if you were born before the late 90s you probably remember a time when laptops
were heavy clunky power hogs with the elegance of a cinder block but these
days the cinequinone of laptop marketing seems to be an emphasis on how thin
light and portable everything is and somehow this is all without compromising
on performance we're even seeing laptops that are light enough to pick up with
just two fingers yet come with high-end processors displays and storage
solutions so how did we get from there to here
before we answer we'd like to give a huge thank you to our friends over at hp specifically kevin
wenzel derek canass and kenneth chan for contributing their insights to this
episode as well as to Intel and hp for sponsoring it first let's look at the most important
components integrated circuits like cpus
the transistors that make up a CPU are called mosfets and they have special
physical properties that allow them to be easily scaled meaning that for a long
time manufacturers were able to squeeze more and more of them onto a chip
increasing processing performance and to
a point these higher performance cpus didn't need additional electrical power
as long as the size of the actual package stayed about the same
but more efficient processors aren't the only reason that our laptops are so
light the small electronic components like inductors and capacitors that feed
the CPU with power have also gotten smaller by gradually moving towards
higher switching frequencies so here's what that means for power to get to your
CPU without frying it the voltage has to be stepped down small components like
inductors do this by storing small amounts of energy stepping it down and
releasing it to the CPU a certain number of times every second and it turns out
the physics behind this process allow higher frequency inductors to be made
smaller which saves both space and weight in a compact device like a laptop
even printed circuit boards you know the green layer that everything is mounted
on have changed the improvements here are harder to see with the naked eye but
they make a big difference modern laptops use high density
interconnects meaning that copper traces go through the pcb in multiple layers
this allows manufacturers to pack more connectivity into a smaller lighter
space we've also seen improvements from increased manufacturing expertise both
from past experience and with better tools for predicting outcomes
nowadays manufacturers can run pretty accurate simulations on exactly what
various design ideas are going to do to thermal output this reduces the chance
that bringing the components closer together is going to cause overheating
in the finished product of course we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about
improved chassis and battery technology on one hand shrinking connectors have
made it so you don't have to have a thick design just to accommodate that
gigantic printer port but there's more to it than that many laptops have
switched to using alternative metals like lightweight magnesium alloys like
you'd find in hp's dragonfly elitebook metals such as these are chosen not only
for their lightweight but also for their relative strength meaning that they're
not just used for the outside but also for internal brackets that hold
components in place manufacturing the chassis like the components inside has
also gotten more precise with advancements in techniques like cnc and
thix molding which involves heating magnesium into a slurry and then
precisely injecting it into molds to create components of different shapes
and sizes we've also seen a whole scale shift away
from old school nickel cadmium and nickel metal hydride batteries these
were reliable and hearty but also didn't
hold as much energy per unit of weight nowadays many laptops use lithium-ion
and lithium-ion polymer batteries which don't need to weigh nearly as much to
hold lots of power they've existed for many years but growing demand for
lightweight devices has led to falling prices making them more and more common
now of course there are still trade-offs inherent in buying an ultra-thin laptop
they still face thermal challenges that larger machines with better airflow do
not meaning that they can't be packed with the fastest hardware on the market
i mean that's why gaming focused laptops still exist and tend to be larger and
heavier but for everyday use the sleek and lightweight machines that we have
today are going to satisfy the majority of users
speaking of sleek satisfying things i'm off to hit the gym
right after i tell you about today's sponsor i'm just kidding i don't go to
the gym it's the hp spectre x360 two-in-one laptop with a super fast
processor for multitasking media editing and streaming the 10th gen Intel core i7
1065 g7 CPU delivers powerful quad core
eight thread processing including Intel iris plus graphics for brilliant color
and rich 4k HDR video speaking of 4k the
13.3 inch multi-touch screen has a 4k native resolution and delivers crisp and
vibrant colors thanks to its OLED technology panel it even uses corning
gorilla glass nbt so it can hold up well to daily use it also comes with a one
terabyte drive accelerated by Intel optane for a responsive experience
next-gen Intel wi-fi 6 and a full suite of features to protect your privacy
including a built-in privacy screen and unhackable webcam kill switch with a
microphone mute button and with a 360 degree flip and full design with laptop
audience tabletop presentation and tablet modes the spectrex 360 is super
versatile and super portable at just 2.87 pounds and 0.7 inches check it out
today at the link below thanks for watching guys check out our
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