Mobile |
 |
by Chuck Horowitz |
Don Trivette's article, "How to buy Notebooks," in the February issue of ComputerLife, looks at nine multimedia notebooks.
All of them have at least a 120 MHz or a 133 MHz Pentium processor except for Apple's PowerBook. He evaluated the notebooks based on his particular needs and desires (which coincidentally are similar to mine). Speed was not a deciding factor, although he only evaluated machines with a 120 MHz or 133 MHz Pentium processor (except of course for the PowerBook with a 117 MHz processor). However, multimedia (CD-ROM drive) was a must, along with a good sized hard drive, removability of components, sound quality, batteries and pointing device.
All nine machines have a minimum of 16 MB of RAM, a color screen (either Dual-Scan or active-matrix), 810 MB hard drive (to 1.26 GB), a 4x CD (up to 10x), Sound Blaster Pro, Track Point or Touchpad device and weighed between 6.2 and 7.4 pounds.
He rates the IBM ThinkPad 365XD and the Toshiba Satellite Pro 435CDS highest (although for different reasons) and all of the others are rated the same (also for different reasons).
Sager Computer (City of Industry, CA) makes the NP6500 with a 200 MHz Pentium processor, a 10X CD-ROM drive, 256K Level 2 Pipeline Burst Synchronous cache, 1.5 MB EDO RAM PCI Bus Video, 128-bit graphics accelerator with PCI Bus, PCI local bus hard drive controller, 16 MB of EDO RAM (expandable to 64 MB), a removable 1 Gigabyte hard drive (with 1.3 and 2.1 Gigabyte optionals), a 12.1 inch active-matrix SVGA screen, modular 3.5 inch floppy drive (swappable with a battery or hard drive), 16-bit stereo sound with speakers and microphone, built-in Touchpad, two Type II or one Type III PCMCIA slots (with Zoom Video support), infrared wireless Fast IR interface, 2 serial ports, 1 parallel port, keyboard port, CRT port and a port duplicator connector. All this and only 7.9 pounds with the battery.
Here's an interesting general note. Intel has built a supercomputer for the Department of Energy that can perform more than one trillion floating-point operations per second. Called the TeraFLOPS computer, it weighs 44 tons and takes up 1,728 square feet of floor space (I guess it won't fit in your briefcase. I wonder what the mobile version would weigh). It has 7,264 standard 200 MHz Pentium processors and is scheduled to have 9,260 200 MHz Pentium processors when it is completed. At a cost of $50 Million, I don't think we're going to see too many of these around. I guess I'll wait for the mobile version.
Twinhead Corporation (Milpitas, CA) has the Slimnote 9 notebook computer with a 150 MHz Pentium processor, user-installable memory up to 64 MB, an integrated 10X CD-ROM drive, an integrated 3.5 inch floppy disk drive, a 2.1 Gigabyte hard drive, a 12.1 inch SVGA active-matrix color screen, 16-bit full duplex stereo system, a ZV-enabled (Zoom Video) PC Card slot, a 64-bit graphics accelerator with 2 MB of video memory and an optional 33.6 Kbps fax/modem. All of this comes in less than a two inch thick unit that weighs 6.5 pounds. Twinhead can be reached at 800-995-8946.
AMS Tech (Irwindale, CA) makes the Travel Pro 2000 CX, a 150 MHz Pentium notebook with a 13.3 inch color display (that's 1024 X 768 at 65,000 colors), 2 MB of Video RAM, wave table synthesis, a 10X swappable CD-ROM (smart bay for dual battery, CD or floppy), video capture (TV and live videos), a 2.1 Gigabyte hard drive, 16 MB of RAM (expandable to 80 MB), a lithium-ion battery with dual battery support, Zoom Video support, a 33.6 Kbps internal fax/modem and a fast wireless connection. The unit weighs 6.7 pounds and has a price of $4,695. AMS Tech can be contacted at 800-891-6808.
Have you heard about virtual-imaging fax? Reflection Technology (Waltham, MA) has created the FaxView 2000, a pocket sized fax viewer measuring 3" x 5" x 1.5" and weighing less than eight ounces. The FaxView produces an image equivalent to a 12 inch screen, as seen from 2 feet. With a 9,600-bit/sec fax modem (adequate over a cellular channel), you can both send and receive a fax. The FaxView 2000 sells for $349. You can reach Reflection Technology at 800-670-4329.
It seems as though everyone is reviewing hand-held computers and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) these days. Scott D. Koegler has a review of nine devices in the March issue of Mobile Computing and Communications. I'm not going to go into any details of the article here, suffice it to say that US Robotics Pilot still comes out ahead. Scott also likes the Psion 3c. US Robotics (Palm Computing Division) can be contacted at 800-881-7256 and Psion Software Ltd. at 508-371-9611.
Transmonde Technologies, Inc. (Cerritos, CA) makes the Vibrant-133T, a 133 MHz Pentium processor notebook with 32 MB of RAM (expandable to 64 MB), 2 MB of Video RAM, a 64-bit HIQVideo graphics accelerator, 256 KB of Level 2 cache, a PCI bus, a 1.4 Gigabyte hard disk, a 12.1 inch TFT display (800 X 600 resolution at 256 colors), swappable floppy or 6X CD-ROM drives, NiMH (nickel metal hydride) or an optional lithium-ion battery, a 4-Mbps IR (infrared) port, 16-bit Sound Blaster Pro compatible sound system, 2 integrated stereo speakers, a 33.6 Kbps internal fax/modem, external video connector (1024 X 768 resolution at 256 colors), stacked Type II PC Card Slots, a touchpad pointing device, hardware volume control and I/O ports (serial, parallel, USB, keyboard, mouse, NTSC, microphone, audio in and out, and floppy disk drive ports). Transmonde can be reached at 800-656-2780.
Port, Inc. (Norwalk, CT) now has the DEFCON 1, an anti-theft device that does not need to be chained to anything other than the unit you want to protect. The device has a stainless steel cable and uses motion sensor technology, along with a battery powered combination locking system to protect your notebook and carrying case. The device sells for $49.95. Port can be contacted at 800-831-5824.
Chuck Horowitz is a HAL-PC member.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.
Back to the Magazine Home Page