This study was performed to evaluate the environmental impacts arising from the life cycle of laptops by collecting and synthesizing data from life cycle assessment (LCA) studies. The research results shows the impacts of laptops include ozone depletion, potential global warming, acidification, eutrophication, carcinogenicity, respiratory effects, ecotoxicity and resource depletion. In particular, the production of laptop case, integrated circuits and flame retardants causes major impacts such as ecotoxicity, potential global warming and fossil fuels depletion. Results of LCA for the entire life cycle of the laptop Actina 244C10 shows the use phase accounts for 60% of the total impact and the production phase accounts for 37%. The transport and endlife treatment accounts for only 3% of the impacts. As for Dell Inspiron 2500 laptop, the most important impact is the production phase (account for 62-70%), remaining 30-38% of the impact is from use phase. In Vietnam, there are no specific policies related to the management of laptops, so the propaganda, collection and handling are limited.

Keywords: ecotoxicity, environmental impact, global warming, laptop, life cycle assessment