Chapter 6: Dealing with Laptops and Mobile Devices

Exam Objectives

Identifying portable computer components

Looking at laptop batteries

Understanding AC adapters

Finding out about LCD panels

Upgrading and expanding a laptop

Troubleshooting laptop issues

Examining handheld mobile devices

In this chapter, you find out about portable computers and their supporting technologies. On the A+ exam, you’re required to identify characteristics of a laptop, such as the types of batteries and displays, and also how to upgrade a laptop’s hard drive or memory.

Laptops gained popularity years ago because of their small size and mobility. I suppose you could carry around a standard desktop computer, but that is pretty inconvenient and causes wear and tear on your biceps. And even if you are willing to lug around a big, heavy desktop computer, the other problem with desktop computers is that you will not always have a power outlet to plug it into. A big benefit of laptops is that they use a battery to use as a power source, which is great when you’re on a plane or out on safari and don’t have a wall outlet.

Although laptops are the portable computer type to focus on for the A+ Certification exam, you should also be familiar with handheld devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), which a lot of people use to keep track of their daily schedule and contacts. In the current computing environment, these PDAs now take the form of iPods, smartphones, and tablet computers. Smartphones combine cellular phone technology with tablet computing functionality in a mobile phone–size package.

This chapter helps you identify, install, configure, and upgrade special portable computer components, such as batteries, hard drives, and memory. Procedures in this chapter guide you through the installation and removal of these components on laptop computers.

Identifying Portable Computer Components

Although a number of different laptop brands are on the market, each make and model of laptop has common components. This section introduces you to some of the common components found in laptop computers. Figure 6-1 displays these components.

The following is a quick description of some of the major components found on laptop computers. Some of these components are also found on desktop computers and serve the same purpose for the laptop. For example, a video board built into a laptop does the same thing as a video board built into a desktop computer.

Battery: The battery supplies power to the laptop and its components. The battery is charged or maintains its charge from an AC adapter that plugs the laptop into the wall outlet.

AC adapters: The AC adapter supplies power to the battery so that the battery can either recharge or pass that power on to the laptop ­components.

DC controllers: The DC controller is responsible for protecting devices such as cards, chips, adapters, and circuitry from power surges. All internal components of the laptop, with few exceptions, are powered by DC power.

PCMCIA cards: Personal Computer Memory Card Industry Association (PCMCIA) cards are used to add external drives, modems, and LAN adapters to laptop computers that didn’t ship with one of these components. PCMCIA cards expand upon the computer’s capabilities.

Video adapters: The video board is responsible for converting the digital data from the system into information that the display can use to create the image.

LCD panels: The primary display type on laptop computers is liquid crystal display (LCD). LCD panel monitors are increasingly replacing CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors for desktop computers as well.

Keyboard: The keyboard found on laptops works the same way as a keyboard for a desktop computer. However, laptop keyboards are smaller versions of desktop computer keyboards, and some keys (such as the navigations keys) are in different locations than a traditional desktop keyboard.

Hard drives: Laptops ship with hard drives that are physically much smaller than those in desktop computers, typically use less power, and store less information.

Memory: RAM is installed in laptop computers in a similar fashion to desktop computers. The only difference is the type of memory modules, known as small outline dual inline memory modules (SODIMMs), used on laptop computers today.

Because laptops pack a lot of power into a very small space, that makes them susceptible to theft. To counteract this risk, laptops come with a small slot that can be fitted with a locking mechanism. These locks may be in the form of braided cable, similar to a bicycle lock, or may be a high-tech alarm. These options are discussed in Book IV, Chapter 1.

Looking at Laptop Batteries

Laptop computers ship with a battery that can be removed or replaced at any time. The battery acts as the primary source of power for the laptop and all its components. The battery maintains its charge, or is recharged, by an AC adapter that plugs the laptop into the wall. The AC adapter converts building AC into DC for the laptop and connects to the laptop through a DC jack. The following sections outline everything you need to know about portable-computer batteries for the A+ exam.

Different types of batteries

It is important to understand that a laptop computer has two types of batteries: a main battery and a CMOS battery.

Main battery: This battery supplies power to the laptop and its components. A laptop is designed to work with one of four types of main ­batteries:

• Alkaline: Typically found in palmtop computers; the same battery type you find in calculators.

• NiCad (nickel-cadmium): Typically found in laptop computers; very heavy. NiCad batteries, which are fairly inexpensive, typically need to be recharged after three or four hours of use.

• Li-Ion (lithium-ion): Has a lot more battery charge time than a NiCad battery. A Li-Ion battery is also more expensive than a NiCad battery.

• NiMH (nickel-metal hydride): Environmentally friendly because they do not contain toxic materials. They are the same weight as NiCad batteries but are more expensive and don’t last as long as a Li-Ion battery.

CMOS battery: Just like a desktop computer, a laptop computer has a CMOS battery that is responsible for holding a charge to CMOS RAM so the CMOS configuration can be maintained. You can see a CMOS battery later in Figure 6-8.

On the exam, if you are asked which battery is the best battery for laptop computers, the answer is a Li-Ion battery because it provides the most durability and performance. It is more expensive than the other types of batteries, though.

Another type of battery that you might hear of from time to time is a smart battery. A smart battery has its own power circuitry, which is responsible for monitoring the battery performance, output voltage, and temperature and also communicates the status of the battery back to the system. A smart battery is 15% more efficient than the other battery types and is also the most expensive type.

Handling batteries

Before you handle any batteries, be forewarned that batteries (except NiMH batteries) contain toxic chemicals that can cause harm if the battery explodes. Be sure to follow these guidelines when handling batteries:

Keep batteries away from fire and water.

Never open or dismantle a battery.

Try not to drop and never throw a battery.

Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines when working with the battery.

For example, if you’re storing the battery, check the documentation on suitable areas for storage.

Maximizing battery performance

One of my major pet peeves with batteries is that over time, the charge time of the battery fades away. For example, when I purchased my new laptop, I could get about three hours of battery life; now, I’m looking at about an hour and a half. To get the best performance from your laptop battery, follow these practices:

Fully charge and discharge a new battery or a battery that has not been in use for a while. Completely discharge a battery to allow it to charge to its full potential. To discharge a battery, power on the portable computer without having it plugged in and leave it on overnight (or longer, if necessary) until the battery power is 100% used. You can then recharge the battery by using the AC adapter.

Regularly charge and discharge batteries completely every two to three weeks to keep them healthy. Be aware that you need not do this for a Li-Ion battery.

Keep batteries clean. Cleaning the contacts with a cotton swab and alcohol helps maintain a good connection between the battery and the portable device.

Don’t leave batteries dormant for long periods of time. Be sure to use the battery every few weeks and you should fully discharge and charge a battery at least once every three weeks.

Store batteries well. Be sure to store batteries in a cool, dry, clean place away from dangerous elements, such as heat and other metallic objects.

Changing batteries

A number of laptop users find it useful to purchase an additional battery to keep charged and then switch that one for a battery losing its juice from use. I don’t know how many times I’ve been on a five-hour flight when an hour and a half into the flight, my battery loses its charge. In this example, it would be useful to have another battery that I could switch to.

To change a battery on a laptop, power-down the laptop and turn the laptop over. You will notice a spot on the bottom of the laptop where the battery is placed. It will most likely have a battery symbol beside it, with a lever that you slide to release the battery from its slot. Remove the old battery, lightly place the new battery in the slot, and then clamp it in place by pressing down (as shown in Figure 6-2).

Power-management features

Laptop computers include power-management functions that make the laptop “go to sleep” when there has been no input from the keyboard or mouse for a period of time. When the computer is in sleep mode, it still runs, but power-drawing features like the screen and hard drive are suspended until you “wake” your laptop by pressing a key.

