What (who) is palmtop - definition

COMPUTER BUILT AROUND A FORM FACTOR WHICH IS SIGNIFICANTLY SMALLER THAN ANY STANDARD LAPTOP COMPUTER

Palmtop; Palm-size PCs; Palm-Sized PC; Windows CE palmtop; Palm-sized PC; Palmtop computers; H/PC; Windows CE Handheld PC; Palmtop computer; Handheld Personal Computer

palmtop

<computer> (Or "pocket computer", "Hand-held Personal Computer", H/PC) A small general-purpose, programmable, battery-powered computer cabable of handling both numbers and text (in contrast to most pocket calculators) which can be operated comfortably while held in one hand. A palmtop is usually loaded with an operating system such as {Windows CE}. Data can be transferred between the palmtop and a desktop PC. A palmtop is very similar to a Personal Digital Assistant though a palmptop may have a larger keyboard and more RAM and is possibly more general purpose in concept, if not in practise. The Psion Organiser is one of the best known examples. [Was it the first?] (1998-04-19)

palmtop

¦ noun a computer small and light enough to be held in one hand.

palmtop

(palmtops)

A palmtop is a small computer that you can hold in your hand. (COMPUTING)

N-COUNT

Wikipedia

Handheld PC

A handheld personal computer (PC) is a pocket-sized computer typically built around a clamshell form factor and is significantly smaller than any standard laptop computer, but based on the same principles. It is sometimes referred to as a palmtop computer, not to be confused with Palmtop PC which was a name used mainly by Hewlett-Packard.

Most handheld PCs use an operating system specifically designed for mobile use. Ultra-compact laptops capable of running common x86-compatible desktop operating systems are typically classified as subnotebooks. The first hand-held device compatible with desktop IBM personal computers of the time was the Atari Portfolio of 1989. Other early models were the Poqet PC of 1989 and the Hewlett Packard HP 95LX of 1991 which run the MS-DOS operating system. Other DOS-compatible hand-held computers also existed. After 2000 the handheld PC segment practically halted, replaced by other forms, although later communicators such as Nokia E90 can be considered to be of the same class.

The name Handheld PC was used by Microsoft from 1996 until the early 2000s to describe a category of small computers having keyboards and running the Windows CE operating system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handheld PC

Examples of use of palmtop

1. So doctors don‘t carry palmtop computers, because they transport infection as surely as a clipboard does today.

2. And when your laptop or palmtop locks onto a good signal, you can practically feel the wind in your hair.

3. "He would send information to the stone from his palmtop, and later the embassy employee would pass by and collect it from another palmtop." He said the device, a 21st century version of the "dead letter drop", had a range of up to 20m and could send and receive coded signals to or from small palmtop computers, almost identical to those available on Britain‘s high streets.

4. Footage taken from hidden cameras showed what the programme claimed were British agents walking past the small boulder and downloading classified data onto palmtop computers.

5. This is how it works÷ an overseas traveller uses Skype‘s software to dial into the public phone network on a palmtop with a wireless internet connection.