen to the new monitor, or extend your desktop across both displays, letting you move windows between them. Not all portables can do all variations, but they’re more common than not.
Most portables use the FN key plus another key on the keyboard to cycle through display options. Figure 24-12 shows a close-up of a typical keyboard with the FN key; note the other options you can access with the FN key, such as indicated on the F2 key. To engage the second monitor or to cycle through the modes, hold the FN key and press F2.
Figure 24-12 Laptop keyboard showing Function (FN) key that enables you to access additional key options, as on the F2 key
NOTE Although many laptops use the Function key method to cycle the monitor selections, that’s not always the case. You might have to pop into the Display applet or System Preferences to click a checkbox. Just be assured that if the laptop has a video output port, you can cycle through monitor choices!
You can control how the external monitor displays through the Display applet in the Control Panel in Windows. (Other OSs have similar options.) Open Display and click on Change display settings (see Figure 24-13). On the Screen Resolution panel, click the drop-down arrow next to Multiple displays (see Figure 24-14). You’ll see several options. Extend these displays makes your desktop encompass both the laptop and the external monitor. Duplicate these displays places the same thing on both displays. You’d use that for a presentation, for example, rather than for a work space. The other two options shown in Figure 24-14 temporarily blank one or the other display.
Figure 24-13 Display applet in Windows 7
Figure 24-14 Multiple-display options menu in Windows 7
EXAM TIP The CompTIA A+ 901 exam objectives refer to multiple monitors as dual displays, though they can be in several modes
It isn’t really a port, but you’ll find some portable computers—especially ones designed for and marketed to business users—with a very thin slot the width of a credit card on one side or the other. No, it isn’t an expansion or memory card slot—it’s a smart card reader. If you’ve seen a credit or debit card with a little metallic chip (see Figure 24-15), you’ve seen a smart card. While smart cards have tons of uses, what matters here is that you can log in to a portable device (if it has a built-in or USB smart card reader) using your smart card and a PIN number.
Figure 24-15 Smart card
It’s a rare item to find a portable computer without at least one network connection option. Today’s portables come with some combination 802.11, Bluetooth, or wired Ethernet connections. Generally they work exactly as you’ve seen in previous chapters, but you may stumble into a few issues that are unique to portables.
Most portables today have Wi-Fi built directly into the chipset for connecting the device to a wireless access point (WAP) and from there to a bigger network, such as the Internet. The 802.11b and 802.11g standards are common on older laptops; newer portable computers use 802.11n or 802.11ac.
NOTE While the newest portables are shipping with 802.11ac, be aware that, especially as portables are getting powerful enough to live longer useful lives, you may see a few previous standards built into devices in the wild.
While not quite as ubiquitous as 802.11, most portables use Bluetooth as well. Bluetooth is really handy on a laptop because it gives you the ability to add wireless peripherals such as mice, keyboards, and headsets, as well as communicate with smartphones, speakers, and other Bluetooth devices.
Portable computers that come with wireless technologies such as 802.11, mobile broadband, GPS, or Bluetooth have some form of on/off switch to toggle the antenna off or on so that you may use the laptop in areas where emissions aren’t allowed (like a commercial aircraft). The switch may be hard wired, like the one shown in Figure 24-16, or it may be a toggle of the FN key plus another key on the keyboard. Also, if you’re not using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, turn them off to save electricity and lengthen the portable’s battery life.
Figure 24-16 Wireless switch
EXAM TIP Hardware switches or special Function key toggles enable you to switch features on and off, such as wireless networking, cellular networking, and Bluetooth. Toggle them off when in a scenario where battery life takes priority over networking.
Most full-size laptops have an RJ-45 wired Ethernet connection like the one shown in Figure 24-17. These work exactly like any other Ethernet jack—they have link lights and connect via UTP cable. Be aware, however, that wired Ethernet is one of the things hybrids, Ultrabooks, and other smaller portables usually leave out.
Figure 24-17 Ethernet port on laptop
There are two issues with RJ-45s on laptops. First, they do not have an on/off switch like the 802.11 and Bluetooth connections. You can turn them off just like you would turn off the NIC on a desktop: disable the NIC in Device Manager or turn the NIC off in BIOS. The other issue is the relative weakness of the physical connection. If you ever plug a laptop into a wired network and the OS doesn’t see a connection, check the RJ-45 port.
The makers of portable computers have developed methods for you to add features to a portable via specialized connections known generically as expansion slots. For many years, the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) established standards involving portable computers, especially when it came to expansion cards and slots. Once a common feature on laptops, these specialized expansion slots are almost impossible to find due to the dominance of USB. The last standard was called ExpressCard.
ExpressCard comes in two widths: 34 mm and 54 mm, called ExpressCard/34 and ExpressCard/54. Figure 24-18 shows both ExpressCard varieties. Both cards are 75 mm long and 5 mm thick.
Figure 24-18 34-mm and 54-mm ExpressCards
ExpressCards connect to either the USB 2.0 bus or the PCI Express bus. These differ phenomenally in speed. The amazingly slow-in-comparison USB version has a maximum throughput of 480 Mbps. The PCIe version, in contrast, roars in at 2.5 Gbps in unidirectional communication.
Table 24-1 shows the throughput and variations for the parallel and serial PC Cards currently on the market.
Table 24-1 ExpressCard Speeds
PCMCIA announced ExpressCard 2.0 in 2009 with speeds up to 5 Gbps and support for SuperSpeed USB 3.0, and we expected to see devices roll out in 2010, but that’s not what happened. PCMCIA instead dissolved and shut its offices. The USB Implementer’s Forum manages all ExpressCard standards, and there has been no further development.
NOTE You may find ExpressCards that supposedly support USB 3.0. While technically these cards have USB 3.0 ports, they connect to the PCIe bus and therefore aren’t capable of true USB 3.0 speeds of up to 5 Gbps.
Many portable computers offer one or more flash-memory card slots to enable you to add storage to the portable. These slots also enable the fast transfer of data from the card to the portable, and vice versa. They come in the standard varieties that you already know from Chapter 11, “Essential Peripherals,” such as SD or Micro-SD.
Portable computers rarely come with all of the hardware you want. Today’s laptops usually include at least USB ports to give you the option to add more hardware. Some special-purpose laptops may still provide legacy general-purpose expansion ports (PS/2, RS-232 serial ports, and so on) for installing peripheral hardware, while other portables focus on more modern ports like Thunderbolt, eSATA, and FireWire. If you’re lucky, you will have a docking station so you don’t have to plug in all of your peripheral devices one at a time.
Universal serial bus (USB), Thunderbolt, FireWire (or more properly, IEEE 1394), and eSATA enable users to connect a device while the PC is running—you won’t have to reboot the system to install a new peripheral. With USB, FireWire, and eSATA, just plug the device in and go! Because portable PCs don’t have a desktop’s multiple internal expansion capabilities, USB, Thunderbolt, FireWire, and eSATA are some of the more popular methods for attaching peripherals to laptops (see Figure 24-19).
Figure 24-19 Devices attached to USB on a portable PC (Whooooa, retro PDA, dude!)
NOTE The small device resting in a stand in Figure 24-19, a personal digital assistant (PDA), was a precursor to modern smartphones and tablets. You could view pictures, take notes, check a calendar, listen to music, and more on these devices.