Powering-down the screen and hard drive when you’re not using them helps preserve battery life.

APM and ACPI

Two power-management standards that have come out over the years are Advanced Power Management (APM) and Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI). These power-management standards have a set of features that allows the system to conserve power, again resulting in less battery usage for laptop systems.

APM and ACPI are designed to accomplish the same goal, but ACPI is the newer standard of the two and is what most systems support today. APM was implemented as an application programming interface (API) in Windows, which allowed developers to call a library of code that controlled the power management features of the laptop. ACPI was implemented a little differently; it is a set of BIOS routines that control the power management features, which means that to configure ACPI, you make changes through CMOS.

Configuring power management

A number of power management features are available to laptops to help conserve the life of a battery and to the desktop computer to simply help conserve power consumption. The following sections list popular power-management features.

Standby, sleep, and suspend

Placing a system in standby mode cuts power from peripheral devices (such as the display or hard drive) but maintains power to critical components (say, memory) so that the current work is not lost. Standby mode is the term used in Windows XP; sleep is the term used for this low-power state in Windows Vista and Windows 7. Another term for this power state used by vendors is suspend.

Standby mode, sleep, and suspend are interchangeable terms for the A+ certification exams.

You can place a system in a standby, or sleep, state automatically or manually. A system can be placed in standby automatically triggered by a certain amount of time when the system has not been used. This is as “idle time” and is configured by using the sleep timers in the Windows Control Panel.

To change the sleep timers in Windows Vista or Windows 7, follow these steps:

1. Choose Start⇒Control Panel.

2. On Windows Vista, in the Mobile PC category, click the Change Battery Settings link. On Windows 7, select the System and Security category and click the Power Options link.

3. In the Power Options window that opens, click the Change When the Computer Sleeps link on the left side of the window.

4. Specify the following settings:

• When the display should be dimmed (Windows 7 only)

• When the display is turned off (based on idle time when running on battery or plug into power)

• At what interval the system goes to sleep (see Figure 6-3)

5. (Optional) Specify the brightness of the display when you are running on battery or plugged in.

In Figure 6-3, my display has a brightness of 100% when I am plugged in. When I am running on battery, though, the brightness is a little over 50%. This helps conserve battery life.

Windows XP operating systems also have sleep timer intervals as well. To configure the sleep timer intervals in Windows XP, follow these steps:

1. Choose Start⇒Control Panel.

2. Choose Performance and Maintenance.

3. Choose Power Options.

4. On the Power Schemes page, tab set the values for when to turn off the monitor and when to turn off the hard disk when running on battery or plugged in.

You can place a system in standby state manually through a number of different means. The following outlines some popular ways to place a system in a standby state manually:

Start button: Choose the sleep (Vista and Windows 7) or standby (XP) option from the Start button in Windows (see Figure 6-4) to place the system in standby mode.

Closing the lid: Through the Power Options in Windows, you can specify to place the system in sleep mode when the laptop display is closed.

Standby button: Most laptops have a Suspend or a Standby button that you can choose to place the laptop in standby or sleep.

Hibernate

You can place a system in hibernation if you need to quickly shut down the system. The hibernate feature copies the contents of memory to file on disk so that current work is not lost; then it cuts the power to the system. When you resume the system, the contents of the hibernate file are copied from disk to memory, and your screen appears as it was when you went to hibernate mode. Windows 7 supports a hybrid sleep function, so that when you put the computer to sleep, the contents of memory are written to the hibernation file; this gives you the benefit of being able to resume your computer if power is lost during the sleep process or allows for instantaneous hibernation if the need arises.

Wake on LAN

Another term on the A+ certification objective list that you need to be familiar with is Wake on LAN (WoL). WoL allows you to bring a system out of a sleep state by sending a special message to the system across the network.

This special message — the Magic Packet — has a target address of the MAC address of the system that you want to wake up on the network. The Magic Packet has the broadcast address of FF FF FF FF FF FF placed in the payload section of the packet (the data portion of the packet), followed by the target MAC address of the system you are trying to wake up 16 times. Instead of you figuring out how to craft your own packets to wake a system through WoL packets, a number of tools are available for download such as Depicus tools at www.depicus.com/wake-on-lan.

To wake your system up via WoL, your system BIOS must support the feature, and you must have the WoL option enabled in the CMOS. For more information on configuring CMOS check out Book II, Chapter 4. After the system has the option enabled, you can then power up the system remotely by using a free WoL utility available on the Web.

Understanding AC Adapters

An AC (alternating current) adapter is nothing new to anyone who has worked with electronic devices. The AC adapter on a laptop, just like on an electric razor or a Game Boy, supplies power to the battery to supply power to the laptop and all its components. An AC adapter also recharges the battery so that you can use it when you are on the road. For example, I am writing this text in a coffee shop and running my laptop off my battery, which was charged up last night by the AC adapter. Figure 6-5 shows an AC adapter.

Be sure to use only the AC adapter that came with your laptop or one approved by the laptop manufacturer. Although other adapters might fit your computer, the voltage and amperage might not match the laptop and could cause damage.

AC adapter problems

When it comes to AC adapters, there are not a lot of issues that can arise. Two major problems that you will encounter with AC adapters are

Cable problems: One major issue that can arise when you travel a lot with a laptop is a break in the cable from wrapping the cables. When you have cable problems, it’s best to simply order a replacement adapter.

DC (direct current) port damage: Another major AC adapter problem is that the DC port on the back of the laptop can become damaged: for example, when the laptop is not used on a hard, flat surface. A number of people I have talked to with problems with the DC port not holding a connection to the AC adapter use their laptop in bed, resting it on their knees, which bang into the DC port connector. In this scenario, it is best to have the laptop serviced by the manufacturer to ensure the correct electrical parts are replaced.

AC adapter troubleshooting and repair

If you find that you have a broken wire or faulty electrical components, you can attempt to repair the problem yourself. However, unless you have an electronics background, you should probably leave that to the experts and simply replace the AC adapter.

Learning about LCD Panels

Liquid crystal display (LCD), a popular display or screen type found in laptops for many years, is now a popular choice for desktop computers and TV display. LCDs also are popular on watches and other electrical devices.

An LCD has two sheets of material, surrounding a liquid that contains crystals that act as pixels for the display. Each crystal has a red, green, and blue cell that is illuminated by an electrical charge hitting the crystal, which then creates the image you see onscreen. To present the image to the user in a more clear way and to allow the laptop to be used in more brightly lit locations, the display will usually have overall backlighting.

The two major types of LCDs are monochrome and color. The two subtypes of color LCD displays are active matrix and passive matrix.

Monochrome: The original LCDs were single-color displays that showed blue or dark gray on a light gray background.

Color: The two forms of color display are active matrix and passive matrix:

• Active matrix: An active matrix display, the most popular type of display today, uses at least one transistor per pixel, or crystal, which allows the electrical charge to be held longer on the crystal. This helps to create very crisp images with high resolution. With active matrix displays, the images are clear and easy to view, even from an angle. Because it uses transistors, an active matrix display uses more power than a passive matrix display. Active matrix displays are also known as thin-film transistor (TFT) displays.

• Passive matrix: A passive matrix display has one transistor for each vertical column of the display and one for each horizontal row of the display. The electrical signal is sent down the appropriate horizontal and vertical row of the display, and where they intersect is the pixel that is illuminated. Passive matrix doesn’t have a transistor per pixel, so it does not use as much power as an active matrix, but it is slower to produce images and produces lower-quality images. Another popular term used to describe passive matrix is dual-scan.

Technology in the area of displays is rapidly changing, and while not all the display technologies are used in laptops, Table 6-1 summarizes these technologies.

