Aptiva S Series: Machine for those with money to burn
By Zatni Arbi
JAKARTA (JP): First of all, those of you out there who have Internet access and would like to see what web broadcasting is all about shall have a special treat from Intel Corp three days from now.
On Thursday, the microprocessor giant will transmit a live web broadcast from Shanghai, China, where president and chief operating officer Craig Barret will talk about connected PCs and related business opportunities. The presentation will be broadcast directly from Shanghai, starting 9 a.m. Jakarta time.
If you're interested, the Internet address to visit on Thursday is http://www.intel.com/barret. It's a public holiday, so most of you won't be working anyway.
New Aptivas
Now let's talk about home PCs, which many vendors believe have a tremendous but untapped market potential. The Aptiva line is Big Blue's successful attempt at penetrating the home multimedia entertainment computing market. In fact, right at this moment as I am writing this article, I have an earlier model of Aptiva next to me. It belongs to a friend who works for the very newspaper you're reading, and he wants me to put the contents of his hard disk back in working order after a virus attack. No problem. Although it is only a 75 MHz Pentium system, it is a surprisingly fast and efficient machine. Windows 95 loads quickly. Applications such as Microsoft Works 4.0 are also zippy. And, oh, the speakers produce a rich, full sound capable of filling my study with dreamy Mantovani music.
Competing toe to toe against other home multimedia center kings, including the Toshiba Infinia, Compaq Presario and HP Pavilion, the latest generation of Aptivas would be more aptly called high-end toys. I saw these machines for the first time during last year's Fall Comdex in Las Vegas, but here they have just been introduced to the local market.
As you can see from the accompanying picture, the machine really has an impressive look. The color is charcoal and it is pretty. Two models are available. The lower end, the Rp 8.2 million (US$3,370) P81, boasts a 166 MHz Pentium with MMX Technology, 16 MB RAM, 3.1 GB hard disk, 256 Level 2 cache, an ATI Rage 3-D graphics card with 2 MB SGRAM, and a 15" multimedia monitor. The higher-end P91, which will set you back Rp 9.8 million, comes with a 200 MHz Pentium MMX, 32 MB RAM, and a 17" monitor.
The Split
What will immediately grab your attention is the design, which I agree is really an innovation in PC design. The CPU can be placed up to six feet away from where the monitor is. Hm, that's no big deal, you'd say. However, on top of the charcoal monitor base you'll find both the 3.5" floppy diskette drive and the speedy 16X Max CD-ROM drive. With this split design, the CPU can be hidden completely out of sight but you still can work with CD- ROMs and diskettes easily. As you might have expected, even the keyboard can be tucked underneath the monitor when not in use, thereby saving desktop space.
So, unlike all other PCs, the media drives are not found in the CPU casing. They are placed under the monitor, closer to the user. Press the CD-ROM and FDD drawer down, and it will submerge into the monitor base, which IBM refers to as the media console. Press it one more time, and it will pop up again.
In these two models, the multidome speakers are integrated into the monitor. Sufficient protection is also built in so that the screen won't jitter although you pump up the volume to a very high level. Honestly speaking, though, I still find the speakers of the older 75 MHz Aptiva a tad better in sound reproduction. The more expensive model comes with a 20-watt subwoofer to enhance bass response. This boom box is optional in the less expensive P81.
Connection ports for a external microphone, speakers, and subwoofer are all located on the monitor, so you don't have to reach behind the CPU casing to connect or disconnect them. The monitor has an on-screen menu, and you can change all the settings easily. Speaker volume can also be adjusted with a knob on the front panel of the monitor.
Other neat features from previous Aptivas are also present, including the wake-up-on-ring ability. You turn off the machine before you go to bed at night, but when somebody calls and the telephone rings a specified number of times, it will turn itself on and the bundled answering machine software will take the caller's message. Five or so minutes after he hangs up, the machine goes to sleep again automatically.
The built-in 33.6 modem is also based on a digital signal processor. But this time IBM does not use the MWave DSP like the one we found in earlier ThinkPads and Aptivas. They promise me that now we won't have any problem accessing Internet with VoiceType voice commands -- something we could not do with MWave DSP.
Among free software programs that come bundled with the system are Microsoft Works 4.0, Lotus SmartSuite 97, some education software from Edmark, an MMX-enabled game, and the World Book 1997 Multimedia Encyclopedia. What's so special about World Book is that it will never go out of date. You can refresh it every time by downloading an updated version through the Internet onto your hard disk. I hope to be able to review this encyclopedia and tell you about it in the near future.
In my recent review of the Compaq Presario 1000, I strongly complimented the inclusion of a recovery CD into the box of every new computer. Although, as my friend at The Jakarta Post can testify, there can be problems. Inexperienced users may unwittingly lose their data instantly. The manual says that all you have to do is pop the CD-ROM in and reboot the computer. Well, if you do that, the hard disk will be reformatted and an image of the original contents is rewritten on it. That means that all the software you installed after you had bought the PC will have to be reinstalled. In the meantime all your expense records are gone, and so are your document files.
My request of PC vendors is that they should add a function in the recovery CD that will automatically look for any data -- in My Documents subdirectory as well as in others -- that have creation dates later than the installation date. Also give the user an option to back them up on floppies first before proceeding with reformatting.
Back to Aptivas. IBM last year promised that home PCs would be able to function as the brain for an intelligent home. This year, the promise is not quite fulfilled in Indonesia yet, although, in the U.S., you can already buy what they call a Home Director. Using this software and hardware package, you can control the lighting in your house, preset the time you want your stereo to start playing or the time you want your air conditioner to start cooling your bedroom. IBM is now working with vendors for a local version of connector modules, which will work on 220 volt and 50 amps. These modules will also have our type of electrical plug.
My wish list
As is the case with top-of-the-line ThinkPad 760 Series notebooks, it's hard to find fault with this machine. Nonetheless, forging onto my wish list is again affordability. At this price range, it's clear that these latest Aptivas are not for most of us. IBM admits it, and they say that the older models, the ones that come in beige, will still be around for those with a more limited budget.
IBM says that the charcoal gray color is loved by many PC users. I am not one of them. Because of my limited vision, I always prefer lighter colors for the buttons on the monitor, as well as on the keyboard. To me, beige is more visible. So, next on my wish list is that IBM builds two versions of Aptivas -- one in charcoal and the other in beige.
All in all, Aptiva S Series home PCs are great machines with a split design and a split personality. A split personality because I believe it is simply too powerful -- and too expensive -- for a home PC. Nonetheless, if you do have a healthy bank account and you're looking for a rather exclusive and fancy home PC to impress your guests, this is the one you should look at.