Docking stations offer legacy and modern single- and multi-function ports (see Figure 24-20). The typical docking station uses a proprietary connection but has extra features built in, such as an optica drive or ExpressCard slot for extra enhancements. You can find docking stations for many older small laptops. A docking station makes an excellent companion to such portables.
Figure 24-20 Docking station
When you don’t need access to a number of ports at once, you can often find a USB adapter for whatever you need to connect. There are tons of these things, but CompTIA wants you to know about a few in particular. When it comes to drives or connectors that you need only occasionally, these adapters can enable you to use a much more portable device.
Two great examples of this are wired Ethernet and optical drives. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t spun up an optical disc in months, nor am I sure when I last opened my laptop within a few feet of a wired Ethernet connection. A USB to RJ-45 dongle and a USB optical drive can provide these features when and where I need them, leaving me a much smaller laptop to carry the rest of the time.
Another good use for USB adapters is updating connectivity support for older devices. A USB to Wi-Fi dongle or a USB Bluetooth adapter can let me update an old laptop to 802.11ac, or add Bluetooth to a laptop that didn’t come with it built in.
EXAM TIP The 901 exam expects you to be familiar with USB to RJ-45 and USB to Wi-Fi dongles as well as USB to Bluetooth, USB to optical drive, and USB to Ethernet adapters.
Most portables come from the factory fully assembled and configured. From a tech’s standpoint, your most common work on managing and maintaining portables involves taking care of the batteries and extending the battery life through proper power management, keeping the machine clean, and avoiding excessive heat.
Everything you normally do to maintain a computer applies to portable computers. You need to keep current on OS updates and use stable, recent drivers. Use appropriate tools to monitor the health of your storage drives and clean up unwanted files. That said, let’s look at issues specifically involving portables.
Manufacturers over the years have used a few types of batteries for portable computers: Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cd), Nickel–Metal Hydride (Ni-MH), and Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion). Today, only Li-Ion is used because that battery chemistry provides the highest energy density for the weight and has few problems with external factors.
Li-Ion batteries are powerful, and last much longer than the Ni-MH and Ni-Cd ones we used in the 1990s. If Li-Ion batteries have a downside, it’s that they will explode if overcharged or punctured, so all Li-Ion batteries have built-in circuitry to prevent accidental overcharging. Lithium batteries can only be used on systems designed to use them. They can’t be used as replacement batteries to keep that retro laptop from 1998 going. Figure 24-21 shows a typical Li-Ion battery.
Figure 24-21 Li-Ion battery
NOTE Lithium polymer (LiPO) batteries are a variation of Li-Ion that places the heart of the battery—the electrolyte—into a solid polymer shape rather than an organic solvent. This enables the batteries to take on unusual forms beyond the simple cylinder or rectangle shapes. LiPO batteries haven’t replaced Li-Ion in most portables (with the Apple MacBook an exception), but they are used a lot in smaller electronics such as tablets, smartphones, and portable media players.
In general, keep in mind the following basics. First, always store batteries in a cool place. Although a freezer might seem like an excellent storage place, the moisture, extreme freezing cold, metal racks, and food make it a bad idea. Second, keep the battery charged, at least to 70–80 percent. Third, never drain a battery all the way down unless required to do so as part of a battery calibration (where you, in essence, reset the battery according to steps provided by the manufacturer). Rechargeable batteries have only a limited number of charge-discharge cycles before overall battery performance is reduced. Fourth, never handle a battery that has ruptured or broken; battery chemicals are very dangerous and flammable (check YouTube for videos of what happens when you puncture a Li-Ion or LiPO battery). Finally, always recycle old batteries.
Try This!
Recycling Old Portable PC Batteries
Got an old portable PC battery lying around? Well, you need to get rid of it, and there are some pretty nasty chemicals in that battery, so you can’t just throw it in the trash. Sooner or later, you’ll probably need to deal with such a battery, so Try This!
1. Do an online search to find the battery recycling center nearest to you. Electronics retailers are getting much better about accepting a wide array of e-waste, including batteries, though they often place quantity limits.
2. Sometimes, you can take old laptop batteries to an auto parts store that disposes of old car batteries—I know it sounds odd, but it’s true! See if you can find one in your area that will do this.
3. Many cities offer a hazardous materials disposal or recycling service. Check to see if and how your local government will help you dispose of your old batteries.
Many different parts are included in the typical laptop, and each part uses power. The problem with early laptops was that every one of these parts used power continuously, whether or not the system needed the device at that time. For example, the hard drive continued to spin even when it was not being accessed, the CPU ran at full speed even when the system was doing light work, and the LCD panel continued to display even when the user walked away from the machine.
The optimal situation would be a system where the computer shuts down unused devices selectively, preferably by defining a maximum period of inactivity that, when reached, would trigger the system to shut down the inactive device. Longer periods of inactivity would eventually enable the entire system to shut itself down, leaving critical information loaded in RAM, ready to restart if a wake-up event (such as moving the mouse or pressing a key) told the system to resume. The system would have to be sensitive to potential hazards, such as shutting down in the middle of writing to a drive, and so on. Also, this feature could not add significantly to the cost of the computer. Clearly, a machine that could perform these functions would need specialized hardware and a specialized BIOS and operating system to operate properly. This process of cooperation among the hardware, the BIOS, and the OS to reduce power use is known generically as power management.
Intel began the process of power management with a series of new features built into the 386SX CPU. These new features enabled the CPU to slow down or stop its clock without erasing the register information, as well as enabling power saving in peripherals. These features were collectively called System Management Mode (SMM). All modern CPUs have SMM. Although a power-saving CPU was okay, power management was relegated to special “sleep” or “doze” buttons that would stop the CPU and all of the peripherals on the laptop. To take real advantage of SMM, the system needed a specialized BIOS and OS to go with the SMM CPU. To this end, Intel put forward the Advanced Power Management (APM) specification in 1992 and the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) standard in 1996.
To function fully, APM and ACPI require a number of items. First, they require an SMM-capable CPU. As virtually all CPUs are SMM-capable, this is easy. Second, they need an APM-compliant BIOS that enables the CPU to shut off the peripherals when desired. The third requirement is devices that will accept being shut off. These devices are usually called Energy Star devices, which signals their compliance with the EPA’s Energy Star standard. To be an Energy Star device, a peripheral must be able to shut down without actually turning off and show that it uses much less power than the non–Energy Star equivalent. Last, the system’s OS must know how to request that a particular device be shut down, and the CPU’s clock must be slowed down or stopped.
ACPI goes beyond the APM standard by supplying support for hot-swappable devices—always a huge problem with APM. This feature aside, it is a challenge to tell the difference between an APM system and an ACPI system at first glance.
NOTE Don’t limit your perception of APM, ACPI, and Energy Star just to laptops. Virtually all desktop systems and many appliances also use the power management functions.
APM defined four power-usage operating levels for a system. These levels are intentionally fuzzy to give manufacturers considerable leeway in their use; the only real difference among them is the amount of time each takes to return to normal usage. These levels are as follows:
• Full On Everything in the system is running at full power. There is no power management.
• APM Enabled CPU and RAM are running at full power. Power management is enabled. An unused device may or may not be shut down.
• APM Standby CPU is stopped. RAM still stores all programs. All peripherals are shut down, although configuration options are still stored. In other words, you won’t have to reinitialize the devices to get back to APM Enabled.
