Many Electrical Connectors Present on Modern Laptops are Rarely Used but Could be Invaluable if Their Functions are Understood

Many laptop computer owners will not observe that the average laptop has several electrical connectors intended for connection to many different input & output devices. By understanding some of the many functions of these ports the laptop computer can be much better made use of.

Most laptop computer owners could quite possibly recognize a USB port that is available on nearly all modern laptop computers, however USB 1, USB 2 and USB 3 are all available. The USB 1 and USB 2 ports look the same having 4 pins inside a rectangle slot. The USB 3 is the latest addition having 9 pins inside a rectangular slot. Basically, the slowest is the USB 1 and the quickest is the USB 3, however, USB 1 and USB 2 are pin compatible so that gadgets may be interchanged. USB 3 is the latest design, but is not pin compatible with the USB 1 and USB 2 connections. The USB ports are definitely the most flexible connectors on a laptop computer, enabling connection to the most variety of input devices from a RAM drive to a WI-FI dongle etc. Usually, connection can be made successfully with the the least effort, merely installing the software driver and linking the device.

A few of the latest laptop computers possess a HDMI connector to connect the laptop computer to a modern day TV. The vast majority of older laptops use a VGA video output connector to output the video signal to a lot of regular TVs. The HDMI can be identified as having an oblong connector with a couple of rows of pins, one of 9 pins, one of 10 pins making a total of 19 connections. The VGA connector can be identified as being rectangular with rounded ends and having three rows of 5 pin holes. The advantage of the HDMI connector is that more connections are used to interface the laptop to a Television or monitor resulting in better picture quality.

Audio connectors are recognized as small round holes. The simplest is a phono or jack connector either mono or stereo. There could be a variety of additional audio connectors related to microphone input or line input or line output connectors; these are typically clearly labeled next to the connector.

Most laptop computers have a network connector sometimes known as a RJ45 connector. This could be identified as a square connector with 8 metal pins; there is a catch that holds the cable into the connector. Normally, this is used to connect the laptop computer directly to a network or to a router box allowing internet connection. There is a slightly smaller version of the connector with only 4 pins that is often found on older laptops to connect them to the internet via a phone line.

Whenever inserting an cable great care must be taken to ensure that the plug is not inverted as damage to a laptop computer connector is expensive to mend and may render the laptop completely useless.