Table 6-1 Display Technologies

Technology	Description
Plasma	While never popular on laptops, plasma screens offer excellent viewing angles, excellent motion support, and reasonable power consumption; but they suffer from image burn-in. Size and weight have been the primary reasons that these screens have not been used for laptops.
LCD	Liquid crystal displays come with fluorescent backlighting, supporting good viewing angles, good video motion support, and very little power consumption. Size and power consumption were the main reasons for adoption on laptops.
LED	Light-emitting diode displays follow the same technology as LCDs, but the backlighting comes from LED lights rather than from a fluorescent source. This allows a reduction in thickness, weight, and power, all making them attractive options for power-miser laptops. This technology also improves color quality and offers better contrast in all lighting conditions.
OLED	Organic light-emitting diodes are the next generation of LED displays. Their lighting sources are based upon a thinner, flexible sheet of LEDs. These displays will be thinner, lighter, and more power efficient, and will allow the building of flexible screens. Because this is new technology, it is more expensive, but it is expected to be substantially cheaper in the future.

Handling LCD panels

Because an LCD is so easily damaged, take care when handling it. The following are a number of key points to follow to keep your LCD panel working well:

Keep the temperature and humidity at acceptable levels. The humidity should be less than 60%, and the temperature should be no more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). This means that you should avoid leaving your laptop sealed up in your car on a hot summer day.

Use only a manufacturer-approved solution to clean your LCD. Consult your owner’s manual for a description of what fluid you should use to clean the display.

When cleaning the screen, don’t scrub the surface vigorously or touch it with anything that has sharp edges. To clean the display surface, be sure to wipe the screen gently with a soft cloth and manufacturer-approved cleaning fluid.

Connecting an LCD panel to a computer

The LCD panel is connected to your laptop by small hinges. To replace the old LCD panel with a new one, follow these steps:

1. For most laptops, press the spring of the hinges gently to detach the old LCD panel.

Always check the owner’s manual or contact the manufacturer to find out exactly how the LCD panel is replaced on your laptop.

2. After you remove the old LCD panel, slide the new LCD panel firmly in place.

3. With the new LCD panel in place, close the panel and reopen it to verify that you fixed the LCD panel correctly.

If it closes and opens easily, you replaced the LCD panel successfully.

Because the LCD panel is the weakest part of the laptop computer, be careful when handling the LCD and even opening and closing the laptop. If you damage the LCD, you need to replace it.

Understanding Laptop Input Devices

After you become familiar with a laptop’s major components, such as batteries and displays, take a look at the myriad input devices used to get data into the laptop. The major input devices are the keyboard, touch pad, and rubber mouse ball located on the keyboard of some laptops.

Laptop keyboard

The keyboard is the most common input device used on both desktop systems and laptops. The keyboard allows you to communicate with the system by converting the keystrokes into corresponding letters and numbers. For information on the different types of keyboards and how they work, read Book III, Chapter 2.

For the exam, be aware that the enhanced 101-key keyboard is the popular keyboard found on desktop and laptop computers today.

Maintaining keyboards

Over time, a keyboard collects a lot of dust and dirt behind the keys. It is important to clean keyboards periodically, and the following outlines the basic steps for cleaning a keyboard:

1. Holding the laptop at an angle, use compressed air to blow the dust and dirt from behind the keys.

2. Clean the tops of the keys with a soft cloth dipped in a manufacturer-approved cleaner.

You can also buy wet cloths with the appropriate cleaning fluid already applied.

3. Using a lint-free swab, clean any remaining dirt from between the keys.

Handling keyboard problems

Like most replicable components today, replacing a keyboard is far more efficient than repairing it. The following steps provide a basic guideline you can use to troubleshoot any keyboard-related problems:

1. If you are having troubles with the keyboard after replacing it, check that the keyboard is seated correctly by making sure it is snug in the molding.

2. Reboot the computer.

Yes, rebooting does work from time to time! Rebooting the computer reloads the device drivers, which are responsible for controlling the corresponding devices — in this case, the keyboard.

3. If the keyboard still doesn’t work, or if just some keys don’t work, you might need to replace the entire keyboard.

Personally, I find that the keyboard is the first item to go on laptops. Replacing a keyboard on your laptop may be an easy process. Some are held in by a series of retaining clips, while others will require the disassembly of the entire case.

Function keys

Laptop function keys provide the typical use of a function key, such as pressing Alt+F4 to close the current window. However, function keys on laptops also allow you to control features of the laptop. The following list offers some popular functions you should be able to find on your laptop keyboard:

Display Brightness: On a laptop, you can typically adjust the brightness of the display by using the function key (Fn) and then pressing the brightness function button. For example, on my laptop, I use Fn+F8 to increase the brightness and Fn+F7 to decrease the brightness. New laptops may also have a function key to enable or disable an ambient light sensor that will adjust the screen brightness based on the ambient light.

Display Toggle: If you hook a projector up to your laptop for a presentation, you need to use the display toggle function key to set the laptop to show the output on the projector and on the screen of the laptop. On my laptop, I use Fn+F4 to do this.

Disable Wireless or Bluetooth: On laptops without a dedicated key to disable WLAN or Bluetooth radios, you may find that a function key has been dedicated to this function.

Keyboard Backlight: This is a new feature on laptops, and many systems now support keyboard backlighting, which illuminates the keyboard using LEDs beneath the keys. This lighting system can be turned on or off using a function key.

Volume/Mute: Function keys may be assigned to adjust the volume up or down, or to even mute the entire sound system.

Sleep: If you don’t have a Sleep button on your laptop, you might have a function key allocated for this purpose. To put my laptop to sleep, I can press Fn+F5.

When troubleshooting keyboard issues, make sure that you are not supposed to use a special key — such as Fn or Alt — to go with the keystroke.

Pointing devices

Two other major input devices are the touch pad and the mouse ball, which are both responsible for controlling the mouse pointer on the laptop. Most laptop users use a normal mouse with their laptop by connecting the mouse to either the PS/2 port or a USB port.

If you don’t want to use a PS/2 or USB mouse with your laptop, you will typically control the mouse pointer by using a touch pad or a mouse ball.

Touch pad

A touch pad, as shown in Figure 6-6, is a very common component found on laptops. It is a small, rectangular surface at the front of the keyboard. To use the touch pad to control the mouse pointer, drag your finger over the surface; the mouse pointer moves in the same direction.

Below the touch pad are two or three buttons, which act as traditional mouse buttons. With most laptops, you can tap the touch pad instead of clicking the left button to perform a “click” operation, and you can tap the touch pad twice to double-click. If you find that the touch pad does not react to the tapping, have a look in the driver CD that came with the laptop to see whether a driver needs to be loaded for the touch pad.

Most laptops also have a button that can be used to turn the touch pad on and off. This can be useful if you’re going to use a USB mouse and don’t want the touch pad to interfere when you accidentally rub over it, which I find I do with my thumb as I type.

Touch stick or pointing stick

Some laptops have a small stick, or what I like to call a pencil eraser, in the middle of the keyboard. This is available on models from all major manufacturers. With a little pressure on the pointer in any direction, your cursor on the screen moves. Typically you will have a set of pointer buttons under the spacebar to act as the mouse buttons. Figure 6-6 also show this pointer between the G, H, and B keys. Notice the two sets of buttons, one above the touch pad and one below. The set of buttons above the track pad are for the track stick, while the set below are for the track pad.

Regardless of the type of pointing device that your computer has, it sometimes needs to self-calibrate. When the pointing device is performing its self-calibrating, the pointer will drift to one side or corner of the screen. After running a self-calibration, the pointing device will resume normal operation. This process usually catches people off guard because the pointer moves on its own.

Typically, the need to self-calibrate happens after a certain number of hours, and you might notice it once every few days. If this problem happens more and more often, the pointing device might have an issue, and you might take the laptop to an authorized service depot. Many users will not know what’s going on and will fight against the drifting, thinking that something is wrong with the system. However, this is normal operation for these devices — and, thus, a losing battle. As long as recalibration happens only periodically and takes only a few seconds to complete, the computer is working properly. Users should think of it as preventive maintenance.

