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Due Next Year: Dell's 19-inch Laptop
WheelRunner writes "Engadget is running a story about Dell's new 19-inch laptop. Sadly, it's too late for the only lap that could hold it, Marlon Brando's." Maybe if Apple would put a keyboard-containing lid (and a briefcase-style handle) on the 20" iMac, a market for car-battery backpacks would emerge.
On a side not who the hell needs a 19" laptop. why not buy a seguay(spelling) and just pack a desktop around?
"Laptop" is a misnomer, and technically it's not even what Dell calls these things. It's a notebook. Notebooks and laptops are not the same thing and this is a perfect illustration of the distinction.
A laptop is a computer you put on your lap.
A notebook is a computer with a screen that folds down over the keyboard (with a form factor like a paper notebook, hence the name).
A laptop may or may not have a folding screen (the earliest models didn't). A notebook may or may not be "lappable" - i.e. it may or may not be small enough, cool enough or light enough to hold on your lap.
A 19" notebook is a portable PC, but I wouldn't call it a laptop. There's nothing wrong with this category of machine, IMO - I personally keep my notebook on my coffee table 99% of the time, and only carry it with me to a place (in other words, I don't have a need to bust it out in-transit on a train or a bus, I take it out on a corresponding desk or table somewhere else).
Laptops are perfectly fine if you want a real go-anywhere computer. But this is not a laptop, and not everybody needs that amount of portability. Some people just need a machine to act as a desktop most of the time, but that still doesn't take up a lot of space and can be moved around easily when needed.