• APM Suspend Everything in the system is shut down or at its lowest power-consumption setting. Many systems use a special type of Suspend called hibernation, where critical configuration information is written to the hard drive. Upon a wake-up event, the system is reinitialized, and the data is read from the drive to return the system to the APM Enabled mode. Clearly, the recovery time between Suspend and Enabled will be much longer than the time between Standby and Enabled.
ACPI, the successor to APM, handles all these levels plus a few more, such as “soft power on/off,” which enables you to define the function of the power button. You should familiarize yourself with the following ACPI global (G) and sleeping (S) system power state specifications for both the CompTIA A+ exams and your own practical application:
• G0 (S0) Working state
• G1 Sleeping state mode. Further subdivided into four S states.
• S1 CPU stops processing. Power to CPU and memory (RAM) is maintained.
• S2 CPU is powered down.
• S3 Sleep or Standby mode. Power to RAM still on.
• S4 Hibernation mode. Information in RAM is stored to nonvolatile memory or drive and powered off.
• G2 (S5) Soft power off mode. Certain devices used to wake a system—such as keyboard, LAN, USB, and other devices—remain on, while most other components are powered to a mechanical off state (G3).
• G3 Mechanical off mode. The system and all components, with the exception of the real-time clock (RTC), are completely powered down.
You configure APM/ACPI via CMOS settings or through your operating system. OS settings override CMOS settings. Although the APM/ACPI standards permit a great deal of flexibility, which can create some confusion among different implementations, certain settings apply generally to CMOS configuration. First is the ability to initialize power management; this enables the system to enter the APM Enabled mode. Often CMOS then presents time frames for entering Standby and Suspend modes, as well as settings to determine which events take place in each of these modes.
Many CMOS versions present settings to determine wake-up events, such as directing the system to monitor a modem or a NIC (see Figure 24-22). You’ll see this feature as Wake on LAN, or something similar. A true ACPI-compliant CMOS provides an ACPI setup option. Figure 24-23 shows a typical modern BIOS that provides this setting.
Figure 24-22 Setting a wake-up event in CMOS
Figure 24-23 CMOS with ACPI setup option
In Windows, APM/ACPI settings can be found in the Control Panel applet Power Options. Windows offers power plans that enable better control over power use by customizing a Balanced, High performance, or Power saver power plan (see Figure 24-24). You can customize a power plan for your laptop, for example, and configure it to turn off the display at a certain time interval while on battery or plugged in and configure it to put the computer to sleep as desired (see Figure 24-25).
Figure 24-24 Windows Balanced, High performance, and Power saver power plan options
Figure 24-25 Customizing a laptop power plan in Windows
NOTE You can also access your power options by clicking on the Power icon in the notification area if it is present.
Another feature, Hibernate mode, takes everything in active memory and stores it on the hard drive just before the system powers down. When the system comes out of hibernation, Windows reloads all the files and applications into RAM. Figure 24-26 shows the hibernation options in Windows.
Figure 24-26 Windows 8.1 hibernation settings in the Power Options applet
Adjusting Your System’s Power Management
Go into the Power Options applet on a Windows computer and take a look at the various settings. What is the current power plan for the computer? Check to see if it is running a Balanced or High performance power plan. If it is, change the power plan to Power saver and click Change plan settings. Familiarize yourself with some of the advanced power settings (click on the Change advanced power settings link).
Try changing the individual settings for each power scheme. For instance, set a new value for the Turn off the display setting—try making your display turn off after five minutes. Don’t worry; you aren’t going to hurt anything if you fiddle with these settings.
Most portables give you several manual options for reducing battery use in certain circumstances. We’ve already discussed using the on/off switch or keyboard combination for disabling the Wi-Fi antenna, for example, and shutting off Bluetooth, but many newer portables (not to mention Windows 8 and later) also borrow a feature from smartphones and tablets for disabling most or all of their wireless components at once: airplane mode. Beyond its intended use, airplane mode is also a great way to disable a number of power-sucking components quickly.
Laptops with backlit keyboards will have some way you can disable this feature when it’s not needed, usually with a keyboard combination. You can also reduce the output of the LCD backlight using a combination of FN and another key to eke out a few more precious minutes of computing time before you have to shut down. Figure 24-27 shows a close-up of the FN-activated keys for adjusting screen brightness.
Figure 24-27 Keys for adjusting screen brightness
One of the best ways to conserve battery use is to plan ahead for times when you’ll be unplugged. This can mean a lot of different things in practice, but they all boil down to thinking of ways to minimize the number of programs and hardware devices/radios you’ll need to use while your laptop is running on battery power. When I travel, for example, and know that I’m going to need a certain set of files stored on my file server at the office, I put those files on my laptop before I leave, while it’s still plugged into the AC. It’s tempting to throw the files on a thumb drive so I don’t have to break out my laptop at the office, or to let Dropbox do my syncing for me when I get to a Wi-Fi hotspot, but both USB and Wi-Fi use electricity.
Better than that, Windows enables me to designate the files and folders I need as offline files, storing a local, duplicate copy of the files and folders on my hard drive. When I connect my laptop into my office network, those offline files are automatically synced with the files and folders on the file server. Anything I changed on the laptop gets written to the server. Anything anyone changed in those folders on the server gets written to my laptop. (If changes were made on both sides, a sync conflict pops up automatically, enabling me to resolve problems without fear of overwriting anything important.)
To designate a folder and its contents as offline files, right-click on the folder you want and select Always available offline from the menu (see Figure 24-28). The sync will occur and you’re done. When you want to open the files offline, go to the Control Panel and open the Sync Center applet (see Figure 24-29). Click the Manage offline files link in the Tasks list to open the Offline Files dialog box (see Figure 24-30). Click the View your offline files button and you’re in.
Figure 24-28 Setting up offline files
Figure 24-29 Sync Center applet
Figure 24-30 Offline Files dialog box
EXAM TIP Another option for extending battery life is to just bring a spare battery. Some smaller portable devices have range-extending external rechargers that can also help.
Most portable computers take substantially more abuse than a corresponding desktop model. Constant handling, travel, airport food on the run, and so on, can radically shorten the life of a portable if you don’t take action. One of the most important things you should do is clean the laptop regularly. Use an appropriate screen cleaner (not a glass cleaner!) to remove fingerprints and dust from the fragile LCD panel. (Refer to Chapter 19 for specifics.)
If you’ve had the laptop in a smoky or dusty environment where the air quality alone causes problems, try cleaning it with compressed air. Compressed air works great for blowing out dust and crumbs from the keyboard and for keeping any ports, slots, and sockets clear. Don’t use water on your keyboard! Even a little moisture inside the portable can toast a component.
To manage and maintain a healthy portable computer, you need to deal with heat issues. Every portable has a stack of electronic components crammed into a very small space. Unlike their desktop brethren, portables don’t have lots of freely moving air space that enables fans to cool everything down. Even with lots of low-power-consumption devices inside, portable computers crank out a good deal of heat. Excessive heat can cause system lockups and hardware failures, so you should handle the issue wisely. Try this as a starter guide:
• Use power management, even if you’re plugged into the AC outlet. This is especially important if you’re working in a warm (more than 80 degrees Fahrenheit) room.
• Keep air space between the bottom of the laptop and the surface on which it rests. Putting a laptop on a soft surface, such as a pillow on your lap, creates a great heat-retention system—not a good thing! Always use a hard, flat surface.