Rubber mouse ball

Instead of a touch pad, some older laptops shipped with a rubber mouse ball located in the middle of the keyboard. This rubber mouse ball is like a little joystick that controls the mouse pointer. Along with the rubber mouse ball are two buttons below the keyboard that perform traditional left- and right-click mouse actions. Today’s laptops usually ship with a touch pad.

Stylus and digitizer

A number of portable devices, such as tablet PCs, PDAs, or even smartphones, use a touch screen with a stylus pen you use to control the device. (A smartphone gives you features, such as e-mail and Internet access, and has become a popular solution for mobile users.) A tablet PC or smartphone may include a stylus and word-recognition software that converts handwriting to text. The stylus works with a special mesh layer on the laptop screen, and its positioning and tracking are controlled by an internal component called a digitizer. The digitizer records where the stylus or your finger makes contact with the screen. Problems with the digitizer — evident through tracking or drawing problems — involve a trip to your authorized repair depot. Handwriting recognition — controlled through software — might involve some training of the system (on some systems) to recognize your writing style. If the problem is with recognition, you might need to retrain the system.

Laptop Communication Components

Laptops communicate with each other and with networks in a few different ways. In the following sections, I discuss some of the popular types of communication components found on a laptop.

Network card and modem

The most obvious communication component on the laptop is its built-in Ethernet network card. You use this network card to plug the laptop into a network via a typical UTP cable. Most laptops today ship with 10/100 Mbps network cards that allow for fast data transfer.

You can identify the integrated network card by looking on the side of the laptop for the RJ-45 jack, which looks similar to a telephone jack, only a tiny bit bigger.

Speaking of telephone jacks, the network port is typically located right beside a telephone port for the built-in modem on the laptop. Most laptops also indicate these ports with little pictures so that you know which port is the modem port and which is the network port.

Wireless network card

Most laptops ship with a wireless network card as well as a wired network port. The wireless network card built into your laptop allows you to connect to a wireless access point to access the network and Internet without using a physical network cable.

Laptops typically allow you to enable or disable the wireless network card quickly by pressing a button on the laptop. The wireless button on my laptop is in the top-right corner, but I have also seen the button on the front panel near the hard drive and power lights. From a troubleshooting point of view, you want to make sure that the wireless network card is enabled if you are trying to connect to a wireless network.

Other communications ports

A few other communication devices are popular in laptops today: infrared, Bluetooth, and WAN-cellular technologies. The following sections give a brief overview of each of these technologies. For more on these technologies, see Book VIII, Chapter 2.

Infrared

Infrared wireless communication uses infrared light signals to send data from one device to another. Infrared is popular with TV and VCR remote controls, but as most of us have found out when using the remotes, infrared requires line of sight. Line of sight means that nothing blocks the pathway of the light beam between the two devices. If the pathway is blocked, communication stops. Infrared communication is also limited by its bandwidth; it can deliver information at up to 4 Mbps.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a newer form of wireless communication that is often used to connect a portable computer to peripherals, such as a printer on a network. Bluetooth doesn’t rely on line of sight because it doesn’t send the data as light beams. Instead, it sends the data over a radio frequency and can be used only when the two devices are close together. Bluetooth has a maximum distance of 10 meters (10.93 yards).

Bluetooth is popular in portable devices, such as handheld devices, and sends data at approximately 1 Mbps.

WAN-cellular or wireless WAN (WWAN)

WAN-cellular technology allows you to use your cell phone to make a network connection from your portable device to a remote location. The benefit of WAN-cellular technology is that you can connect your portable device to your network from anywhere that you can get a cellular connection. To use WAN-cellular technology, you need a digital cell phone that can connect to your portable devices, such as your handheld device.

Port Replicators and Docking Stations

If you use a laptop at the office a lot, you might want to consider using a port replicator or a docking station to get the functionality of a desktop PC from your laptop. A port replicator gives a laptop access to standard computer ports by connecting to an expansion port typically found on the back of the laptop. After you connect the port replicator to the back of the laptop or via USB, it provides serial, parallel, USB, keyboard, mouse, and possibly even display connectors, thus allowing you to use those types of devices on the laptop even if the laptop itself does not contain the ports.

A number of companies set up docking stations for their laptop users. A docking station acts as a port replicator by having ports exposed from the back of the docking station. The docking station is different than the port replicator in that it also can contain features such as drive bays, network ports, and desktop computer–sized expansion slots. The docking station will be powered from an AC adapter, so that after your computer is attached to the docking station, it will not require its own AC adapter. The connection between your laptop and the docking station is typically through a proprietary connector on the bottom of the laptop.

Expanding on a Laptop

Expanding on a laptop’s capabilities usually involves upgrading the system memory or hard disk (which I discuss in the “Upgrading Your Laptop” section a bit later) or expanding on the laptop’s capabilities by adding an expansion card, such as a PCMCIA card or PCI Express Card.

PCMCIA cards

Personal Computer Memory Card Industry Association (PCMCIA) cards are expansion cards added to the laptop system to provide functionality to the laptop. A PCMCIA card, also known as a PC card, is a credit card–sized device inserted into a PCMCIA slot, usually on the side of the laptop. It allows you to expand on the laptop’s capabilities, such as a network card, modem, memory, hard disk space, or maybe even a wireless network card (as shown in Figure 6-7).

Originally, PCMCIA cards were used only to add memory to the laptop, but today, you normally add memory by inserting it into a slot found on the bottom of the laptop. PCMCIA slots are now used for modems, network cards, and wireless network cards.

For the A+ Certification exam, be familiar with the three different types of PCMCIA cards:

Type I card: A Type I card is 3.3mm thick, with a single row of sockets that connect into the slot. Type 1 cards were used to add memory to the laptop and are the original reason for the expansion architecture.

Type II card: A Type II card is 5.5mm thick, with two rows of sockets that connect into the slot. Type II cards are usually network cards and modems that are added to a laptop.

Type III card: A Type III card is 10.5mm thick, with three rows of sockets that connect into the slot. Type III cards are used to add hard disk drives.

Be sure you’re familiar with the thickness of each card type and what types of devices are typically delivered in what card type.

Each type of cards has a corresponding PCMCIA socket, and you can mix and match the cards into different sockets as long as the card fits in the socket. For example, a Type I card will go into a Type II socket, but you cannot fit a Type III card into a Type II socket.

For the card to work in your laptop, the laptop has two services used to manage PCMCIA cards:

Socket services: BIOS-level routines that detect when a PCMCIA card is inserted into or removed from the system.

Card services: Provide the interface between the card and the device driver. Card services also manage the assignment of system resources, such as I/O addresses and IRQs, to the PCMCIA card.

Adding a PC card

One of the most exciting features of PCMCIA is hot swapping. Hot swapping allows you to install a device while a computer is still running, and have the device detected and configured by the operating system without rebooting. This is unlike adding a card to a desktop computer, where you typically have to shut down the machine, take the cover off, add the card, put the cover back on the computer, and finally restart the computer. With PCMCIA, you can insert or remove the card from the slot at any time.

Adding or installing a PCMCIA card is easy. Make sure you have the card oriented properly and then slide it into the slot until it fits firmly. If the card is installed correctly, the eject button beside the slot will pop out. When the card is inserted, Plug and Play should kick in and either load the driver or prompt you for the driver.

Removing a PC card

To remove a PCMCIA card from a slot, you simply push the eject button, and the card will pop out. After you remove the card, make sure that the slot is covered to keep dust from getting into the laptop. If the laptop doesn’t have its own cover for the slot, you can purchase a blanking plate, which acts as an inserted dummy card.

