Although they look very similar, there are several differences between laptops, notebooks, ultrabooks and gamer laptops.
When developing these different categories, having a small, lightweight machine was definitely the goal. That is how ultrabooks and notebooks came into play.
How do you call it? LAPTOP Or NOTEBOOK?
Well, Laptops and Notebooks are completely different machines. Although a lot of people think they are the same (which are basically nowadays), there were notable differences between them in the past.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAPTOP AND NOTEBOOK?
Although these two words have been merged nowadays, in the past a laptop meant carrying a big, bag sized machine with you. They weighed so much, that they fully looked like a carrying bag! That is crazy, isn’t it?
We can easily say that these were the predecessors of these decades big gaming laptops. By the way, you should also check out the best 17-inch laptops of 2019 while you are at it.
On the other hand, notebooks were smaller laptops, that were very comfortable to use and carry around, but at the same time they didn’t have that performance. They were also more portable as well.
It was perfect to carry on with you to your office or to the school.
While back then, a notebook meant a smaller laptop that could fit in your bag, nowadays, that size is the common format today.
For example, you can see several examples in this video:
Laptop and Notebook Differences
- Laptops have a stronger dedicated video card (GPU) and a stronger processor (CPU).
- Laptops usually weigh around 2KGs, while notebooks and ultrabooks are much less in weight, which makes them the primary choice for travel.
Ultrabook
The Ultrabook category is relatively new.
Although there used to be laptops with 13″ screens or even smaller, they weren’t too useful or handy. But, as technology evolves, and we can make smaller and smaller electronic components, the size of an ultrabook can get smaller as well.
You might ask, what is an Ultrabook then? Well, an ultrabook is a smaller laptop, with weaker hardware, which is usually enough for browsing around or just working on documents. On the good side, the size of an ultrabook is very convenient, and also they usually don’t weigh more than 1kgs.
But, to achieve this slim size, everything that could be integrated into the motherboard had soldered in, meaning you can’t switch out any components in your Ultrabook, which makes it impossible to repair.
The first flagship in the category was released by Apple at the 2008 Keynote where Steve Jobs showcased the MacBook Air.
The show was a great success, as Jobs brought out what was then a very thin laptop.
Later, other manufacturers have adopted this laptop format, so nowadays most brands have this category, and more and more we have moved in this direction in terms of weight and thickness.
One disadvantage of this size is that it cannot have too strong hardware because the heat generated by the warming cannot be dissipated.
There are a few manufacturers who try to fit strong hardware into their ultrabooks, but these laptops often have problems with overheating.
Wrapping it up
So, although laptops and notebooks are almost the same nowadays, there are several new categories like the Ultrabooks, that are still bringing in new technological advances.
As we get better making these components smaller, the more power we can fit into these machines.
With that said, not a lot of people are happy with this. Many older people require senior laptops in 2020, which can be hard to do, as bigger laptops are more pricy. We recommend buying them a normal laptop, not an ultrabook.