• Don’t use a keyboard protector for extended amounts of time.
• Listen to your fan, assuming the laptop has one. If it’s often running very fast—you can tell by the whirring sound—examine your power management settings, environment, and running programs so you can change whatever is causing heat retention.
• Speaking of fans, be alert to a fan that suddenly goes silent. Fans do fail on laptops, causing overheating and failure.
Although prices continue to drop for basic laptops, a fully loaded system is still pricey. To protect your investment, you’ll want to adhere to certain best practices. You’ve already read tips in this chapter to deal with cleaning and heat, so let’s look at the “portable” part of portable computers.
Pay attention to where you run the power cord when you plug in a laptop. One of the primary causes of laptop destruction is people tripping over the power cord and knocking the laptop off of a desk. This is especially true if you plug in at a public place such as a café or airport. Remember, the life you save could be your portable’s!
If you aren’t going to use your portable for a while, storing it safely will go a long way toward keeping it operable when you do power it up again. Investing in a quality case is worth the extra few dollars—preferably one with ample padding. Not only will this protect your system on a daily basis when transporting it from home to office, but it will keep dust and pet hair away as well. Also, protect from battery leakage, at least on devices with removable batteries, by removing the battery if you plan to store the device for an extended time. Regardless of whether the battery is removable or built in, it’s a good idea to store the battery partially charged and top it up occasionally to keep it from fully discharging.
If you travel with a laptop, guard against theft. If possible, use a case that doesn’t look like a computer case. A well-padded backpack makes a great travel bag for a laptop and appears less tempting to would-be thieves, though some brands and styles of these are still quite obvious. Smaller portables like Ultrabooks can often hide in less obvious bags. Don’t forget to pack any accessories you might need, like modular devices, spare batteries, and AC adapters. Make sure to remove any optical disks from their drives. Most importantly—back up any important data before you leave!
Make sure to have at least a little battery power available. Heightened security at airports means you might have to power on your system to prove it’s really a computer and not a transport case for questionable materials. And never let your laptop out of your sight. If going through an x-ray machine, request a manual search. The x-ray won’t harm your computer like a metal detector would, but if the laptop gets through the line at security before you do, someone else might walk away with it. If flying, stow your laptop under the seat in front of you where you can keep an eye on it.
If you travel to a foreign country, be very careful about the electricity. North America uses ~115-V power outlets, but most of the world uses ~230-V outlets. Many portable computers have auto-switching power supplies, meaning they detect the voltage at the outlet and adjust accordingly. For these portables, a simple plug converter will do the trick. Other portable computers, however, have fixed-input power supplies, which means they run only on ~115-V or on ~230-V power. For these portables, you need a full-blown electricity converting device, either a step-down or step-up transformer. You should be able to find converters and transformers at electronics retailers, travel stores, and most other stores with a large electronics department.
Much of the storage and travel advice can be applied to shipping. If possible, remove batteries and optical discs from their drives. Pack the portable well and disguise the container as best you can. Back up any data and verify the warranty coverage. Ship with a reputable carrier and always request a tracking number and, if possible, delivery signature. It’s also worth the extra couple of bucks to pay for the shipping insurance. And when the clerk asks what’s in the box, it’s safer to say “electronics” rather than “a new 20-inch laptop computer.”
The fact is, if someone really wants to steal your laptop, they’ll find a way. There are, however, some things you can do to make yourself, and your equipment, less desirable targets. As you’ve already learned, disguise is a good idea.
Another physical deterrent is a laptop lock. Similar to a steel bicycle cable, there is a loop on one end and a lock on the other. The idea is to loop the cable around a solid object, such as a bed frame, and secure the lock to the small security hole on the side of the laptop (see Figure 24-31). Again, if someone really wants to steal your computer, they’ll find a way. They’ll dismantle the bed frame if they’re desperate. The best protection is to be vigilant and not let the computer out of your sight.
Figure 24-31 Cable lock
An alternative to securing a laptop with a physical lock is to use a software tracking system that makes use of GPS. It won’t keep your device from being taken, but tracking software can use the many sensors and networking capabilities of modern devices to help recover them. While functionality differs by application, common features include seeing the location of the stolen computer, capturing images or audio with its sensors, and wiping sensitive files from the device.
A competent tech can upgrade and repair portable computers to a degree, though true laptop techs are specialists. Upgrading the basics usually means breaking out the trusty screwdriver and avoiding electrostatic discharge (ESD). Repairing portables successfully, on the other hand, requires research, patience, organization, special tools, and documentation. Plus you need a ridiculously steady hand. This section provides an overview of the upgrade and repair process. Keep in mind that the growing number of form factors and the shrinking size of portable devices mean there are many exceptions, especially for very compact portables; these devices may be trickier to take apart, and components may be soldered on or use less-common interfaces.
Disassembling a portable PC is usually pretty easy, if it was designed to be upgraded or serviced by casual users. Putting it back together in working condition is the hard part! You need to follow a four-step process to succeed in disassembly/reassembly.
First, document and label every cable and screw location. Laptops don’t use standard connectors or screws. Often you’ll run into many tiny screws of varying threads. If you try to put a screw into the wrong hole, you could end up stripping the screw, stripping the hole, or getting the screw wedged into the wrong place.
Second, organize any parts you extract from the laptop. Seriously, put a big white piece of construction paper on your work surface, lay each extracted piece out in logical fashion, and clearly mark where each component connects and what it connects to as well. You may even want to use a smartphone camera to take pictures or a webcam to record your workspace in case something goes missing.
Third, refer to the manufacturer’s resources. I can’t stress this point enough. Unlike desktops, portables have no standardization of internal structure. Everything in the portable is designed according to the manufacturer’s best engineering efforts. Two portables from the same manufacturer might have a similar layout inside, but it’s far more likely that every model differs a lot.
Finally, you need to use the appropriate hand tools. A portable, especially on the inside, will have a remarkable variety of tiny screws that you can’t remove/reinsert without tiny-headed Phillips or Torx drivers. You’ll need tiny pry bars—metal and plastic—to open components. Figure 24-32 shows an entry-level toolkit for a laptop tech that you can order from iFixit.com (more on this site in a moment). Their professional version of the toolkit has 70 tools, plus there’s an expansion kit! Like I said at the beginning of the section portable techs are specialists.
Figure 24-32 Bare-minimum laptop repair tools
EXAM TIP Know the four-step disassembly process for the CompTIA A+ 220-901 exam:
• Document and label cable and screw locations.
• Organize parts.
• Refer to the manufacturer’s resources.
• Use appropriate hand tools.
Now that you have the official line on the disassembly process, let’s get one thing clear: A lot of manufacturers don’t provide access to their resources to just any tech, but only to authorized repair centers. So what do you do when faced with an unfamiliar laptop that a client brought in for repair?
You have essentially two options. First, you can find a dedicated laptop tech and refer your client to that person. If the problem is exceptionally complicated and the portable in question is mission critical, that’s often the best option. If you want to tackle the problem or it looks like something you should be able to do, then you go to third-party sources: YouTube and iFixit.com.
Every portable computer has a specific make and model. Open up a Web browser and go to YouTube. Type in precisely what you want to do, such as “replace the keyboard on a Lenovo y530,” and see what pops up (see Figure 24-33). You’ll most likely get results back, especially if the laptop in question is a couple of years old. People all over the world have to deal with broken devices, so you’re not alone.
Figure 24-33 YouTube search result
Once you’ve found the appropriate video or something that’s close enough to enable the repair attempt, watch it. If it’s too difficult for your skill level or requires a set of expensive tools, then fall back to step one and go find a dedicated tech. Otherwise, figure out what tools and parts you need. Parts specific to a laptop (as in that Lenovo keyboard in preceding the example) will need to be purchased from the manufacturer. More generic parts, like hard drives, CPUs, and so on, can be purchased from Newegg (my favorite tech store) or some other online retailer.
For general tools, parts, and a lot of very detailed step-by-step instructions, I highly recommend iFixit.com. Billed as a “free repair manual you can edit,” iFixit is built by techs like you and me who conquer a problem, document the steps, and post the details (see Figure 24-34). This means the next tech along who runs into the same problem doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel. Just go to iFixit.com. The proceeds from parts and tools they sell, by the way, go toward supporting the site.
Figure 24-34 Some of the Dell laptop repair walkthroughs at iFixit.com
Every CompTIA A+ tech should know how to perform the two standard upgrades to portable computers: adding RAM and replacing a hard drive. Let’s go through the steps.
Stock factory portable computers almost always come with a minimal amount of RAM, so one of the first laptop upgrades you’ll be called on to do is to add more RAM. Economy laptops running Windows 8.1 routinely sit on store shelves and go home to consumers with as little as 2 GB of RAM, an amount guaranteed to limit the use and performance of the laptop. Luckily, most laptops have upgradeable RAM slots. Ancient laptops may use 144-pin SO-DIMMs with SDRAM technology. Older systems use 200-pin DDR and DDR2 SO-DIMMs (see Figure 24-35), and current systems use 204-pin DDR3 SO-DIMMs.
Figure 24-35 200-pin SODIMM stick (front and back)
NOTE The amount of RAM needed to run a computer—portable or otherwise—smoothly and stably depends on both the type of applications that it will run and the needs of the OS. When making a recommendation to a client about upgrading a laptop’s memory, you should ask the basic questions, such as what the client plans to do on the laptop.
If the laptop will be used for e-mail, word processing, and Web surfing, a medium level of RAM, such as 2–4 GB, might be adequate. If the user travels, uses a high-res digital camera, and wants to use Photoshop to edit huge images, you’ll need to augment the RAM accordingly. Then add the needs of the OS to give a good recommendation.
How to Add or Replace RAM Upgrading the RAM in a portable PC requires a couple of steps. First, you need to get the correct RAM. Refer to the manufacturer’s Web site or to the manual (if any) that came with the portable for the specific RAM needed. Once you know the type, you need to make sure you know the configuration of any existing RAM in the system. If you are planning to upgrade from 4 GB to 8 GB, you need to know if your portable already has one module at 4 GB, or two modules at 2 GB.
Second, every portable offers a unique challenge to the tech who wants to upgrade the RAM, because there’s no standard location for RAM placement in portables. The RAM slots may not even be in the same spot. More often than not, you need to unscrew or pop open a panel on the underside of the portable (see Figure 24-36). Then you press out on the restraining clips and the RAM stick pops up (see Figure 24-37). Gently remove the old stick of RAM and insert the new one by reversing the steps.
Figure 24-36 Removing a RAM panel
Figure 24-37 Releasing the RAM
Always remove all electrical power from the laptop before removing or inserting memory. Disconnect the AC cord from the wall outlet. Take out any removable batteries! Failure to disconnect from power can result in a fried laptop. In the case of systems with built-in batteries, consult the manufacturer’s resources to evaluate the safety of working on the system and any additional steps or precautions you should take.
CAUTION Some portables may have both built-in and removable batteries.
Shared Memory Some laptops (and desktops) support shared memory. Shared memory reduces the cost of video cards by reducing the amount of memory on the video card itself. The video card uses regular system RAM to make up for the loss.
The obvious benefit of shared memory is a less expensive video card (and a less expensive laptop!) with performance comparable to its mega-memory alternative. The downside is that your overall system performance will suffer because a portion of the system RAM is no longer available to programs. (The term shared is a bit misleading because the video card takes control of a portion of RAM. The video portion of system RAM is not shared back and forth between the video card processor and the CPU.)
Some systems give you control over the amount of shared memory, while others simply allow you to turn shared memory on or off. The settings are found in CMOS setup on systems that support shared memory.
Adding more system RAM to a laptop with shared memory will improve laptop performance. Although it might appear to improve video performance, that doesn’t tell the true story. It’ll improve overall performance because the OS and CPU get more usable RAM. On some laptops, you can improve video performance as well, but that depends on the CMOS setup. If the shared memory is not set to maximum by default, increasing the overall memory and upping the portion reserved for video will improve video performance specifically.
You can replace a hard disk drive (HDD), solid-state drive (SSD), or solid-state hybrid drive (SSHD) in a portable PC fairly easily, especially if the laptop is only a few years old. SATA drives in the 2.5-inch drive format now rule in all laptops. Although much smaller than regular 3.5-inch hard drives, they use all the same features and configurations. These smaller hard drives have suffered, however, from diminished storage capacity as compared to their 3.5-inch brothers. Currently, large 2.5-inch hard drives hold up to 2 TB, while 3.5-inch hard drives top out at more than 8 TB of data!
EXAM TIP 1.8-inch drives exist, though they have fallen out of favor as flash memory usurps their role in portable music players and other small portables. These days, they are quite rare. If you find one, it almost certainly will be in an older portable on the small end of the scale.
If you have an ancient laptop, it might have a PATA drive, which means you need to pay more attention to cabling and jumpers. Some PATA drive manufacturers may require you to set the drive to use a cable-select setting as opposed to master or slave, so check with the laptop maker for any special issues. Otherwise, no difference exists between 2.5-inch drives and their larger 3.5-inch brethren (see Figure 24-38).
Figure 24-38 The 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives are mostly the same.
One of the best upgrades you can make on a laptop is to go from an HDD to an SSD. Obviously, you’ll get a lot less storage capacity for the money, but the trade-offs can be worth it. First, the SSD will use a lot less electricity than an HDD, thus extending battery life. Second, any SSD is rip-roaringly faster than an HDD and performance across the board will be boosted. For a time, SSHDs, or hybrid drives, were a good compromise between the speed of an SSD and the size of a traditional HDD. These days, the inroads SSDs have made on price and capacity have made SSHDs look more and more like a lukewarm choice. 2-TB SSDs are already available, matching the top end of available HDDs (though admittedly for the price of a decent laptop), while 500-GB SSDs are under $200.
Try This!
Comparing HDD with SSD Today
As I write this chapter, you can get roughly eight times the storage capacity on an HDD for the same cost as an SSD. In other words, $100 spent on an SSD could give you ~250 GB of storage, whereas you could purchase a 2-TB, 2.5-inch HDD for the same $100. So do some comparison shopping. What’s the price point now? Are the trade-offs worth it for you or for your clients to make the switch from HDD to SSD?
The process of replacing a hard drive mirrors that of replacing RAM. You find the hard drive hatch—either along one edge or in a compartment on the underside of the computer—and release the screws (see Figure 24-39). Remove the old drive and then slide the new drive into its place (see Figure 24-40). Reattach the hatch or cover and boot the computer. Grab a Windows DVD or bootable USB flash drive and prepare to reinstall.
