Characterstics of Laptop

Answer: Portability is usually the first feature mentioned in any comparison of laptops versus desktop pcs. Physical portability allows that a laptop can be used in many places† not only at home and at the office, but also during commuting and flights, in coffee shops, In lecture halls and libraries, at clients' location or at a meeting room, etc. The portability feature offers several distinct advantages: a.Productivity: Using a laptop in places where a desktop PC cannot be used, and at times that would otherwise be wasted. For example, an office worker Is managing heir e-mails during an hour-long commute by train, or a student doing his/her homework at the university coffee shop during a break between lectures. b. Immediacy: Carrying a laptop means having instant access to various Information, personal and work files. Immediacy allows better collaboration between coworkers or students, as a laptop can be flipped open to present a problem or a solution anytime, anywhere. . up- to-date information: If a person has more than one desktop PC, a problem of synchronization arises: changes made on one computer are not automatically propagated to the others. There are ways to resolve this problem, Including physical transfer of updated files (using a USB flash memory stick or cdrs) or using synchronization software over the Internet. However, using a single laptop at both locations avoids the problem entirely, as the files exist in a single location and are always up-to-date. d.Connectivity: A proliferation of WI-FI wireless networks and cellular broadband data services (HSDPA, EVDO and others) combined with a near-ubiquitous support by laptops means that a laptop can have easy Internet and local network connectivity while remaining mobile. Wi-Fi networks and laptop programs are especially idespread at university campuses. [ Other advantages of laptops: e. Size: Laptops are smaller than desktop pcs. This is beneficial when space is at a premium, for example in sm all apartments and student dorms.When not In use, a laptop can be closed and put away. f. Low power consumption: Laptops are several times more power-efficient than desktops, A typical laptop uses 20-90 W. compared to 100-800 W for desktops. This could De partlcularly DeneTlclal Tor Duslnesses (wnlcn run nunareas 0T personal computers, multiplying the potential savings) and homes where there is a computer running 2417 (such as a home media server, print server, etc. g. Quiet: Laptops are often quieter than desktops, due both to the components (quieter, slower 2. -inch hard drives) and to less heat production leading to use of fewer and slower cooling fans. h. Battery: a charged laptop can continue to be used in case of a power outage and is not affected by short power interruptions and blackouts. A desktop PC needs a UPS to handle short interruptions, blackouts and spikes; achieving on-battery time of more than 20-30 minutes for a desktop PC requires a large and expensive UPS. i. Al l-in-One: designed to be portable, laptops have everything integrated into the hassis.For desktops (excluding all-in-ones) this is divided into the desktop, keyboard, mouse, display, and optional peripherals such as speakers. 2. Characteristics of Super Computer: A) A supercomputer is the fastest type of computer. Supercomputers are very expensive and are employed for specialized applications that require large amounts of mathematical calculations. The chief difference between a supercomputer and a mainframe is that a supercomputer channels all its power into executing a few programs as fast as possible, whereas a mainframe uses its power to execute many programs concurrently.B) Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems involving quantum mechanical physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling (computing the structures and properties of chemical compounds, biological macromolecules, polymers, and crystals), physical simulati ons (such as simulation of airplanes in wind tunnels, simulation of the detonation of nuclear weapons, and research into nuclear fusion), cryptanalysis, and many others. Some supercomputers have also been designed for very specific functions like cracking codes and playing chess; Deep Blue is a famous chess-playing upercomputer.Major universities, military agencies and scientific research laboratories depend on and make use of supercomputers very heavily. C) A supercomputer generates large amounts of heat and therefore must be cooled with complex cooling systems to ensure that no part of the computer fails. Many of these cooling systems take advantage of liquid gases, which can get extremely cold. D) Another issue is the speed at which information can be transferred or written to a storage aevlce, as tne speed 0T data transTer wlll Ilmlt tne supercomputers performance. Information cannot move faster than the speed of light between two arts of a supercomputer.E) Supercomputers consum e and produce massive amounts of data in a very short period of time. Much work on external storage bandwidth is needed to ensure that this information can be transferred quickly and stored/retrieved correctly. 3. Characterstics of Main Frame Computer? a. Modern mainframes can run multiple different instances of operating systems at the same time. This technique of virtual machines allows applications to run as if they were on physically distinct computers. In this role, a single mainframe can replace higher-functioning hardware services available to conventional servers.While mainframes pioneered this capability, virtualization is now available on most families of computer systems, though not always to the same degree or level of sophistication b. Mainframes can add or hot swap system capacity without disrupting system function, with specificity and granularity to a level of sophistication not usually available with most server solutions. c. Modern mainframes, notably the IBM zSeri es,System z9 and System ZIO servers, offer two levels of virtualization: logical partitions (LPARs, via the PRISM facility) and virtual machines (via the zPv'M operating system).Many mainframe customers run wo machines: one in their primary data center, and one in their backup data center †fully active, partially active, or on standby†in case there is a catastrophe affecting the first building. Test, development, training, and production workload for applications and databases can run on a single machine, except for extremely large demands where the capacity of one machine might be limiting. Such a two- mainframe installation can support continuous business service, avoiding both planned and unplanned outages.In practice many customers use multiple mainframes linked either by Parallel Sysplex and shared DASD (in IBM's case)[citation eeded], or with shared, geographically dispersed storage provided by EMC or Hitachi. d. Mainframes are designed to handle very high volume i nput and output (1/0) and emphasize throughput computing. Since the late-1950s, mainframe designs have included subsidiary hardware (called channels or peripheral processors) which manage the 1/0 devices, leaving the CPU free to deal only with high-speed memory. It is common in mainframe shops to deal with massive databases and files.Gigabyte to terabyte-size record files are not unusual. [7] Compared to a typical PC, mainframes ommonly have hundreds to thousands of times as much data storage online, and can access it much faster. [citation needed] Other server families also offload 1/0 processing ana empnaslze tnrougnput computlng. e. Mainframe return on investment (ROI), like any other computing platform, is dependent on its ability to scale, support mixed workloads, reduce labor costs, deliver uninterrupted service for critical business applications, and several other risk- adjusted cost factors. . Mainframes also have execution integrity characteristics for fault tolerant comput ing. For example, z900, z990, System z9, and System ZIO servers ffectively execute result-oriented instructions twice, compare results, arbitrate between any differences (through instruction retry and failure isolation), then shift workloads â€Å"in flight† to functioning processors, including spares, without any impact to operating systems, applications, or users.This hardware-level feature, also found in HP's Nonstop systems, is known as lock-stepping, because both processors take their â€Å"steps† (i. e. instructions) together. Not all applications absolutely need the assured integrity that these systems provide, but many do, such as financial transaction processing.