Mobile |
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by Chuck Horowitz |
I have been requested to include a summary (and my opinion?) when I tell you about evaluations printed in other publications, and I will implement this suggestion in future columns. I recommend that you read the article by John Moore in the January issue of...
... Mobile Computing & Communications entitled "Speed Limit:133." This article looks at the performance of 46 Pentium/133s. He does not rate the machines, he just gives you the specifics, from the model name to the starting price.
Computer Connections America (Bedford, MA) has a shuttle storage device with a carry handle that connects to either an SCSI or an enhanced parallel port. The device is a CD-R drive and comes in a 2X or a 4X model.
Axonix Corporation (Salt Lake City, UT) makes the ProMedia 8XR, an 8 speed, top-loading, portable CD-ROM drive with a transfer rate of 1.2 MB per second. The drive supports Windows 95 (32-bit plug-and-play) allowing the unit to be attached when the power is on. It weighs 20 ounces and requires no AC adapter or battery. A PC Card interface cable and a "phantom power cable" that transfers power from your notebook are included. Be prepared for a shorter duration for your notebook's battery, though.
SCM Microsystems (Los Gatos, CA) makes the SwapSmart PC Card Reader/Writer. The compact reader connects smart cards through a Type II PCMCIA slot. The unit is available for Windows 95, DOS and OS/2.
Techmedia Computer Systems Corporation (Garden Grove, CA) has the Technote S3000 notebook with a 133 MHz Pentium processor, a 12.1 inch SVGA TFT LCD screen, full-duplex sound, infrared communications and full PCI architecture. The unit has Zoom Video ports, upgrade capability on the processors and hard drives and simultaneous access to CD-ROM and floppy drives. It comes with a 1.44 MB hard drive, 16 MB of EDO RAM and a 6X CD-ROM drive.
S.T. Research Corporation (Newington, VA) makes the Ultimax 4000, a 486DX2/66 palmtop computer with 4 MB of Flash RAM, 8 MB of DRAM (expandable to 32 MB), two Type III PC Card slots and two bi-directional RS232 ports (Serial). The unit is 2.5 X 8 X 6 inches and weighs 3 pounds. It has a 6 inch diagonal VGA color or monochrome backlit display, a full 81-key backlit QUERTY keyboard with raised tactile keys, and automatic power management.
Hitachi PC Corporation (San Jose, CA) has the MX-Series notebooks with a mini-dock, a U.S. Robotics 33.6 Kbps cellular-ready modem and a 10BaseT Ethernet LAN port. The unit has swappable CD-ROM, floppy drives and an extra battery. This is a 150 MHz Pentium with 256 KB Level 2 cache, 16 MB of RAM (expandable to 80 MB), a 2gig hard drive and two Type II or one Type III PCMCIA card slots, integrated side-ported stereo speakers, Sound Blaster Pro compatibility with wave table and 3D audio capability. It has 2 MB of VRAM, a 64-bit graphics accelerator, a 12.1 inch TFT, SVGA display, a 8X CD-ROM drive and a Zoomed Video port.
Viking Components (Laguna Hills, CA) has ATA flash PC Cards using the standard PCMCIA format that are Type II cards for notebooks, PDAs, digital cameras and PC Card readers. These cards hold from 2 to 40 MB and can store digital photos.
All Computer Technology (City of Industry, CA) makes the ND5126TM with 155 MHz Pentium processor and swappable MO (magneto-optical) and 6X CD-ROM drives. The system also has a 12.1 inch TFT SVGA display, sound system, a removable 3.5 inch floppy disk drive, a 2.5 inch hard drive and a removable 87-key keyboard with built-in touch pad, up to 32 MB of EDO DRAM, 256 KB level 2 cache, a PCI local bus graphics accelerator with 2 MB of EDO RAM, 16-bit stereo sound (Sound Blaster and Microsoft Windows sound compatible) and a Yamaha OPL 320-voice FM music synthesizer (with microphone).
Everex Systems, Inc. (Fremont, CA) has a 150 MHz Pentium notebook with 16 MB of EDO RAM (expandable to 48 MB), a 12.1 inch active-matrix color screen (with Zoom Video), a removable 230 MB MO (magneto-optical) drive and Windows 95 software.
Fujitsu PC Corporation (Milpitas, CA) makes the LifeBook 600 series. These units include a 38.8 Kbps fax/modem, 150 MHz Pentium, 16 MB of RAM (expandable to 48 MB), 32-bit PCI bus architecture, 256 KB of Level 2 cache, a 1.3gig hard drive, 12.1 inch active-,matrix color screen, 2 MB of VRAM, a 6X CD-ROM, 16-bit Sound Blaster compatible stereo sound and MPEG 1 video playback support for full-motion video acceleration. There is a mini-docking station with two Type II or one Type III Card slots and an Ethernet port.
IBM Personal Computer Company (Somers, NY) and Hitachi PC Corporation (San Jose, CA) are offering video conferencing for notebook computers using a notebook, a digital camera and an ISDN adapter card. This system enables users to video conference over ISDN networks. IBM plans to offer video conferencing with standard telephone service networks next year.
Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, WA) has produced the Windows CE (Consumer Electronics) operating system for "Handheld PCs." Six manufacturers producing devices for this market are Casio, Inc. (Dover, NJ), Compaq Computer Corporation (Houston, TX), Hewlett-Packard Company (Cupertino, CA), LG Electronics USA, Inc. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), NEC Computer Systems Division (Mountain View, CA) and Philips Electronics (New York, NY).CE is designed to run on 32-bit microprocessors, on a subset of the WIN32 API. Microsoft has also developed a personal information manager (PIM), a word processor (Pocket Word), a spreadsheet (Pocket Excel) and Internet-standard e-mail and WEB browsing functions. Wynd Communications Corporation (San Luis Obispo, CA) has introduced WyndlMail, a national wireless communications services which offers Internet e-mail, faxing, paging and voice messaging, all of which work on the Windows CE operating system.
Many other applications currently exist for the Windows CE operating system including a developer's kit, forms, mapping, healthcare, communications, word processing and handwriting recognition.
Chuck Horowitz is a HAL-PC member. He can be reached at 281/486-6043, FAX 281/486-6053 or at brisassoc@aol.com.