Notebook vs Laptop,Laptop vs Notebook -- What's the Difference Between Laptop and Notebook Computers?Notebook vs laptop, laptop vs notebook. This computer is a laptop that computer is a notebook. What's the difference between laptop and notebook computers? You have a right to be confused. You can see the same computers called laptops by one retailer and notebooks by another. When portable computers first went on sale, they were called laptops. They were boxy rectangular machines several inches thick. Battery life was short. Displays were single color. Hard drives were small and they didn't have much memory. They were very expensive and were used almost exclusively for business. As time passed, the laptop computers became more capable and more standardized. Everybody used Intel processors. Production of the other components became concentrated in a few makers and production of the laptops themselves became concentrated in a few contract computer builders. The prices came down and the business market was reaching the saturation point. If the makers were going to sell more of these computers, they needed to find a new market. By this time, laptop computers had color displays and built in disk drives. Desk top computers were in many homes and the world wide web had made the internet accessible to consumers. The home market was the obvious target for expanding sales. Nobody wanted a boxy black piece of plastic though. The laptops were redesigned to be more attractive, obtaining the curved wedge shape we now see that resembles a loose leaf notebook. For the consumer market they were crammed with features such as improved graphics, speakers and optical drives. They were also re-designated notebooks to distinguish them from the boring business models. This is how the distinction you hear many people making came about. The laptop was bigger and heavier and notebook was lighter, "sexier", and more feature rich. This difference, notebook vs laptop, was only temporary though. It doesn't make any economic sense to make radically different products for no good reason. It was cheaper to put all models into similar cases with similar equipment. Most business computers aren't used 100% for business. Right now when it comes down to notebook vs laptop, it all depends on the brand you buy. Acer, (including Gateway), Apple, Asus, Fujitsu, MSI, and Sony label their portable computers as notebooks. Dell (including Alienware), HP (Hewlett-Packard, including Compaq and Voodoo), Lenovo, Samsung, and Toshiba sell laptops. This is what these companies call their computers on their web sites. Right now, there is no real difference between laptop and notebook computers. I'm looking at the perfect example of what I'm saying right now. There are two portable computers at the table I am sittng at. One is my Gateway, which, according to Gateway, is a notebook. The other is a Dell, which, according to Dell is a laptop. Other than the fact that the Gateway is a year newer and as such has a faster processor (T6600 VS T5900), the computers are identically equiped, and both have 15.6 inch screens. The Dell laptop is smaller in every dimension than the Gateway notebook, and weighs a few ounces less. This directly opposite to what people who say there is a difference notebook vs laptop would say. There is no real difference today. return from Notebook vs Laptop to Choosing a Laptop |