"LaptopLaptops are great. They are more and more arriving in the corporate world replacing the bulky computer pc’s. Laptops are almost as fast as desktop computers and they obviously take up less space. Many of my installations in the past couple of months have been desktop replacements with a laptop configuration as well as added LCD monitors. Needless to say, in the event that we need to take it with us, they are still mobile.

They are usually two types of setups. The one where you actually use the laptop screen and keyboard & mouse, and the other is to close the laptop and use 2 external monitors. Regardless of the configuration, all laptops can be configured with 2 or 3 extra monitors. I personally like to close the laptop and use a Bluetooth Microsoft keyboard and mouse.

There are some key notes you should keep in mind though. Never ever put your pen, pencil or glasses in the keyboard of the laptop. If you accidently close it, there goes your screen. That’s one expensive repair. The next tip is, during the weekend, or extended non computing use of your laptop, disconnect it from the wall. If you leave your laptop charging for 2 or 3 days you will damage your battery.  This can be simply avoided by, on Fridays, unplug the power from your laptop. The primary use of a laptop is for mobile computing.

I have many setups where my clients use the Netbook configuration. They have a USB hub and just unplug the power cord from the laptop and USB cable and stick the netbook in their purse or briefcase.  When they are in a meeting outside of the office, they whip out their Netbook and they become productive on the fly.  When they get to the office, they plug 2 cables in and they have complete access to 2 large screens, a mouse and a keyboard.

Here is a sample video on this type of configuration: