A notebook to show off when making presentations

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): If Rosalinda had bought a SCENIC Mobile 800 as a birthday gift for Fernando Jose, he would have most likely considered a matrimonial reunion with her. This big notebook, the top end of Siemens' SCENIC Mobile line of Intel-based notebooks, would definitely stop any computer aficionado in his tracks the moment he saw it. Unless he was in a real hurry to get to the men's room, of course.

No, it's not a notebook with no shortcomings, but we'll tackle those later. Let's start with the great features, first. The magnesium casing, with a silvery finish, really steals the show. Add to it a 14.1 inch sharp LCD display with a resolution of 1024 x 768 and 262.144 colors. There's an Y/C output port that will allow you to pump video signals out to a TV monitor. It has 128 MB SDRAM as the standard configuration, but it can hold up to 512 MB of memory, making your presentations sail smoothly. It has a 6.3 GB hard disk. The two FlexiBays can accept peripherals such as a DVD ROM drive, a Zip drive, an extra battery and an extra hard disk. There is one slot for a Type II PC Card and another for a Type III card. The latter can also accommodate a Type II PC Card. Unfortunately, however, it has no integrated modem.

Another unique feature is its detachable keyboard, which I believe is still the only one currently available. When it is placed on the notebook, the tiny rechargeable battery is charged. When it is taken off the base, an infrared connection will be used to send whatever characters we type or any movements on the responsive touch pad to the computer. An LCD on top of the function keys row displays a number of standard indicators, including whether or not the infrared is out of line with the port. If you believe that you're more productive when you're relaxed, put the keyboard on your lap and you can lean back in your chair about three meters away from the unit and continue to work.

On the right side there are audio ports for a line in, line out and microphone. There are two PS/2 ports, too, so that you can connect an external keyboard and a PS/2 mouse to it at the same time. Other notebooks usually have only one such port, so that when you attach an external keyboard you'll have to use the serial port for the external mouse.

This notebook's other strong point is security, which is certainly necessary considering its price (US$4,000 to $5,000, depending on configuration). First, every SCENIC Mobile notebook has a unit ID number (even my faithful, entry-level SCENIC Mobile 300 has one). Security on the SCENIC Mobile 800 is strengthened with a chipcard reader and a smartcard called Sycript. Take the card from its slot, which is located underneath the keyboard, and nobody can use the notebook. You have to insert the chipcard into the slot and enter your PIN number before the notebook will boot. In the future, the card reader will even be able to be used for homebanking.

I like the Synaptics TouchPad used on this notebook. We can set quite a few parameters to make using it very convenient. The sensitivity of the pointing device can be adjusted so that it will know if we inadvertently place our palm on the pad while typing, and it won't move the cursor. This solves a problem that many notebook users have with their touch pads. There is also the edge motion function that will continue to push the cursor forward in the same direction when our finger has already reached the edge of the pad. Tapping on the pad can also mean selecting an object on the screen, and we can tell the pad how hard we would like to tap for the feature to work.

I requested a chance to test drive this model when it first came out last year, but until last week I didn't get a chance because a number of Siemens' customers wanted to try it out. When my turn finally came, Siemens Computer Systems (formerly Siemens Nixdorf) had an updated version called SCENIC Mobile 800 AGP. As the name indicates, it features the latest AGP technology to deliver improved 3-D graphics. The new generation also boasts a hard disk with up to 14 GB capacity, eight MB Video RAM and, of course, the newer 366 MHz or 400 MHz Intel Mobile Pentium II processor.

Downsides

Actually, the flaws I've found are very minor compared with the superb workmanship of this notebook. The power switch is still placed on top of the keyboard while most other notebook makers have moved it to the side of the notebook for easier access. Thus, on a SCENIC Mobile 800 you'll still have to raise the cover to turn it on or off.

A more serious flaw is the missing separate Home and End keys. To use Home or End, we have to press and hold down the Fn key first and hit PgUp or PgDn. Given the ample keyboard real estate, I wish Siemens had provided separate keys for these functions, which we use a lot in our work. The Enter key is a little bit too far to the right while the Ctrl key is a tad too far to the left -- even for my relatively long fingers. Perhaps Siemens can reduce the size of each key cap and place them closer together. Apart from these minor problems, the full-sized keyboard itself is very comfortable to use.

At about 3.8 kilograms (including the floppy diskette and CD- ROM drives), the weight may not make this notebook a star among road warriors. However, the very sturdy build will withstand a lot of abuse. Heat dissipation is very good, and the notebook didn't feel hot even after I had played a couple of VCDs on it. It's a perfect presentation tool, and when you take the SCENIC Mobile 800 with you to make a presentation, the notebook itself will be a highlight.

Clearly, the SCENIC Mobile 800 is not for everyone, and that makes it a powerful statement in and of itself, especially if what you want to do is impress your clients. If you want a portable yet potent machine to replace your powerful desktop, this masterpiece is an excellent candidate. But, to be honest, it's not the right one for your weeklong business trips involving many airport transits.

Last Aug. 24, Siemens signed a contract with Fujitsu and the result was a joint venture called Fujitsu Siemens Computers. Like Siemens, Fujitsu also makes great notebook computers. So, it seems that we will have a lot of interesting computer products from Europe to look forward to starting next month.