Q: What is the difference between laptop and notebook PCs, if any? (via Quora)
A: There is a difference, although in casual use the terms are more or less interchangeable now.
Strictly speaking, laptops are larger portables with full-sized keyboards or nearly so. Screens generally are larger, too; 17″/43cm is a typical size, with some even larger. Many laptop PCs can be used as desktop replacements, doing just about everything a full-sized tower or deskside PC used to do.
Notebooks are smaller portables, with reduced-sized keyboards and smaller screens. They are often less powerful that their larger cousins.
There’s also a third category: Netbooks, with smaller-still keyboards and screens; and even greater performance reductions.
Today, netbooks have mostly been replaced by tablets, and the terms notebook and laptop have somewhat blurred.
But in general, when thinking of portable PCs, think laptop=larger.
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It’s worth pointing out that “laptop” is a terrible name (I can remember when they were called “desktop replacements”). The one place you shouldn’t use a laptop is on your lap; or any soft surface, come to that.