So what does it mean...?

Please find below a list of glossaries to help explain the technical terms we use in our product specifications.

The system
Storage
The screen
Drives
Ports and connectivity

The system

Operating system
All Ergo laptops are delivered with either Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional or Microsoft® Windows® XP Home.
View comparison of the systems here>>>

Processor (CPU)
The processor is the brains of the computer, and also known as the CPU.
All Ergo machines use Intel® processors. The Intel® Celeron® processor is often referred to as entry level, while the Intel® Pentium® processor is more powerful. The difference is for example in how much data they can hold for quick access, and in how fast they retrieve data from the main memory.
More about Intel CPU names here>>>

Memory option
All laptops come with a certain amount of physical memory. The laptop store currently running applications and data in this memory. Hence the more DRAM physical memory, the more (or larger) application your laptop will be able to run, without affecting the performance/speed of the machine.

Chipset
A group of microchips on the laptop motherboard that carry out functions (like memory, keyboard etc) supporting the CPU

Storage

Hard disk drive
The hard drive is the laptops primary storage device. Hence, that larger hard drive, the more files, music and programs etc you can store on your laptop.

Hard disk interface
The hard disk interface is what the hard disk uses to communicate with the laptop.
Ergo business laptops come with enhanced IDE Ultra ATA DMA 100 Interface, which enables the hard drives to operate at their best.

The screen

TFT
A display screen made with TFT (thin-film transistor) technology is a liquid crystal display (LCD), common in laptops.
TFT is responsive to change, for example, when you move your mouse across the screen, a TFT display is fast enough to reflect the movement of the mouse cursor.

XGA, SXGA, VGA and SVGA screen
These terms indicate the screen resolution.

VGA (Video graphics array) = 640 x 480
SVGA (Super VGA) = 800 x 600
XGA (Extended graphics) = 1024 x 768
SXGA (Super XGA) = 1280 x 1024

Drives

Optical drive
You can usually choose between the following optical drives when ordering an Ergo laptop:

CD/CD-RW - A CD drive or a rewritable CD drive.
DVD/DVD-RW - A DVD drive or a rewritable DVD drive. (A DVD-RW will also write CDs)
DVD/CD-RW - A combo drive, providing you with both a rewritable CD drive and a DVD drive.

Ports and connectivity

Infrared port
The infrared port can be used to communicate with another laptop with a similar port within a short distance.

PS2 port
The PS/2 jack allows you to connect a PS/2-compatible device, such as a mouse or keyboard.

IEEE 1394 port
The IEEE 1394 port (also know as the firewire port) allows you to connect devices that utilize IEEE 1394 technology to your machine. This technology is widely used in consumer products such as digital cameras, digital camcorders and external hard drives. The port enables large amounts of data to be transferred rapidly.

USB ports
Use these ports to connect USB devices, such as digital cameras, printers and external mouse.
If you connect a USB hub, you can connect several devices at once.

Serial port
The serial post is used for connecting serial devices, such as older scanners and older external CD-drives.

VGA port
Using this port, you can attach your laptop to an external monitor for convenience or to access a larger screen. This port is also used to connect to a projector.

Parallel port
This port is used for connecting parallel devices, such as older printer models (most modern printers are connected via USB ports).

Modem port
The modem port allows you to connect your laptop to a telephone line with a standard RJ-11 connector.
Never connect the modem jack to a digital line, as the high current of a digital line could damage the modem.

Ethernet port
The RJ-45 (Ethernet) network port allows you to connect your machine to a local area network (LAN).

PCMCIA
Similar to PCI cards on desktops.
This enables you to customize your laptop to meet a wide range of application needs. Examples of PCMCIA cards include memory/flash cards, fax/modems, networking adapters, Smart Cards and wireless LAN cards.
Laptops will support either Type I, Type II or Type III cards.

802.11b / 802.11g
These are different standards for operating wireless networks.
All Ergo laptops support both 802.11b and 802.11g. Some support 802.11a.