Use this tag when requesting information about laptops or notebook computers. These devices have an integrated hardware keyboard and screen.

This tag should be used on questions that are asking for a recommendation of a laptop. Components for use wthin a laptop should instead use their respective tag (such as for RAM).


Laptops are one of the major players in modern computing. They are designed to be "portable desktops" - i.e. for the most part, they have most of the capabilities of a regular desktop PC, but are much more easily moved.

The first commercially successful laptop was the Compaq Portable, released in 1982 (though there were earlier models, such as the Osborne 1 of 1981). Since then, the humble laptop has developed into a number of forms such as netbooks and notebooks (though what exactly the difference is is unclear and is often suspected to be a marketing strategy).