n, which leaves PCMCIA slots free for other components.
Some laptops have a 3.5" floppy drive and a CD-ROM drive; however, many laptops have one kind of drive or the other. That keeps costs down but could oblige users to obtain cable-connected external drives. As it is, many laptops use cable-connected ZIP drives. On the rear of laptops are a variety of cable-connector ports, to accommodate printer, mouse, disk drive, or speaker cables. The exact configuration varies with computer, which is why it is important to have an idea of what computer functions are needed so that the capabilities of every machine can be evaluated on an informed basis.
System bus/expansion bus. The term bus refers to computer power and electronic "interfaces." All PCs these days have a system bus built into the unit; only die-hard computer hobbyists stuck in 1978 need worry about that component. Expansion bus is also a slightly antique term, but today a mark of a good computer is its expandability properties, or upgrade capacity. The power supply, a transform
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