In a time not so long ago, the only choice to make between computing devices was between a hulking great desktop, or a laptop … which was still fairly huge. The constant miniaturation of technology and need for manufacturers to differentiate their products has now given us a smorgasboard of sizes; each with their own name. Let me show you the differences.

Order of size

Generally speaking, we can actually give a fairly broad ranking of these names by size, from smallest to largest:

1. Palmtop
2. Netbook
3. Ultrabook
4. Notebook
5. Laptop

It may be more accurate to say this is in order of portability – since you can get a bigger screensize on a particular ultrabook than you would on a particular notebook; however, the notebook would be thicker and heavier.

With that out of the way, let’s look at some examples of each and their defining characteristics. All of these devices share one characteristic though: they all feature a clamshell design – that is, they had a screen in the lid, and it opens and closes like a clamshell; we won’t be talking about tablets or touchscreen mobile devices here.