teach yourself visually laptop a

[...]... data on your laptop This provides you with a copy that is very useful if your hard drive is damaged, crashes, or is attacked by a computer virus Remember that eventually, all hard drives will wear out; backing up data is insurance against that day CDs CDs are hard plastic disks that are used to store data, music, or images To read from or write to a CD, your laptop has to have a CD drive with the appropriate... Send Xmas Cards Ryan’s B’day Art Class Office Party ks w s Ha vs dog ll Bu da’s Ron ay B’d y Mnal r Jou How Data Is Stored A hard drive uses magnetic recording to store your data, much like a cassette tape does You can write data to a hard drive or erase it, although the magnetic pattern of data may stay on the drive long after you have erased it Data is stored on the hard drive in files as a series... Organization Teach Yourself VISUALLY Laptops has 15 chapters Chapter 1, “Introducing the Laptop, ” provides an overview of laptop computers and how they differ from a desktop, as well as examining the various slots, ports, and drives of a laptop Chapter 2, “Choosing Laptop Peripherals and Accessories,” is a guide to the various input, storage, security, power, and sound devices you might use with a laptop. .. type also indicates text and numbers that you must type into a dialog box or window Italics Italic words introduce a new term and are followed by a definition Notes give additional information They may describe special conditions that may occur during an operation They may warn you of a situation that you want to avoid, for example the loss of data A note may also cross reference a related area of... of cables that come with standard desktop models 10 04_171110 ch01.qxp 9/25/07 10:25 PM Page 11 Introducing the Laptop 1 chapter Multimedia and Gaming Laptops that can handle graphics and animations that appear in many computer games tend to have powerful graphics cards, large screens with high resolution, a lot of memory, and fast processors These come with a high price tag, but for a dedicated gamer... PM Page 14 Understanding Hard Drives d nee our you ge y Allmana ife l to DA DA TA TA Your computer can have several drives All but the hard drive are removable or external You can configure your hard drive to store data in the most efficient way for you c December 2007 ily Fam o Phot Book Club Christmas New’s Year y Part Hard Drives The hard drive (also called hard disk) is a hard platter in your laptop. .. camcorder USB Ports A port is a connection that is used to transfer data from and to your computer A universal serial bus (USB) port can be used to connect a wide variety of devices, from a flash drive for data storage to a printer or digital camera PC Card Slot A PC or PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) is another kind of slot that you may find on your laptop It is used... something? Search no further This book is for you Opening Teach Yourself VISUALLY Laptops allows you to read less and learn more about laptop and portable computers Who Needs This Book This book is for a reader who has never used this particular technology or software application It is also for more computer-literate individuals who want to expand their knowledge of the different features that laptops have... PM Page 2 chapter 1 Introducing the Laptop Portable computers, referred to as notebooks or laptops, began as a great tool for people who travel and want to take their computer along Today, laptops with high-end displays and huge processing power are taking over the desktop, as well 04_171110 ch01.qxp 9/25/07 10:25 PM Page 3 Explore a Laptop 4 How a Laptop Differs from a Desktop 6 Types of Laptops... (and somewhat fragile) liquid crystal display Touchpad Mouse A built-in mouse will either be a touchpad, as shown here, or a button placed among the keys You can move your finger over the pad to move the mouse cursor on your screen Keyboard Keyboard configurations vary based on the size of the laptop, with larger laptops having a separate number pad, and smaller ones embedding a number-pad functionality . features that laptops have to offer. Book Organization Teach Yourself VISUALLY Laptops has 15 chapters. Chapter 1, “Introducing the Laptop, ” provides an overview of laptop computers and how they. conditions that may occur during an operation. They may warn you of a situation that you want to avoid, for example the loss of data. A note may also cross reference a related area of the book. A cross reference. not have already purchased a laptop to begin using this book, as Chapters 1 and 2 contain information helpful in selecting your ideal laptop computer. If you already have access to a laptop, How