ExpressCards

Most new laptop computers have a slot that looks like a PCMCIA slot; however, this slot is typically an ExpressCard slot. ExpressCard is the new standard replacing PCMCIA. In fact, the current ExpressCard standard is ExpressCard 2.0. The speeds that are supported on ExpressCard 2.0 slots are equal to those of USB 3.0 devices.

You find two form factors for ExpressCards, either 34 mm wide (ExpressCard/34) or 54 mm wide (ExpressCard/54). While ExpressCard/ 54 cards are wider, they are actually L-shaped and have the same 34-mm connector. Because both cards use the same connector, ExpressCard/34 cards do work in ExpressCard/54 slots. In either case, the thickness of the cards is 5 mm.

Card readers

You can find a wide variety of options for semipermanent storage memory. This memory is typically called flash memory, and it can retain its data even when no power is available. Flash memory is what makes flash drives, jump drives, USB drives (the stick ones), or whatever you want to call them possible. That same flash memory technology is also implemented on SD, microSD, and most of the memory cards that are used in cameras or portable electronic devices. Finally, all the SSD (solid-state drive) hard drives on the market are based on flash memory actually storing the data on the drive. So flash memory is great, because it allows you to store data on small cards that can easily be transferred between devices, or to increase the internal storage on your devices. I actually use a 32GB high-speed SD card to hold a copy of Linux, which I then use to dual-boot my computer; this leaves my internal hard drive (SSD) completely devoted to my main OS.

Upgrading Your Laptop

In the following sections, I show you how to upgrade a laptop by adding components such as RAM and hard disk space. Makes and models of laptops vary, but the basic concepts of adding and removing components can be applied to most laptop systems today.

Upgrading memory

To add memory to a laptop, you simply flip the laptop over and find the compartment that holds the RAM. This compartment is normally labeled with a symbol of a memory module, as opposed to the compartment that is labeled with what looks like a hard drive. If you are unsure what compartment to open, check the documentation for the laptop.

Remember to ground yourself before touching any internal computer components! After you ground yourself, you can then remove the old SODIMM module and insert the new memory module. When inserting a SODIMM into a laptop, be sure to gently place the module in the socket at an angle (see Figure 6-8) and then clamp it down in place.

Mini–PCI Express (PCIe) cards

High-performance expansion cards may be added to your laptop through the mini-PCIe interface. These cards are usually found in compartments on the bottom of your laptop. In Figure 6-8, you can see two of these slots, with the leftmost slot already containing an 802.11n wireless card, with three antenna connections. The antennas typically run up behind the laptop screen, providing the best reception when you are using your laptop. The remaining slot is reserved for a WWAN card. The mini-PCIe standard defines this slot as a PCIe x1 expansion slot, but it is also compatible with the USB 2.0 standard. While this standard allows much flexibility in the role of the card that could be installed, on laptops, the main type of cards that are added are wireless communications cards.

Adding hard disk space

Hard disk space can get eaten up quickly these days when storing media files like videos, MP3s, and pictures from digital cameras. It doesn’t take many multimedia files (especially video) to fill up all your laptop’s memory.

You can add disk space to the laptop in a number of different ways:

Add an external USB drive. One of the most popular methods of adding disk space to the laptop is to connect an external USB hard drive to the laptop. This lets you carry the data to a different PC as well.

Get a better hard drive. On most laptops, you can actually replace the original hard drive with a larger, manufacturer-approved hard drive. For example, you could upgrade from a 120GB hard drive to 500GB. Most laptops have a panel on the back that can be removed to replace the hard drive (as shown in Figure 6-9). Most desktop hard drives are 3.5 inches wide, while most laptop drives are 2.5 inches. But watch out: Smaller laptops and netbooks may have 1.8-inch drives, so check the size before you buy a replacement.

Use portable unique storage. Portable unique storage devices include a USB external hard disk, or a flash drive that plugs into a USB port (shown in Figure 6-10).

Replacing your CD-/DVD-ROM drive

Certain devices on your laptop are made to be changed. Most current laptops come equipped with multibays to make swapping devices easy. My current laptop shipped with a dual-layer DVD burner, but that optical drive is in an easy-to-eject bay, allowing me take the optical drive out and replace it with a new Blu-ray burner or an additional hard drive (installed in a custom drive tray). This makes replacing the drive almost as easy as changing the DVD in the drive.

Troubleshooting Laptop Issues

Many issues with laptops require sending them to an authorized repair depot, but you might be able to fix many problems yourself. As a CompTIA A+ Certified Professional, you should also be able to verify which major component of the system is affected. But because laptops are highly integrated systems, many solutions to problems involve a main board or a motherboard replacement. Laptop manufacturers have also made it difficult to get into places that they do not want you to go.

Some standard issues that affect laptops include

Power-related issues with external power supplies, batteries, or capacitors

External monitors or cutoff switches

All the function (Fn) keys

Pointer recalibration

When troubleshooting laptop-related issues and when answering A+ certification test questions, you should be familiar with a number of popular troubleshooting best practices:

Verify power. When troubleshooting laptop power issues, it is best to start with the power supply or power adapter. Verify that either is the correct one for the laptop and that the cables or connectors aren’t damaged. You can check the power supply label for the positive lead and use your multimeter red probe on that lead with the black probe on the negative lead to verify the voltage output of the adapter. When troubleshooting power-related issues, such as no power, check whether the LEDs are lighting. You can also try swapping AC adapters to see if the AC adapter is the problem, or if the laptop is.

If the AC adapter is functioning, but the battery is not charging, the problem lies with the charging system on the laptop, or more likely, that battery itself. If you have a spare battery, try changing it to see whether that is where the problem lies. If the battery is not holding its charge, it is likely just old and should be replaced. If the battery is new, see whether it can be replaced under warranty.

Less detectable is the fact that some laptops have power issues often dealing with overloaded capacitors or circuits. This can be solved by removing the battery, disconnecting the power, and pressing the power button multiple times (as many as 20 times). Replacing the power cable should then fix this problem. If replacing the power cable doesn’t work, though, at least you can test the system without the battery in it so that you can rule out a battery issue.

Remove unneeded peripherals. Always try to streamline the situation by removing any unneeded peripherals to simplify the situation. After you get the system operating normally, you can then start adding the peripherals back one at a time to see which device is causing the problem.

Plug in an external monitor. If you have display issues, such as no display output, try connecting an external monitor and use the display toggle to send the output to the monitor. This allows you to determine whether the video adapter is the problem or the actual LCD of the laptop. While external monitors can solve problems, they can also cause issues with laptops. On many laptops, when the external monitor is connected, it is used instead of the laptop screen. When the external monitor is turned off, the lack of a picture on the laptop can trigger a help call, so always check whether an external monitor is plugged into the laptop. If so, you can use a function key to switch from the external monitor to the laptop screen. The specific key combination to switch between the external and laptop screens varies from one laptop model to another, but often it is F4. Hold down the function key while pressing F4 at two- to three-second intervals to cycle through the display options.

Toggle Fn keys and hardware switches. Most laptops have three options built into a majority of their keys. Two of those functions are the same as on desktop keyboards and are activated with the Shift key. Laptops, though, also have an Fn key and a series of extra functions identified by additional symbols in another color drawn on the keys. These functions include, but are not limited to, sleep, hibernation, brightness, contrast, battery meter, speaker volume, Print Screen, SysRq, Scroll Lock, Num Lock, Pause, Break, and all number pad functions.