Figure 24-39 Removing the drive compartment cover
Figure 24-40 Inserting a replacement drive
Once you get beyond upgrading RAM and replacing a hard drive on a portable, you take the plunge into the laptop-repair specialty. You can replace some components by lifting them out, detaching a ribbon cable, and then reversing the steps with the replacement part. Other parts require a full teardown of the laptop to the bare bones, which presents a much greater magnitude of difficulty. Because every portable differs, this section provides guidance, but not concrete steps, for replacement. Be aware, as mentioned earlier, that some systems are trending toward more integrated parts; make sure the part you’re replacing is actually replaceable in the specific system you’re working on.
Replaceable components require more work than the RAM or drive upgrades, but replacing them generally falls into the category of “doable.” What I call components are the battery, keyboard, optical drive, internal speaker(s), and plastic parts.
Battery If a battery’s performance falls below an acceptable level, you can replace it with a battery from the manufacturer or from an aftermarket vendor. Although this should be a simple swap replacement (and usually is, at least if the battery isn’t built in), you might encounter a situation where the real problem wasn’t the battery per se, but an inadequate or malfunctioning charging system. The new battery might not give you any better performance than the old one. Try it.
Keyboard Getting a keyboard off a laptop computer often requires little pry bars, but also look for screws, clips, and so on. Keyboards connect via a tiny, short, and very delicate cable, often held down by tape. Replacing one is tricky, but doable.
Optical Drive Replacing an optical drive can present a challenge. If the drive is part of a modular system, just pop out the old drive and pop in a new one. If the drive is part of the internal chassis of the portable, on the other hand, you’re looking at a full dissection. (See the upcoming “Integral Parts” section for tips on dismantling the portable.)
Speaker Replacing the internal speaker or speakers on a laptop can be simple or a total pain, depending on where the speakers connect. Some laptops have speakers mounted on the outside of the chassis. You pry off the covers, pull out the little speakers, disconnect the cable, and then reverse the process for replacement speakers. If the speakers are inside the chassis, on the other hand, you need to dismantle the portable to get to them. (See the “Integral Parts” section.)
Frame All of the sophisticated electrified components that make our portables work are held together by a variety of plastic, metal, and rubber parts. Generally these are pretty durable, but over time—or in an accident—these components can warp, bend, crack, split, dent, and chip. These too can be replaced, provided you can locate a suitable replacement part.
You’ll need to know the device model to get started, and you may also need to hunt down the part number using manufacturer or third-party resources. Many device parts appear similar, and some parts will appear in many other portables. You may also find that the part you need is only available as a piece of a larger assembly or group of parts, in which case you may end up paying a silly sum to get the part you need.
Expansion Cards Not to be confused with ExpressCards, many portables have one or more true expansion slots for add-on cards. The more modular varieties will have a hatch on the bottom of the case that opens like the RAM hatch that gives you access to the slot(s). This enables you to change out an 802.11n wireless card, for example, for an 802.11ac card, thus greatly enhancing the Wi-Fi experience on this device. Figure 24-41 shows a wide-open laptop with the expansion slot exposed.
Figure 24-41 Mini-PCIe expansion slot on laptop
Just like when installing RAM in a portable, you must avoid ESD and remove all electricity before you take out or put in an expansion card. Failure to remove the battery and the AC adapter (or follow any extra steps and precautions in the manufacturer’s resources if the battery is built in) can and probably will result in a shorted-out laptop motherboard, and that just makes for a bad day.
The only other consideration with expansion cards applies specifically to wireless. Not only will you need to connect the card to the slot properly, but you must reattach the antenna connection and often a separate power cable. Pay attention when you remove the card as to the placement of these vital connections.
You’ll find one of two types of expansion slot in a portable: Mini-PCIe and M.2 (formerly Next Generation Form Factor [NGFF]). The older ones (think 2013 and earlier) use Mini-PCIe, while newer devices are quickly adopting M.2.
CPU Replacing a CPU on a modern portable takes a lot more work than replacing RAM or a Mini-PCIe expansion card, but follows the same general steps. Many CPUs mount facing the bottom of the portable, so that the venting goes away from your hands. When sitting properly on a flat surface, the heated air also goes to the back of the laptop and not toward the user. You access the CPU in this sort of system from the bottom of the portable.
As you can see in Figure 24-42, the CPU has an elaborate heat-sink and fan assembly that includes both the CPU and the chipset. Each of the pieces screws down in multiple places, plus the fan has a power connection. Aside from the tiny screws, there’s no difference here in process between replacing a mobile CPU and a desktop CPU that you learned way back in Chapter 4, “Microprocessors.”
Figure 24-42 CPU heat-sink and fan assembly exposed
First, remove all power from the laptop, including the battery if possible; consult manufacturer or third-party resources for any extra steps or precautions for systems with built-in batteries. Remove the hatch to expose the CPU. Remove the heat-sink and fan assembly and lift out the CPU. Replace it with another CPU, apply thermal paste, and reattach the heat-sink and fan assembly. Reconnect the fan power connector and you’re good to go.
Some laptops use passive cooling and may have the CPU pointed up rather than down. They have a heat sink beneath the keyboard that cools everything down. With that style laptop, you remove the keyboard and heat sink to expose the CPU.
Some hardware replacements require you to get serious with the laptop, opening it fully to the outside, removing many delicate parts, and even stripping it down to the bare chassis. I leave these repairs to the professional laptop repair folks, simply because they have the specific tools and expertise to do the job efficiently. CompTIA expects you to understand the process, though, so I’ve outlined it here. This pertains to four components: screen, DC jack, touchpad, and system board.
Portables open in two different ways, depending on the manufacturer. You either peel away layers from the top down, through the keyboard, or from the bottom up, through the base. Either direction requires careful attention to detail, part connectivity, and locations. You’ll need a system to keep track of the dozens of tiny screws.
Every one of the replacements here requires you to detach the screen from the main chassis of the portable. Aside from finding the connection points and removing the proper screws, you need to pay attention to the connection points for the data stream to the monitor and the antenna that’s in the frame of the display.
Once you have the portable stripped down, you replace whichever component you’re in there to replace and then begin the process of building it back up into a coherent unit. Pay incredibly careful attention to getting data cables connected properly as you rebuild. I can’t imagine a worse tech experience than replacing a touchpad and rebuilding a laptop only to have missed a connection and having to do it all over again.
EXAM TIP The DC jack requires extra-special love when you need to replace one. The part is soldered to the main board, so replacing it means you’ll need to not only strip the laptop to the bare metal, but also unsolder the old part and solder the new part. Then you’ll rebuild the laptop and hope you got everything right. CompTIA cannot expect a CompTIA A+ technician to know how to do this stuff. Expect a question that explores whether it can be done. Rest assured, specialized techs can replace any component on a laptop, even the DC jack.
Many of the troubleshooting techniques you learned about for desktop systems can be applied to laptops. For example, take the proper precautions before and during disassembly. Use the proper hand tools, and document, label, and organize each plastic part and screw location for reassembly. Additionally, here are some laptop-specific procedures to try.
• Verify AC power by plugging another electronic device into the wall outlet. If the other device receives power, the outlet is good.
• If the outlet is good, connect the laptop to the wall outlet and try to power on. If no LEDs light up, you may have a bad AC adapter. Swap it out with a known-good power adapter.
