Drivers First Laptops & Desktops



  1. Drivers First Laptops Refurbished
  2. Drivers First Laptops For Cash
  3. Drivers First Laptops For Seniors
  4. Desktop And Laptop Computers

The first wave of laptops with AMD's Ryzen 5000 H-Series mobile processors are available starting today. The processors are built on AMD's Zen 3 architecture and are built to deliver solid gaming. Laptops GS65 Stealth 9SE. Gaming Mouse Driver × 2018cookiesLaw19. MSI Reward Program. The ASUS ZenBook Pro is a professional-grade thin-and-light laptop with state-of-the-art components. It combines unprecedented performance with unrivalled style without compromise. Our team of technicians test every custom gaming computer with a series of stress-tests and benchmarks that analyze the processor, memory, graphics cards, storage, and even the power supply. Once the gaming PC passes these tests, a second technician verifies them before sending the computer to our quality assurance team.

Many computer hardware components, like a video card, sound card, or motherboard, require drivers to be installed to function properly. How a driver is saved and packaged determines how it is installed. Below is information about each of the methods developers use to distribute their drivers and install them in Microsoft Windows. Additionally, there are some general insights to help prevent frustrations during the process.

Tip

In most situations, the drivers are installed after the hardware has been installed or connected to the computer. If you need help installing hardware, see: How to install computer hardware.

Drivers from a CD or DVD

Almost all computer and hardware manufacturers include a group of drivers for different hardware devices and often for each of the supported versions of Windows. For example, the driver CD you receive with your printer likely contains the drivers for many different printers and may not have the printer you purchased. When installing the drivers, make sure you are install the drivers for your printer and not another printer model. Also, make sure you are installing it for the version of Windows you are running on your computer.

Below is an example of how a file structure may look on your disc.

For example, if you had a PrinterA200 and were using Windows XP, you would find your drivers in the PrinterA200WinXP folder. Once the location of the drivers is found, you must determine how the drivers are packaged. If the folder contains executable files or a setup file, you can install the driver using an executable. If the directory contains .inf files, you can install the driver using an inf or use the 'have disk' option during the install.

Tip

If you have a CD with drivers, but the computer has no functioning disc drive, you can also download the drivers. Or, if you have access to another computer, you can copy the drivers from the CD to a USB flash drive. For help with copying files, see: How to copy files.

Installing drivers from a USB drive or floppy

After the drivers are copied to a USB flash drive, floppy, or another drive, they can also be installed from that drive. Once the drive is connected to the computer, open Windows Explorer and then the drive letter for the computer drive. For example, if you have a USB drive that is assigned the E: drive when connected, you would open the E: drive.

Once the drivers are found on the drive, you must determine how the drivers are packaged. If the directory contains executable files or a setup file, you can install the driver using an executable. If the directory contains .inf files, you can install the driver using an inf or use the 'have disk' option during the install. If the drivers are compressed into a .zip file, you need to uncompress the file.

Downloading and installing a driver

Tip

If you have not yet downloaded the drivers, you can find drivers for your computer through the computer or device manufacturer. For links to the websites of prominent computer hardware manufacturers, see our hardware drivers index.

Tip

If you're downloading drivers to install on another device, you can copy or extract the files to a USB flash drive and connect it to the other computer.

After the drivers are downloaded, you must determine how the drivers are packaged. If the directory contains executable files or a setup file, you can install the driver using an executable. If the directory contains .inf files, you can install the driver using an inf or use the 'have disk' option during the install. If the drivers are compressed into a .zip file, you need to uncompress the file.

TipDrivers First Laptops & Desktops

When extracting the drivers, remember where the folder containing the drivers is located since it needs to be known during the driver installation process. We recommend extracting files to a folder on the Windows desktop, as it's an easy place to remember.

Installing a driver from an executable

Today, many computer and hardware manufacturers are pre-packaging their drivers into executable files or have the drivers installed through the setup file. Double-clicking the executable or setup file should install the drivers to the computer for you.

Note

The executable may be packaged in a compressed file, which means before looking for the setup file, it needs to be uncompressed. For help with uncompressing a file, see: How to extract or decompress a compressed file. If, after uncompressing the file, it still doesn't contain an executable file, setup file, or doesn't install your hardware device, continue with the below recommendations.

Drivers First Laptops & Desktops

Finally, if you're successful with installing your drivers and the computer asks to reboot the computer, make sure to reboot the computer after the driver is installed.

Using the 'have disk' option to install drivers

A computer or hardware manufacturer may place the drivers on a CD, diskette, or folder on the hard drive for Windows to find and use during its hardware detection. Below are steps on how to install drivers for a new device and upgrade a device's driver for this setup.

First

Installing a new device

  1. Open the Windows Device Manager.
  2. In the Device Manager, make sure the device you are attempting to install is not already listed from past install attempts. If the device is found, highlight and remove it from Device Manager to prevent any conflicts during the install.
  1. Once Device Manager looks okay, reboot the computer.
  2. As the computer is rebooting, an Install new hardware wizard should appear if Windows detects the new hardware. Using this wizard, point Windows to the folder containing your drivers on the CD, diskette, USB flash drive, or the folder containing the files you downloaded.