To enable the number pad functions, which are shown in Figure 6-11, do the same thing that you would do on a traditional keyboard: Enable Num Lock. To do this on your laptop, press Fn and Num Lock. This causes several keys on the keyboard to convert from their normal function to act as a number keypad. These keys can be toggled for single keystrokes by using the Fn key as a Shift key. Often, when users accidentally enable the Num Lock, they call you because their keyboard is “broken.” This at least should be an easy fix for you, and is easy to identify, especially if is the keyboard has a Num Lock indicator light. Rather than dealing with this number pad, many users prefer to use a separate USB number pad, some of which do double duty as standalone calculators.

Always check the function keys to see whether you can toggle an option off and then on. Be wary of a Function Lock key on your system, which might cause the alternate features of keystroke to kick in.

Change your display settings. I could not tell you how many times I have watched people struggle to get an external display or projector working with their laptop. An occasional incompatibility exists between screen resolutions, and less often an actual hardware problem. The best thing to do for problem laptops is to refer to the manufacturer’s documentation. Typically, the display port on your laptop is active when you toggle the display key — usually Fn+F4 — which cycles through preset display settings.

Check the LCD cut-off switch. If you don’t have any display on the laptop, check whether the display is being sent to the LCD by using the display function key. Also check whether there is a cut-off switch on the laptop that is disabling the LCD. Most laptops also have an LCD cutoff switch that turns off the display when the lid is closed. This switch is usually either a small button at the top of the keyboard or a hole with a mated post on the lid. Depending on the OS settings, triggering this switch might not only turn off the display but also put the computer into standby mode or hibernation. For some laptop models, this switch is susceptible to either being hit or stuck, thereby making the laptop think that the lid is closed.

Verify backlight functionality. If you have trouble seeing the screen due to a dim display, check that the LCD is toggled on and that the brightness is high enough to see the output. If this checks out, the display backlight could be bad.

Verify connections. If the screen is flickering, you may have an issue with interference near the display, but more likely it is a loose or broken connection between the display and the video card, or an issue with the display itself. If a connection issue exists, it will be worse when moving the display back and forth or pressing on the case near the display hinge. Screen flicker may also be caused by the power inverter that powers the backlight system on the display.

Ghost cursor on ghost images. This does not seem to be much of an issue on modern laptops and LCDs. Early laptops often had issues with screen refresh rates, so much so that moving the mouse quickly could cause it to disappear or leave a ghostly slow-to-disappear cursor where it was. To help with the disappearing issue, Microsoft introduced Pointer Trails or Mouse Trails in the Mouse control panel. This setting actually leaves a series of slow, fading ghost pointers, making it easier to follow a disappearing mouse.

Check the wireless cut-off switch. I fall for this every time! If you can’t connect to a wireless network, the first thing you should check is whether the wireless card has been disabled via the wireless cut-off switch. Most laptops have this switch, and they are designed to give you a quick way to disable the wireless card. Mine is on the front of the laptop, so when I move the laptop on my lap, I end up turning off my wireless. Always check this switch first!

Check the software configuration. If you have no wireless networking and/or no Bluetooth wireless, check the software configuration. Many manufacturers supply a utility to manage these two wireless signals on your laptop. It is easy to have one or both of them disabled. If you have a wireless tool, you will likely find it in the system tray. If you don’t have a configuration tool, a CMOS setting may have been changed. If you have poor signal quality or are constantly dropping the connection, you may have an interference problem. Review Book VIII, Chapter 2 for information on managing your wireless signals.

Signs of interference. If your wireless problems are intermittent, you may be near the outer range of your current wireless solution, or you may be suffering from interference. Sometimes the source of the interference is tough to find. I was sharing a house with family for two months before I realized that when the phone rang, I lost my wireless. Refer to Book VIII, Chapter 2 for more information regarding wireless interference.

Replace the keyboard. If your keys are sticking, the problem is likely with the keys or key caps. Laptop keyboards are typically not serviceable, so they need to be replaced. The connection between the keyboard and the laptop is usually through a small ribbon cable. Some laptops will list this as a factory service technician’s job.

Numbers print instead of letters for some keys. This is a popular feature on laptops. Some laptops have a Function Lock key that can be enabled so that the laptop prints numbers when certain keys are pressed. These keys are labeled with numbers on them as well. Another solution to the same problem could be that the Num Lock key has been enabled on the laptop. If this is your case, look for the Num Lock indicator light and the matching Num Lock key.

Replacing plastics: Laptops will have rigid metals making up their base frame; most of the case material is made from plastics. While plastics are relatively strong and light, they are not overly durable over the long term. Some manufactures may offer replacements for damaged plastics , especially those that may easily be changed by a user. Many of these pieces may be difficult to replace, so these may be available only to authorized service centers, as they are not field-serviceable items.

Managing speakers: Internal speakers for laptops are often well situated under layers of case and cables. Changing the speaker may not be difficult for some laptops because it is connected to the main board with an easily removed plug or ribbon cable; what is difficult is removing enough of the case and components to get to the speaker. On some laptops, this is not a field-serviceable item.

Changing the system board: This is the main component on the laptop computer. Many of the core system components are found on this board, and this means that when manufacturer service technicians are resolving many errors, they will replace this board to resolve the issue. Replacing this core component is not an issue when the system is still under warranty.

Replacing the CPU: Again, this component is not typically replaceable by the user. Most models of laptops come with the option of purchasing one of several different CPUs. Because many CPUs can be installed into the laptop, replacement CPUs can be ordered from the manufacturer and installed. Due to cooling requirements, the CPU is not buried as deeply inside the system, making it much easier to get to and replace than the system board.

Some components in the laptop are expected to be serviced by the end user (often called field-serviceable parts), while other components should only be serviced by a manufacturer-trained technician. The basic rule of thumb is that if you cannot see how to open a panel or if you need special tools, you should not be doing the task. Most user-serviceable areas have easy-to-remove panels that may not even need a screwdriver. Memory and hard drives are typically accessible for the user.

Disassembling and Reassembling Laptops

This information is true for all equipment that you may choose to work with, whether it is a laptop, desktop, or video camera. But seeing that laptops have a large number of small parts, I will focus on them. With laptops specifically, many manufacturers use special screws to complete the assembly. In some cases, they are extremely small Torx-head or Phillips-head screws, or perhaps screws that require a security bit to remove; at other times, you may need specialized tools to separate a case. To keep the lines of the computer clean, some of these screws may be hidden under plastic or rubber screw covers. You must make sure that you have the correct tools for the job. Book IV, Chapter 2 covers many of the tools that you may need to accomplish your job of disassembly and troubleshooting.

If the manufacturer expects that you will be performing a parts replacement job yourself, the company will likely have full documentation for the process. This may come with the replacement part, or even as part of a complete field service manual. Find this out when ordering the part or ahead of time. You can find some hints to documentation sources in Book I, Chapter 2.

After you get started on the job, you will find that you have a large number of parts and screws. It is best to have a large, clean area in which to work, preferably where your components will not be disturbed. As you move forward with the disassembly, ensure that you document and diagram the components that you remove; this includes the locations of screws and so on. This information will be crucial in the reassembly process. If you are working from proper documentation, you may already have most of this work done for you.

Because you will have many small parts like cables and screws, it is a good idea to have available containers to hold them while working. Plastic part organizer trays are an inexpensive way of maintaining order for your parts. As different types of screws or components are taken off, they can be carefully laid out in your work area or assigned to a bin in your parts tray.

If you are able to stay organized and follow instructions, you should be successful in the service work that you carry out on laptops and other small electronics.

Understanding Small Handheld Devices

Handheld devices are another type of portable device that is very popular today but does not fall into the laptop category. In the past, most handheld devices were limited to a personal digital assistant (PDA) role — such as for maintaining schedule and calendar information. These devices are much smaller than a laptop and use touchscreen technology instead of a keyboard. You typically use a stylus to touch the screen and choose what you want to do with the handheld device. With the improvements in touchscreen technologies, most of these devices can be used with your hand, reserving the stylus for detail work. Figure 6-12 shows a sample of current devices, including an Android-based tablet (including the optional keyboard), an iOS-based iPhone, and a BlackBerry OS device.

