Desktop originally refers literally to the surface of a desk. The noun has been adopted as an adjective to distinguish among office appliances which can be fitted on top of a desk, as contrasts with a larger piece of equipment which covers its own area on the floor. Examples are:

• A Desktop photocopier, a smaller photocopier for individual use, compared with the professional models.
• A Desktop computer, a personal computer different from that in a "tower" computer case designed to sit on the floor, and also different from a portable laptop or "notebook computer".

The information technology term desktop may refer to:

• The area behind the windows in the desktop metaphor of computer user interfaces
• Desktop environment or software that provides a comprehensive computer user interface
• A client piece of software is sometimes referred to as desktop to distinguish it from server

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