If Windows does not detect any new hardware, open the Control Panel and double-click the Add hardware icon to run the hardware detection wizard. During the steps, you have the option to install custom Windows drivers from a location on disk. Choose to load drivers, then select the folder containing the drivers for your device.

Note

The 'Add hardware' icon is only available in Windows XP and prior versions of Windows.

Once drivers are installed, reboot the computer.

Upgrading drivers for a pre-existing device

  1. Open the Windows Device Manager.
  2. In the Device Manager, locate the device you want to update.
  3. Right-click the device and click Properties.
  4. In the Properties window, click the Driver tab.
  5. Click the Update Driver button.
  6. In the Hardware Update Wizard, point Windows to the location of the updated driver files on your hard drive.

Once drivers are installed, reboot the computer.

Drivers First Laptops Refurbished

Install a driver using a .inf file

Finally, if the above recommendations don't work, the installation instructions for drivers and hardware devices can be contained in the driver .inf file.

Locate the .inf file for your version of Windows. Right-click that file and choose the option for install.

Drivers First Laptops For Cash

Note

Make sure you install the correct .inf file and not a .inf file for another device or a different version of Windows.

Drivers First Laptops For Seniors

Once you have right-clicked and installed the driver, reboot the computer.

One of the above three recommendations should have installed or updated the drivers successfully onto the computer. If you are still having difficulties getting the device to install, it is possible you are not encountering a hardware issue and not an issue with the drivers. Refer to the troubleshooting steps for your hardware device for additional help and information.

Additional information

  • See the driver definition for further information and related links.

Desktop And Laptop Computers

YearEvent
1975The first portable computer was the IBM 5100, released in September 1975. It weighed 55-pounds, which was much lighter and more portable than any other computer to date. While not truly a laptop by today's standards, it paved the way for the development of truly portable computers, i.e., laptops.
1976Alan Kay came up with the idea of the laptop computer in 1976 while working at Xerox PARC, calling it the Dynabook. He helped develop a prototype of his Dynabook, which was officially named the Xerox Note Taker.
1979Bill Moggridge designed the GRiD Compass in 1979, the most portable computer at the time and the closest example of a laptop computer. NASA used the GRiD Compass in their space shuttle program in the early 1980s.
1981Developed by Adam Osborne in April 1981, the Osborne I was the first truly portable computer and is recognized as the first true laptop computer. It weighed 24½-pounds and had a 5' display.
1981Epson released the Epson HX-20 in 1981. It was the first portable computer with a built-in printer.
1983Radio Shack released the TRS-80 Model 100 portable computer in the United States in 1983. It featured an LCD, one of the first portable computers with that feature. The TRS-80 Model 100 was originally manufactured by Kyocera and sold in Japan, but later the rights were sold to Radio Shack.
1984Commodore released the Commodore SX-64 in 1984, the first portable computer to feature a full-color display screen. It weighed about 20-pounds and sold for $995.
1986IBM released their first laptop, the PC Convertible, in 1986. It weighed 12-pounds, making it the first laptop under 15-pounds.
1987The U.S. Air Force issued an RFP (request for proposal), leading to the purchase of over 200,000 laptops. The contract for the manufacturing and purchase of these laptops was awarded to Zenith Data Systems. The Air Force's purchase of such a large number of laptops helped pave the way for the popularity of laptop computers.
1987Hewlett-Packard released the Vectra Portable CS laptop in 1987. It was one of the first laptops to feature a 3 ½' floppy disk drive capable of using 1.44 MB diskettes.
1988Compaq released their first laptop computer in 1988, the Compaq SLT/286. It was the first battery-powered laptop to feature VGA graphics and an internal hard drive.
1989Apple released their first laptop, the Macintosh Portable, in September 1989. Costing $6500 at release, it did not sell well and was not a popular laptop.
1989NEC released the NEC UltraLite in 1989, considered to be the first notebook style laptop, weighing less than 5-pounds.
1991After the flop of their Macintosh Portable laptop, Apple re-worked their laptop concept and released the PowerBook line of laptops in October 1991.
1992Microsoft and Intel worked together to develop and release APM (advanced power management) specification for laptop computers.
1992Olivetti developed and released the first laptops featuring a touchpad in 1992.
1994IBM released the ThinkPad 775CD in 1994, the first laptop to feature an integrated CD-ROM drive.
2002Toshiba released the Toshiba Portege 2000 in 2002, the thinnest laptop to be developed at only ¾ of an inch at the thickest part. It also featured the first 1.8-inch hard drive in a laptop.
2003Toshiba released the Toshiba Portege M100 in 2003, which is the first laptop to feature a slim DVD-ROM drive.
2007ASUS released the Eee PC 701 in October 2007, which was the first netbook to be available. It featured a 7' screen, an Intel Celeron-M processor, and a 4 GB SDHC storage disk.