A laptop is a portable computer small enough to rest on your lap, with a built-in screen that folds down over the keyboard when you're not using it. Unlike desktop computers that stay in one place with separate monitors, keyboards, and towers, a laptop combines everything into a single compact device you can carry in a backpack.

Laptops run on rechargeable batteries, so you can use them anywhere: at a library table, on a long car trip, or outside under a tree. When the battery runs low, you plug the laptop into an electrical outlet to recharge it. Modern laptops can do almost everything desktop computers can do: write papers, create presentations, play games, edit videos, browse the internet, and run complex programs.

Students often use laptops for schoolwork and research. Engineers and designers use powerful laptops for their work. Writers carry laptops to coffee shops. Scientists bring laptops into the field to record data.

Before laptops became common in the 1990s and 2000s, portable computers were rare and expensive. Now they're standard tools for work and school, transforming how and where people can work and learn.