• A faulty peripheral device might keep the laptop from powering up. Remove any peripherals such as USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt devices.
• The most common reason for slow performance is running applications and processes consuming high resources. All operating systems have a way to check this—such as the Task Manager in Windows or Activity Monitor in Mac OS X—and look into problems with any you find. They may need to be closed or stopped, you may need to reboot, or the application may need an update.
• Extreme performance issues may lead to a frozen system. If they don’t resolve on their own and you can’t interact with the device, you may need to perform a hard reboot (which may result in the loss of any unsaved work). Usually, holding down the power button for 10 seconds is sufficient, though you may need to check the manufacturer’s resources for the proper procedure. If the battery is removable, you may be able to reboot the device by pulling the battery out and replacing it.
NOTE Be aware, especially when working with hybrid devices, that you might find official or third-party resources discussing hard and soft resets. These are not the same as hard and soft reboots, so you should pay careful attention to the instructions and make sure you’re performing the correct procedure. See Chapter 26, “Care and Feeding of Mobile Devices,” for more on hard and soft resets.
• A swollen battery will probably go unnoticed at first, and the symptoms it creates may be hard to identify if you aren’t aware it can happen. The cause is usually overcharging, perhaps due to a failure in the circuits that should prevent it, but the early symptoms might be a laptop that doesn’t quite sit right on flat surfaces, a screen that doesn’t fit flush when closed, problems with input devices like the touchpad or keyboard, and trouble removing or inserting a removable battery. Eventually, the device’s case may be obviously deformed. While battery packs are designed to handle a little swelling, it increases the risk they’ll puncture—and a punctured battery can be dangerous. Don’t ignore these symptoms; open the case carefully to check the battery, and very carefully deliver it to an e-waste recycling or disposal site.
• If you have a laptop with a battery that won’t charge up, it could be one of two things: the battery might be cooked or the AC adapter isn’t doing its job. To troubleshoot, replace the battery with a known-good battery. If the new battery works, you’ve found the problem. Just replace the battery. Alternatively, remove the battery and run the laptop on AC only. If that works, you know the AC adapter is good. If it doesn’t, replace the AC adapter.
• The reasons for very short battery life in a battery that charges properly are fairly benign. The battery has usually outlived its useful life and needs to be replaced, or some programs or hardware are drawing much more power than usual. Check wireless devices you usually keep disabled to make sure they aren’t on. Follow recommendations in the preceding “Poor Performance” section to address problem programs.
• Because overheating can be both a symptom and a cause of a variety issues, you should be alert to any device that is hot to the touch, or is running hotter than usual. Note which parts of the device are hot—this can give you important clues. If the device feels dangerously hot, err on the side of protecting the device from heat damage instead of trying to diagnose the cause. Power the device down and remove the battery if possible. Set it on a cool, hard surface, out of direct sunlight, with the hottest part of the device exposed to air if possible.
• Likewise, look for possible signs a device is overheating—like inconsistent reboots, graphical glitches, system beeps—and rule out heat issues.
• Listen for fans. While some portables don’t have any, complete silence may indicate a failed fan, and unusual noise may signal one on its way out.
• Know when to expect a hot device. Busy or charging devices create a lot of heat; follow the steps mentioned in the preceding “Poor Performance” and “Battery Issues” sections for identifying components that shouldn’t be on, especially if they are hot to the touch, and finding runaway programs. If the device is charging, unplug it and see if the device cools. If you find nothing unexpected and the device is unusually hot, it may have an airflow problem. Check any fan vents for blockages, and open the device if necessary to check any fans and heat sinks for issues.
• If the entire device is hot, it was most likely left in direct sunlight or a hot environment. Cool the device down and see if the trouble goes away.
Various hardware components can use help too. Such devices include the display, wireless networking, audio, and input devices.
• If the laptop is booting (you hear the beeps and the drives) but the screen doesn’t come on properly, first make sure the display is turned on. Press the FN key and the key to activate the screen a number of times until the laptop display comes on. If that doesn’t work, check the LCD cutoff switch—on many laptops, this is the small nub somewhere near the screen hinge that shuts the monitor off when you close the laptop—and make sure it isn’t stuck in the down position. If the device is a convertible with a removable screen, make sure it is properly attached and that it is receiving power.
• If the laptop display is very dim, you may have lost an inverter. The clue here is that inverters never go quietly. They can make a nasty hum as they are about to die and an equally nasty popping noise when they actually fail. Failure often occurs when you plug in the laptop’s AC adapter, as the inverters take power directly from the AC adapter. It’s also possible that the backlights in the LCD panel have died, though this is much less common than a bad inverter.
• If the screen won’t come on or is cracked, most laptops have a port for plugging in an external monitor, which you can use to log in to your laptop.
• If you plug a laptop into an external monitor and that monitor does not display, remember that you have both a hardware and an OS component to making dual displays successful. There’s usually a combination of FN and another key to toggle among only portable, only external, and both displays. Plus you have the Display applet in the Control Panel or the System Preferences to mirror or extend the desktop to a second monitor.
• Many manufacturers have switched to LED displays on laptops, which has led to a phenomenon many techs thought long behind us: flickering displays. The LED backlights don’t work quite the same as CCFL backlights, especially when you lower the brightness. This doesn’t affect desktop LED displays, because they’re usually so bright it doesn’t matter. But portables need to be able to dim to save battery life. One technique for dimming LEDs is to have them turn on and off rapidly enough to keep the pixels lit, but slowly enough that there’s a reduction in visible light and electricity use. With some of these panels, that flickering is not only noticeable, but headache and eyestrain inducing.
• There are two things you can do with a flickering LED display: crank up the brightness so that it goes away (and thus live with reduced battery life) or replace the laptop.
• If the screen orientation on a Windows portable doesn’t change when the device is rotated, auto-rotation may be disabled. Likewise, if the orientation changes at the wrong time, you can lock rotation via the Screen option in the Settings charm, or via the Display applet in the Control Panel. If the rotation needs to remain locked, the orientation can still be changed via the Display applet, or possibly with FN key combinations.
• If the wireless doesn’t work at all, check along the front, rear, or side edges of the laptop for a physical switch that toggles the internal wireless adapter, Bluetooth adapter, or airplane mode on and off. Also check your notification area for an airplane icon.
• If a tech has recently replaced a component that required removal of the laptop display, dead wireless could mean simply a disconnected antenna. Most portables have the antenna built into the display panel, so check that connection.
• Try the special key combination for your laptop to toggle the wireless or Bluetooth adapter, or one for toggling airplane mode. You usually press the FN key in combination with another key.
• You might simply be out of range or, if the wireless works intermittently, right at the edge of the range. Physically walk the laptop over to the wireless router or access point to ensure there are no out-of-range issues.
• With Bluetooth specifically, remember that the pairing process takes action or configuration on both devices to succeed. Turn on the Bluetooth device, actively seek it, and try again.
• If only the GPS is not functioning, privacy options may be preventing applications from accessing your GPS location information. Check the Location Settings applet in the Control Panel or the Privacy section of the Settings app to see if the GPS device is enabled, and whether location services are enabled both system wide and for the appropriate applications. Check System Preferences in Mac OS X or a similar location in Linux for the same options.
