A desktop traditionally refers to: * The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor) Desktop may refer to various computer terms: *

Desktop computer A desktop computer (often abbreviated desktop) is a personal computer designed for regular use at a single location on or near a desk due to its size and power requirements. The most common configuration has a case that houses the power supply ...

, a personal computer designed to fit on a desk **

Pizza box form factor In computing, a pizza box is a style of case design for desktop computers or network switches. Pizza box cases tend to be wide and flat, normally in height, resembling pizza delivery boxes and thus the name. This is in contrast to a tower s ...

, a design of computer case * Desktop metaphor in computing, the area behind the "windows" in a graphical user interface for the operating system **

Desktop environment In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphica ...

, software that provides a comprehensive computer user interface ** Remote desktop software, software that allows a personal computer's desktop environment to be run remotely on one system *

Client (computing) In computing, a client is a piece of computer hardware or software that accesses a service made available by a server as part of the client–server model of computer networks. The server is often (but not always) on another computer system, in ...

, sometimes referred to as a ''desktop'' to distinguish a Client from the Server * Desktop (word processor), a program for Sinclair ZX Spectrum and compatible computers

See also