Max's CompTIA A+ [Laptop Hardware] 1201 1.1 Set

Laptop Hardware CompTIA A+ Certification

True or False: All laptop hardware is created the same, making it easy to repair or replace components

False

Laptops are engineered to very _____ specifications and therefore require very _____ forms of troubleshooting

Precise

True or False: All laptop manufacturers have different troubleshooting and repair processes for their products

True

What are the most common types of laptop batteries?

Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) and Lithium-Ion polymer (LiPo)

What specific piece of hardware does this describe?
- No “memory effect”
- Charging the battery does not diminish capacity

(as compared to older generations/versions of the same hardware)

Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) and Lithium-Ion polymer (LiPo)

True or False: Battery technology is relatively unchanging and universal kind of tech

False

Each kind of laptop can have a different ___ ____ , meaning battery types and styles can vary.

form factor

_____ components are easier to configure and change.

Modular

What laptop component is the most used component and will thus often be needed to swapped out more often than other components.

The keyboard

Modular laptop batteries are usually able to be swapped out by:

Pressing a button that will pop out the old battery and easily allow you to swap another one in

A laptop keyboard usually contains a few ___ and a single ____ ____.

screws, ribbon cable

What is a common (though not universal) way to replace a laptop keyboard which results in the laptop popping out as an entire unit?

Remove the keyboard bezel or a few screws

What is an easy—though not very portable—way to troubleshoot a laptop’s keyboard?

Connect an external USB keyboard

Some repairs might require the removal or replacement of a key cap. This can be a very _____ procedure, especially on a laptop.

delicate

PCs have a larger form factor than a laptop and thus use DIMM (Dual In-line Memory Modules) RAM architecture. A laptop is much smaller, and thus uses this RAM architecture instead:
(This is also used in mobile devices)

SO-DIMM (Small Outline Dual in-line Memory Module)

Some laptop memory isn’t modular, and is _____ to the system board, forcing the consumer to purchase a ___ _____ ____ _______.

soldered, full system board replacement

What is the tradition form factor (in inches) for a magnetic disk in a laptop? What about for a desktop?

2.5 inches, 3.5 inches

Disk drives are no longer the standard for storage devices. Instead we use the more efficient:

SSD (Solid-state drive)

What laptop component does this describe?:

- All memory, no moving parts
- Silent, fast access time, less latency,
- 2.5 inch form factors

SSD (Solid-state drive)

What laptop component does this describe?:

- Traditional spinning drive platters
- 2.5 inch form factors for laptops

Magnetic disk

True or False: A CD-ROM is just another name for a magnetic disk.

False

What is the biggest difference between a CD-ROM and a magnetic disk?

A magnetic disk is able to be both read and written to, like a hard drive, whereas ROM can only be read (Read-Only Memory).

What is the newer, smaller SSD form factor called?

M.2

What laptop storage component does this describe?
- Smaller form factor
- No SATA data or power cables
- Easy to install and replace

SSD M.2

What cables are required to attach when installing an SSD 2.5"?

A SATA data cable and a power cable

On some laptops, replacing an SSD 2.5” is very easy. What is the most common place to find the SSD 2.5” on a laptop?

There is a cover on the back of the laptop that you can unscrew, typically there are two screws: then, you can just slide the drive out. You may also need to open the entire laptop.

How many screws does the typical SSD M.2 require to fasten it to the motherboard?

1 screw

What is the easiest way to migrate from a magnetic disc (HDD) to an SSD?

Imaging software

What does imaging software do?

Images/Clones the HDD
It does not require any new OS installation, and moves everything from one storage device to the other.

True or False: Few SSD manufacturers include imaging software with their products, so it is often required to outsource a third party imaging software

False

Sometimes when using imaging software, you are required to create an entire ‘image’ of the drive, which you then store on an ____ file on (a third storage device / the old storage device)

image, a third storage device.

A faster (although not always possible) alternative to using a third storage device when migrating from an HDD to an SSD using imaging software is using a ________ image.

Drive-to-Drive 

What does drive-to-drive imaging allow you to do?

Image directly from one drive to the other.

What are two kinds of wireless connection found on a laptop?

802.11 wireless and Bluetooth

True or False: Wireless network connectivity is often integrated directly into the motherboard

True

What laptop component does this describe?:
- Local area network (LAN)
- High speed
- Internet access

802.11 wireless

What are two kinds of cards used to allow wireless network connectivity?

Mini PCI and Mini PCI Express (PCIe)

What laptop component does this describe?
- Personal area network (PAN
- Short range
- Connect peripherals and other devices

Bluetooth

What wires are required to connect an 802.11 card to an interface?

the main and auxiliary (aux) wires.

Where are the antenna wires of a laptop located?

They wrap around the laptop screen. (so as to be as high as possible)

What sign-in method does this describe?:
- Sign in or unlock your laptop with a fingerprint reader or face recognition

Biometric

True or False: Biometrics are automatically enabled in most cases

Fale

True or False: Biometrics can always be used on any system regardless of whether there is biometric-specific hardware (like a webcam or fingerprint reader) installed

False

What are the two biometric sign-in options that the Windows operating system offers?

Windows Hello Face and Windows Hello Fingerprint

What does ‘NFC’ stand for?

Near-field Communication

What do ‘PCI’ and ‘PCIe” stand for?

Peripheral Component Interconnect and Peripheral Component Interconnect Express

What is the main difference between a PCIe and a PCI?

A PCIe is much faster than a PCI

A PCI uses a shared bus, wherein all devices connected use the same bandwidth. A PCIe connection is faster because it uses ___________ connections with dedicated lanes for each device.

Point-to-point

What laptop component does this describe?:
- Common on mobile phones and smart watches
- Short-distance networking
- Use it for authentication without typing a password

NFC (Near-field communication)