Most handheld devices are used to keep track of personal information, such as your contacts or your schedule, but are capable of so much more. Other tasks include Internet browsing, light document editing (word processing or spreadsheets), and running a series of special-purpose applications.

Mobile devices store information to internal flash memory, with additional storage being added through flash memory in the form of microSD or other form-factor cards. These devices are rarely shut down and are put into Sleep or Standby mode between uses, allowing quick device activation when needed. Smartphones, which belong in this category, are always running their call management system.

Because these devices have low power consumption when idle, their batteries can last from a typical work day to several days. Battery life is normally based on device utilization.

Mobile devices support a variety of accessories, connected via special cables or Bluetooth connections. These accessories range from docking stations, to keyboards, to credit card–scanning and authorization systems; the possibilities are endless.

Most mobile devices support a synchronization function that allows them to be backed up or synchronized with a desktop or laptop computer. The cloud is the new backup and synchronization location. By syncing your device with a cloud-based account, you can then sync your computer with the same cloud location. This allows you to access your data from any device, anywhere in the world. When using devices that have cellular connectivity, you can support over-the-air (OTA) backup of data.

Looking at the current OS

In the ever-changing world of mobile devices, it is tough to stay on top of all the current models and operating systems. Luckily, in the current market, the most popular devices fit within four main operating systems:

Android: This OS is derived from Linux, is owned by Google, and is managed by the Open Handset Alliance — an alliance of several companies, including Google and Intel. The goal of the Open Handset Alliance is to develop open standards for development of software for mobile devices. Due to the open standards, this OS can work on a variety of hardware platforms from various manufacturers.

Apple iOS: The Apple iOS is a proprietary OS that was developed by Apple and is used by its mobile devices, including iPods, iPads, and iPhones. This is a closed (not open) OS with an established application development process and published development standards. While Apple promotes development of applications on the iOS, it has full control over the development of the iOS, which is limited to use on Apple devices.

BlackBerry OS: Like Apple, this OS is a proprietary product but is owned by Research In Motion (RIM). RIM produces hardware devices in the form of BlackBerry phones and tablets that are able to run the BlackBerry OS. Also, like Apple, RIM promotes and encourages developers to write applications that work with the published application programming interfaces (APIs) for the OS.

Windows Mobile/Phone: Drawing on its success as a desktop and server OS manufacturer, Microsoft has a Windows Mobile product that is a unique OS supporting small computing devices. This OS is being replaced by a new OS named Windows Phone. As with all Windows OSes, this is a closed OS, but is designed to be compatible with a variety of hardware platforms and well-published application development interfaces.

Devices running these OSes may take many forms, from the smallest of smartphones to largest of tablets. This line between tablets and phones gets clouded by the fact that many tablets support the addition of cellular cards, turning them into oversized phones, and many of those phones are getting larger. Because netbook-class devices run primarily Windows or Linux OSes, they are classified as small-form-factor laptops.

From the point of view of usability, discarding much of the marketing hype, few differences exist among the various OSes. With varying hardware options, I can expect to see the following features with any mobile device I purchase:

Application source: Most of the OSes support an online application source, a place where you go to download, install, and update your applications. Android has Google Play, which is the latest iteration of the Android Marketplace; Apple has iTunes and the App Store; Microsoft has Marketplace; and RIM has BlackBerry App World. These application stores have thousands of free applications, games, and media, in addition to ones that you can purchase.

Screen orientation: While you can view a device in either landscape or portrait mode, unlike monitors that you manually switch between modes, these devices have built-in components to automatically switch orientation. These components include an accelerometer or gyroscope to determine the correct orientation and to be used creatively by applications, such as construction levels or game controls.

Screen calibration: This task will vary between OS and device. While it was common on older touchscreen devices to need to calibrate the screen to reality, the need to do this on newer devices varies, with most needing so little calibration that software tools are not even provided. When calibration is needed, the software will have you touch several specific locations on the screen and record your deviation from where the OS expected the touch to occur. It then uses this information to create an offset for your use of the device.

GPS and geotracking: With most mobile devices supporting GPS technology, this tool can add unique abilities to your phone. Apple and Android devices regularly report phone locations back to Apple and Google. In addition to the report-home features, many apps and tools can use the GPS to report location information to a variety of sources. This makes it easy to keep up on where friends are, or to find your phone after you have lost it. The creative uses of this technology are endless.

From a compatibility point of view, if I have devices with matching or compatible OSes, I may achieve some usability features or benefits, the least of which is a familiarity with the OS. So, if I use an iPhone, my tablet does not need to be an iPad, but if I choose an Android-based tablet, my ability to transfer data and applications between the devices is diminished.

Securing your devices

With the sizes of your portable devices getting smaller and smaller, the need to secure them goes up and up. Even early-generation cell phones had the ability to be locked to prevent people from making unauthorized phone calls (especially when it cost a fortune per minute). But with today’s phones and devices, not only can I make calls on your phone, but I can also update your Facebook status, send tweets, transfer money from your bank, or text some pictures to your contact list. Here are some common security techniques that are supported by most smartphones or mobile devices:

Passcode locks: All portable devices have some sort of software locking mechanism. This is usually found in general or security settings, allowing automatic timed locking requiring a password or code to access the device.

Remote wipes: To increase security for lost and stolen devices, the ability to remotely wipe (destroy all information from) a device is crucial. While this has been part of the BlackBerry management from the beginning (through its BlackBerry Enterprise Server), many other smartphones are supporting this feature, either through a centralized management application or a specialized application. Sure, this means that the device will be empty when returned, so hopefully you have a recent backup. But if it does not come back to you, nobody else has the information either.

Locator applications: Everyone seems to lose his or her phone at some point in time. The old locator trick for a phone lost nearby, if it has a charged battery and the ringer enabled, was to call your own number. The current trend is to work with the GPS in your phone to have it tell you where it is. This involves installing a custom application that registers with a website. By going to that website, you will be given limited access to your phone, if it is still running. This access may give you a remote-wipe capability but also the ability to display a message on the screen and access the GPS. Through the GPS, you can pinpoint exactly where your device is.

Remote backup applications: OTA backup is great tool for the busy mobile worker. While I can back up my phone or device on any computer with the management software installed, some people rarely access their computer. Many manufacturers provide cloud-based backup solutions, like Apple’s iCloud. This means that your phone or device can be backed up automatically, wherever you happen to have a data connection.

Failed login attempts restrictions: As part of the security settings, you may be able to have the device automatically wipe itself when a limited number of failed logins or passcodes occur. Typically this is set to a high number, like 10, so that it is not triggered accidentally. Having a regular backup is important so that you can restore your data.

Antivirus: Smartphones and mobile devices are simply small computers. This means that they are capable of having virus software target them. To protect against viruses, you should follow safe computing guidelines and can get extra protection from antivirus software. Depending on your OS, you may find several products to choose from.

Patching/OS updates: Just as with your desktop OS, as security holes and stability problems are identified with the OS, the manufacturer releases patches. If you are not running a current version of the OS code for your device, you are leaving yourself exposed to security holes and stability problems. Typically the process to update your device is very easy.

Classifying a laptop from a mobile device

Tablets and smartphones are computing devices, but what criteria are used to separate them from other computing devices, like desktops and laptops. While netbooks are classified as small laptops, the line gets clouded with products like the ASUS Transformer line, which provides a tablet docking unit that makes the tablet look like a netbook.

Here are some of the criteria that you can use to make the separation:

No field-serviceable parts: Even netbooks give you easy access to a few components such as drives and memory. But handheld mobile devices tend to be pretty closed devices with no parts designed for end users to upgrade.

