LAPTOP

adjective and noun Also written lap-top (Science and Technology) adjective: Of a computer: small, light, and usually not dependent on a mains power supply, so that it can be used on a person's lap. noun: A portable microcomputer designed to be used on a person's lap. (Short for laptop computer or laptop portable.) Etymology: Formed by compounding, after the model of desk-top; normally one would not speak of the top of the lap. As ever-smaller computers were invented, the terminology was changed to keep up with them: successors to the laptop have included the lunchbox, the notebook, and even the palm-top. History and Usage: The laptop micro was first marketed in the US in the early eighties, and by the middle of the decade accounted for a sizeable proportion of microcomputer sales worldwide. Most models work on rechargeable batteries and are no larger than a small briefcase; one of their main advantages is that they can be used anywhere, whether there is a mains power supply available or not. By the second half of the eighties it was commonplace to see business people using them in a variety of public places, including trains, cars, and aircraft. Lap-portable is sometimes used as an alternative term for laptop. The Z-181 and Convertible are aimed at the real lap-portable market of journalists, academics, travelling salespersons and suchlike. Practical Computing Oct. 1986, p. 63 You don't have to be a genius to know that a laptop usually costs more than its equivalent desktop. Intercity Apr. 1990, p. 4 See also luggable