Laptop Hardware Repairer

Short for Accelerated Graphics Port, AGP is an advanced port designed for Video cards and 3D accelerators. Designed by Intel and introduced in August of 1997, AGP introduces a dedicated point-to-point channel that allows the graphics controller direct access to the system memory. Below is an illustration of what the AGP slot may look like on your motherboard.

Micro Channel Architecture, MCA was introduced by IBM in 1987 as a competitor to the ISA bus. MCA offered several additional features over the ISA such as a 32-bit bus (in addition to a 16-bit bus), it ran at 10MHz, automatically configured cards (similar to what Plug-and-Play is today), and included bus mastering for greater efficiency.

Alternatively abbreviated as VLB, VL Bus is short for VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) Local Bus first introduced by VESA in 1992. The VLB is a 32-bit computer bus that had direct access to the system memory at the speed of the processor, commonly the 486 CPU (33/40 MHz). VLB 2.0 was later released in 1994 and had a 64-bit bus and a bus speed of 50 MHz. Unfortunately, because the VLB heavily relied on the 486 processor, when the Pentium processor was introduced manufacturers began switching to PCI.

Originally known as 3rd Generation I/O (3GIO), PCI Express, or PCIe, was approved as a standard on July 2002 and is a computer bus found in computers. PCI Express is a serial bus designed to replace PCI and AGP and is available in different formats: x1, x2, x4, x8, x12, x16, and x32. The data transmitted over PCI-Express is sent over wires called lanes in full duplex mode (both directions at the same time). Each lane is capable of around 250MBps and the specification can be scaled from 1 to 32 lanes. With 16 lanes PCI Express supports a bandwidth of up to 4,000MBps in both directions. Below are some graphic illustrations of what the PCI Express would look like on the motherboard.

Type I:

Identical to type II, except requires extra cables for connectors like the RJ-11 and RJ-45. However, offers more flexibility to where it can be placed in the computer.

Type II:

Used when size is not important. Type II can integrate the RJ-11 and RJ-45 connectors and did away with extra cables.

Type III:

SO-DIMM style connector that can be installed with a mere 5 mm overall height above the system board. Cabling to the I/O connectors also allow type III cards to be placed anywhere in the system.

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A battery is a hardware component that supplies power to a device, enabling that device to work without a power cord. Batteries are often capable of powering a laptop computer for several hours depending on how much power it requires. Today, many high-end devices such as computer laptops and cell phones use rechargeable batteries that allow a user to recharge the battery once depleted of energy. In the picture below, is an example of what a laptop battery may look like when removed from the laptop with a close-up of the battery rating.

Communication and Network Riser, CNR is a specification that supports Audio, Modem, USB, and LAN interfaces of core logic chipsets. This technology and the CNR slot was first introduced by Intel February 7, 2000 and was mainly developed by leading hardware and software developers who helped release the AMR (Audio Modem Riser) slot. In the picture below is an example of a CNR slot, which is labeled as "CNR_SLOT" on this motherboard.

Mini PCI is a standard used by leading notebook manufacturers that measures 2.75-inches x 1.81-inches x 0.22-inches. This technology could allow manufacturers to lower their prices, as the motherboards would be simpler to design.

Peripheral Component Interconnect, PCI was introduced by Intel in 1992. The PCI bus came in both 32-bit (133MBps) and 64-bit versions and was used to attach hardware to a computer. Although commonly used in computers from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, PCI has since been replaced with PCI Express.