Integrated OS: While computers have their OSes installed on a drive, mobile handheld devices have this OS stored on a small amount of internal flash memory.

Touch interface: The lack of physical keyboard or mouse means that most commands are issued through a touchscreen in a limited-control interface. Since all touchscreens are basically the same, each manufacture attempts to license and market features in an attempt to make them unique in the market. This includes companies like HTC, who markets TouchFLO and its replacement HTC Sense — which uses innovative movements and controls on Android devices to make typing words on an HTC touchscreen easier and faster by sliding your figure over the letters.

While not licensed technology, multitouch was made popular by Apple, which makes use of multiple fingers touching the screen, thereby multiple touch (multitouch), and moving your fingers in gestures to zoom and rotate what is on the screen. Even though there are differences in how things are done on a touchscreen, one thing that is common is touch with either your finger or stylus.

Solid-state drive (SSD)/flash storage: When more than a little onboard memory is required, mobile devices make use of flash memory and SSD technology to store information. These storage media solutions consume less power, have no moving parts to damage, and are more resistant to shocks than traditional drives.

While any one of these criteria does not automatically classify your device as a mobile handheld device, if you are hitting most of them, you are safe to classify it as a mobile handheld device rather than a laptop.

Synchronizing your data

While it is important to back up your data, with mobile devices, it is often more important to synchronize your data. When you synchronize — or sync — your data, you copy your data to an alternate location. This process can be completed again and again, each time merely copying the changes that have occurred since the last update or synchronization. Think of synchronization as a two-way copy of changes, so that changes in either location are copied to the other. While some devices can copy data to almost any location, the most common is to have it copied to a computer.

In some cases, synchronization is used as a backup method for your mobile devices. For example, users might back up their remote iPod or iPhone purchases to their computer. In other cases, synchronization keeps two data sources in step with each other. For example, it is common for users to set up continuous data synchronization between Microsoft Exchange and BlackBerry devices. Your options for synchronization will be limited by your device, your synchronization destination, your connection options, and the software options available to achieve the synchronization.

If you can synchronize your data with a computer or a cloud-based solution, you have an easy way to share data between devices and the ability to work on the data wherever it is most convenient.

You may have many types of data stored on your phone or device, but some of that data may be specific to the applications you have installed and may not be capable of synchronization. When looking at an application, I try to find applications that allow me to store favorites or data to web- or cloud-based solutions — such as NoteMaster on my iPhone syncing with Google Drive. Common data that the phone or device should have synchronization support for include

Contacts

Programs and program data

E-mail

Pictures

Music

Videos

To synchronize your data on your device to your computer, you will need some type of software to be installed on your computer. Most devices ship with the required software that is required to sync the device to your computer. Some solutions include the following:

iTunes: Apple devices use this to provide basic syncing of your data. This required that you have a Macintosh or Windows computer with a USB connection. No solution exists for Linux and UNIX users.

BlackBerry Desktop Manager: RIM provides this software for Windows and Mac users to sync their BlackBerry devices with their computers, while corporate e-mail is normally synced OTA for most users.

Manufacturer-provided tools: Android devices do not have an OS-based sync tool, but some manufacturers, like HTC, supply one with their devices. OS support and requirements vary by manufacturer, but you can expect that Windows and Mac support will usually be on the list.

Third-party tools: Because Android does not have built-in sync tools, many third-party sync options are available for Android, some syncing the entire OS while others are application specific.

In most cases, any sync software for your mobile device will support one of three types of connections for synchronization:

USB cable: This is by far the most common method of device synchronization and backing up.

Bluetooth: If your mobile device supports Bluetooth, it may support using this connection for synchronization and backup.

Cloud-based/Internet/OTA: This solution is gaining popularity due to the flexibility and mobility that are involved. This solution synchronizes your device over the data to your own servers to third-party servers and uses that server to synchronize the data to multiple devices.

Getting an A+

In this chapter, I discuss the different components that make up a laptop. These components include the battery, LCD, and keyboard. Be sure to remember the following facts about portable devices when preparing for the exam:

The battery in a laptop is responsible for supplying power to the laptop and is charged by the AC adapter.

The two types of LCDs used in laptops are active matrix and passive matrix.

Most laptops come with built-in ports, such as a network and modem port.

To upgrade memory on the laptop, you can add a SODIMM to an empty memory socket located in the laptop.

PCMCIA cards are used to expand on the laptop’s capabilities.

• Type I cards were used to add memory in the past.

• Type II cards (the most popular these days) are used to add network cards and modems to the laptop.

• Type III cards are used to add removable storage.

Not all the devices you work with have field-serviceable components.

Small mobile devices synchronize your data with computers through various software applications and connection technologies.

Major mobile devices include the Apple iPhone, Google Android phone and tablet, RIM BlackBerry phone and tablet, and Microsoft Windows Phone.

Prep Test

1 Bob calls you complaining that he can no longer connect to the wireless network with his laptop. He has using the wireless network for three months now, and nothing has changed on the wireless network. What would you get Bob to check first?

A The WEP settings on his laptop

B That the wireless cut-off switch on his laptop is not enabled or on

C The WPA settings on his laptop

D That SSID broadcasting is enabled on the router

2 Which battery type is the best battery type for laptops?

A Alkaline

B NiCad

C Li-Ion

D NiMH

3 Which of the following components makes the laptop truly portable?

A Battery

B AC adapter

C DC controller

D PC card

4 Which video display solution is not used on laptops?

A LED

B LCD

C Plasma

D OLED

5 Which type of PCMCIA card is used by network cards and modems?

A Type I

B Type II

C Type III

D Type IV

6 Which of the following statements is true for mobile OSes?

A The Android OS is an open software operating system.

B BlackBerry devices are capable of downloading applications from the Apple App Store.

C The Apple iOS is an open software operating system.

D Both A and C.

7 What does LCD stand for?

A Liquid crystalline display

B Liquid crystal device

C Logical crystal display

D Liquid crystal display

8 Which statements are true for an active-matrix LCD? (Select all that apply.)

A It is slow.

B It displays dull images.

C Each pixel is supported by its own transistor.

D Images are easy to view from angles.

E It displays low-quality pictures.

9 What type of memory module is used in laptop systems today?

A SRAM

B DIMM

C SODIMM

D SIMM

10 A user calls complaining that when he presses certain keys on his laptop, numbers print instead of the appropriate letters. What would you do?

A Ask the user to ensure that the Cap Lock key is not enabled.

B Ask the user to ensure that Num Lock key is not enabled.

C Ask the user to not press the Shift key while typing.

D Ask the user to ensure that the Shift Lock key is not enabled.

Answers

1 B. Laptop computers have a switch that allows you to temporarily turn off wireless functionality. See Troubleshooting Laptop Issues.

2 C. Li-Ion batteries are best suited for portable systems because they are lightweight and have a long lifetime. Review “Different types of batteries.”

3 A. The battery is the component that most classifies the laptop as a portable device. Check out “Identifying Portable Computer Components.”

4 C. Plasma displays, due to size and weight, have not been used on laptops. Peruse “Learning about LCD Panels.”

5 B. Network cards and modems are Type II cards. Take a look at “Expanding on a Laptop.”

6 A. Android OS is based on open OS standards, specifically Linux, and promotes open software development processes. Peek at “Looking at the Current OS.”

7 D. LCD stands for liquid crystal display. Look over “Learning about LCD Panels.”

8 C, D. Active-matrix LCDs produce high-quality images that are easy to read at angles. Study “Learning about LCD Panels.”

9 C. Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module (SODIMM) is the memory module type used in laptop systems today. Refer to “Upgrading memory.”

10 B. Most laptops have a Num Lock option that when enabled, different letters will print numbers. These letters usually have a number printed on the key as well to display the functionality. Examine “Understanding Handheld Devices.”