Microcomputer system units have evolved to a number of packaging styles, primarily to support different levels of expansion capability and ergonomic needs of the user.
For desktop designs the packaging changed very little over the years. Developers have maintained the basic design and simply dress up the systems with unique front designs and custom colours and logos. The basic layout and partitioning of function usually remains intact. Other mechanical packages have evolved to meet specific needs not addressed by the basic desktop design. The tower package added significant needs not capacity. This includes space for additional disk drives and hard drives and in some designs, additional bus expansion slots. Tower designs often had larger power supplies and additional cooling fans to support these expansion features.
There are a number of packages supporting portable microcomputers. These range from the large, barely transportable systems to the very small palmtop devices. The basic concept of a portable system is to integrate all the functions into a single device. Some compromises have to be made to achieve the size and weight desired. Displays are usually smaller flat panel devices, expansion slots are limited, and keyboard size and layout are reduced. In the smallest designs, floppy and hard disk drivers are replaced with other more compact memory technologies.
Notebooks are partitioned into two basic categories, notebooks and sub notebooks. The primary difference is the presence or absence of a floppy disk drive and the smaller screen in the sub-notebooks, sub-notebooks seem to be losing some of their popularity as notebooks become lighter, approaching the weight of a sub-notebook. Also contributing to their decline is the difficulty of typing on small keyboards and smaller screen sizes.
For desktop designs the packaging changed very little over the years. Developers have maintained the basic design and simply dress up the systems with unique front designs and custom colours and logos. The basic layout and partitioning of function usually remains intact. Other mechanical packages have evolved to meet specific needs not addressed by the basic desktop design. The tower package added significant needs not capacity. This includes space for additional disk drives and hard drives and in some designs, additional bus expansion slots. Tower designs often had larger power supplies and additional cooling fans to support these expansion features.
There are a number of packages supporting portable microcomputers. These range from the large, barely transportable systems to the very small palmtop devices. The basic concept of a portable system is to integrate all the functions into a single device. Some compromises have to be made to achieve the size and weight desired. Displays are usually smaller flat panel devices, expansion slots are limited, and keyboard size and layout are reduced. In the smallest designs, floppy and hard disk drivers are replaced with other more compact memory technologies.
Notebooks are partitioned into two basic categories, notebooks and sub notebooks. The primary difference is the presence or absence of a floppy disk drive and the smaller screen in the sub-notebooks, sub-notebooks seem to be losing some of their popularity as notebooks become lighter, approaching the weight of a sub-notebook. Also contributing to their decline is the difficulty of typing on small keyboards and smaller screen sizes.