• If only near field communication (NFC) is not functioning, you may need to enable a setting to allow communication with nearby devices. In Windows, open the Proximity applet in the Control Panel and make sure Proximity support is enabled.
• If audio isn’t working when it should be, check for a hardware mute or volume button or switch and verify through the notification area Volume icon that the audio output isn’t muted. Verify proper output device configuration through the operating system, and verify the application is using the right output device.
• If the device has had repairs or upgrades lately, make sure the speakers are properly connected.
• If no sound is coming from the device speakers, try plugging in a pair of headphones or some external speakers. If these work fine, there’s a chance the built-in speakers have been damaged. Depending on their location, it can be easy to get them wet.
• If headphones work fine with the device, the speakers may need replacing. First, make sure the device has been rebooted, double-check the audio output device settings, try changing and resetting the default output device, and try disabling and re-enabling the appropriate device.
• Before assuming an input problem is hardware related, confirm that the system is otherwise running smoothly. Input devices may appear not to work or work erratically if the system is freezing up. Refer to the previous “Power and Performance” section for troubleshooting a frozen system.
• If none of the keys work on your laptop, there’s a good chance you’ve unseated the keypad connector. These connectors are quite fragile and are prone to unseating from any physical stress on the laptop. Check the manufacturer’s disassembly procedures to locate and reseat the keypad.
• If you’re getting numbers when you’re expecting to get letters, the number lock (NUMLOCK) function key is turned on. Turn it off.
• Laptop keyboards take far more abuse than the typical desktop keyboard, because of all those lunch meetings and café brainstorm sessions. Eating and drinking while over or around a keyboard just begs for problems. If you have a portable with sticking keys, look for the obvious debris in the keys. Used compressed air to clean them out. If you have serious goo and need to use a cleaning solution, disconnect the keyboard from the portable first. Make sure it’s fully dried out before you reconnect it or you’ll short it out.
• A laptop keyboard key that doesn’t register presses or feels sticky may also have had its switch knocked out of place, especially if the key appears slightly raised or tilted. These switches can be delicate, so be careful if you want to avoid ordering replacements. Research what kind of switch your device’s keyboard uses, and be aware that a single keyboard may use a few different kinds. Look up steps for detaching and reattaching keys on that specific device if possible, and otherwise find generic instructions for the clip type before proceeding.
• If the touchpad is having problems, a shot of compressed air does wonders for cleaning pet hair out of the touchpad sensors. You might get a cleaner shot if you remove the keyboard before using the compressed air. Remember to be gentle when lifting off the keyboard and make sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
• The touchpad driver might need to be reconfigured. Try the various options in the Control Panel | Mouse applet, or the equivalent location in System Preferences.
• If the touchscreen is unresponsive or erratic, a good first step is checking the screen for dirt, grease, or liquids, which can make the sensors go haywire; wipe it down with a dry microfiber cloth.
• Some touchscreens may appear to work improperly if they are registering an unintentional touch. Depending on the design of the device, it may be tempting to hold it in a way that leaves some part of your hand or arm too close to the edge of the screen; some devices will register this as a touch.
• Your device may have touchscreen diagnostics available through hardware troubleshooting menus accessible through the BIOS. Refer to the manufacturer’s resources for how to access these diagnostics. If available, they are a quick way to identify whether you’re looking at a hardware or software/configuration issue. The Tablet PC Settings applet in the Control Panel enables you to calibrate or reset your touch support. Attempt to reset and recalibrate the display.
EXAM TIP The troubleshooting issue known as a ghost cursor can mean one of two things. First, the display shows a trail of ghost cursors behind your real cursor as you move it. This might point to an aging display or an improperly configured refresh rate. Second, the cursor moves erratically or drifts slowly in a steady direction (also known as pointer drift), whether you are touching the touchpad or not. This probably means the touchpad has been damaged in some way and needs to be replaced.
1. Which of the following are good ideas when it comes to batteries? (Select two.)
A. Keep the contacts clean by using alcohol and a soft cloth.
B. Store them in the freezer if they will not be used for a long period of time.
C. Toss them in the garbage when they wear out.
D. Store them in a cool, dry place.
2. Tablet PCs come in which of the following form factors? (Select two.)
A. Convertible
B. Desktop
C. Secure Digital
D. Slate
3. ExpressCards connect to which buses? (Select two.)
A. ACPI
B. PCI
C. PCIe
D. USB
4. Clara’s laptop has a DVI connector to which she has connected a projector. As she prepares to make her presentation, however, nothing comes on the projector screen. The laptop shows the presentation, and the projector appears to be functional, with a bright white bulb making a blank image on the screen. What’s most likely the problem?
A. She needs to plug in the projector.
B. She’s running the laptop on batteries. She needs to plug in the laptop to use the DVI connector.
C. She needs to update her ExpressCard services to support projectors.
D. She needs to press the Function key combination on her keyboard to cycle through monitor modes.
5. What is the primary benefit to adding more RAM to a laptop that uses shared memory? (Select the best answer.)
A. Improved battery life.
B. Improved system performance.
C. Improved video performance.
D. None. Adding more RAM is pointless with systems that use shared memory.
6. Which of the following display types will you commonly find on a portable PC today? (Select two.)
A. LCD
B. LED
C. OLED
D. Plasma
7. Steve complains that his aging Windows 7 laptop still isn’t snappy enough after upgrading the RAM. What might improve system performance?
A. Add more RAM.
B. Replace the power supply.
C. Replace the battery.
D. Replace the HDD with an SSD.
8. Jim likes his laptop but complains that his wireless seems slow compared to all the new laptops. On further inspection, you determine his laptop runs 802.11n. What can be done to improve his network connection speed?
A. Add more RAM.
B. Replace the display with one with a better antenna.
C. Replace the Mini-PCIe 802.11n card with an 802.11ac card.
D. Get a new laptop, because this one can’t be upgraded.
9. Edgar successfully replaced the display on a laptop (a toddler had taken a ballpoint pen to it), but the customer called back almost immediately complaining that his wireless didn’t work. What could the problem be?
A. The problems are unrelated, so it could be anything.
B. Edgar inadvertently disconnected the antenna from the Mini-PCIe 802.11 card.
C. Edgar replaced the display with one without an internal antenna.
D. Edgar failed to reconnect the antenna in the new display.
10. Rafael gets a tech call from a user with a brand new laptop complaining that working on it was causing headaches. What could the problem be?
A. The laptop uses a plasma display.
B. The laptop uses a CRT display.
C. The laptop uses an LED display in power saving mode.
D. The laptop uses an LED display in full power mode.
1. A, D. Keeping a battery in the freezer is a good idea in theory, but not in practice. All batteries contain toxic chemicals and should never be treated like regular trash.
2. A, D. Tablet PCs come in convertible and slate form factors.
3. C, D. ExpressCards connect to either the PCI Express bus or the USB bus.
4. D. Clara needs to press the Function key combination on her keyboard to cycle through monitor modes.
5. B. Improved overall system performance is the primary benefit to adding more RAM to a laptop that uses shared memory.
6. A, B. You’ll only see LCD and LED displays on portables today.
7. D. Replacing the HDD with an SSD will speed up the system.
8. C. He can have the 802.11n NIC replaced with an 802.11ac NIC.
9. D. A disconnected antenna makes Wi-Fi unhappy.
10. C. Flicker is a side effect of dimming on some lower-end LED monitors.
