Computing away from the desktop

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): In the 1970s, when personal computers began appearing (think Radio Shack's TRS-80, Commodore's PET or Apple II), no one would have thought that we would be able to compute anywhere, at any time.

How could they have?

Those were the days that were considered to be the real McCoy, when computers filled an entire room, from floor to ceiling.

But then in 1981 Osborne Computer made Osborne 1, the first portable computer that they sold for US$1,795 - almost twice that in today's money. It was portable, but you would have needed a lot of muscle to tote it around as it weighed a hefty 23 pounds, or 10.5 kilograms (kg). It was also not IBM PC-compatible, as IBM had only just introduced the PC that same year.

Despite the tremendous success of the IBM PC, which became a de facto standard in personal computing, Big Blue did not make any portable model until much later.

It was Compaq -- a company founded by Rod Canion, Jim Harris and Bill Murto in February 1982 -- that made the first portable PC. Launched in November of the same year, the Compaq Portable used an Intel 8088 processor with a clock speed of 4.77 MHz. It came with 128 KB of RAM, which was one-thousandth of what today's mainstream PCs normally have in the boxes. Do you want to know what the weight of this US$ 2,995 machine was? Twenty-eight pounds, or about 12.6 kg.

IBM's first Portable PC arrived in 1984, two years after Compaq's model had been launched. It still used the Intel 8088 processor, and it came with 256 KB of memory. The screen was a 9- inch amber CRT. If you think the Compaq Portable was heavy enough, IBM Portable PC was two pounds heavier.

By the time IBM made its first laptop, which had two 3.5 inch floppy drives but no hard disk, a number of other companies had already been selling theirs. IBM's laptop was called the IBM PC Convertible. It was the first battery-operated PC, it came with an LCD and it weighed 5.4 kg. These laptops were a breakthrough, because, unlike the portable computers, people could use them -- although not for many hours -- where there was no electricity.

Other laptops on the market then included the ones from Zenith, Toshiba and NEC. As you can imagine, the tiny LCD screen on these laptops was much harder to read than the one found in current notebooks, and their batteries did not last as long as today's. These computers were called laptops because they were lighter than the portables -- or luggables -- and therefore you could place one on your lap as you worked.

However, it would have been hard to imagine that people could really have worked like that for more than an hour, though. The term "notebook" was still unknown.

The first portable Macintosh did not appear until 1989. In the same year, Compaq introduced the Compaq LTE and LTE 286, which were considered the first full-featured notebook computers. They were both able to run off their battery, and they had their own hard disk. In the beginning, a computer would usually be considered a notebook if it had the length and width of a letter- sized piece of paper and if it could fit into a regular-sized briefcase.

Two years later, most other computer makers already offered their own notebook computers. The top two notebook makers today are still Toshiba and Compaq. However, Acer, Asustek, Dell, Gateway, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Sharp and Sony are also other notebook brands that have garnered a lot of fans. At one point, we also saw notebooks from Korea, such as the ones made by Samsung, but they seemed to have less resilience to be able to survive the highly competitive marketplace.

IBM launched its new line of notebooks, called ThinkPad, in 1992. Since its birth, ThinkPads have always come in rectangle boxes and in black.

In the 10 years that followed, notebook computers came in different sizes and specifications. They came as ultra-portables, subnotebooks, mini-notebooks and many other models. Users have always been torn between usability and compact size. Smaller, thinner and lighter notebooks are easier on the shoulder, but may be harsher on the eyes or have less capability.

Bigger notebooks -- now with screens exceeding 15 inches when measured diagonally -- are usually heavy and cannot really be termed the road warrior's favorite.

What are the features that you should look for when checking a new notebook at a store?

The standard features should include one or two PC-Card slots, a CD-ROM drive (a DVD ROM or a CD-RW drive would be preferable) and a floppy diskette drive for installing new software or storing data. A notebook should also have a multimedia capability -- a microphone, at least one speaker, a mike jack or an audio in-line jack and a headphone jack.

Today, a notebook should also come with a built-in 56K modem that can be set to comply with different phone line specifications used in different countries.

It should also have a built-in Ethernet card. An infrared port used to be considered the standard, but now we have better alternatives such as the 802.11b -- or Wi-Fi -- and Bluetooth transceivers.

What accessories can you buy for your notebook?

If you have a LAN, you might consider either a docking station or a port replicator. The former is more complete than the latter, and therefore it costs more. With a docking station, you can have an additional hard disk, an additional CD-ROM, a full- sized keyboard, a regular mouse, a larger monitor, etc., all of which are integrated with or permanently connected to the unit. Each time you want to work at your desk, all you will have to do is place your notebook on it, and you will be working as if you were working on a regular desktop computer.

When you are ready to leave, you just need to press a button and the notebook will slide out. A port replicator only provides you with a permanent connection to the LAN, the printer, etc., so you will not have to bother plugging and unplugging cables. Just snap the port replicator into the back of the notebook and you will be ready to access your LAN or download your file to your printer. Of course, if your notebook already has the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth wireless capability, life will be much easier, as you won't really need the port replicator. Toshiba Tecra 9000 Series and Protigi 4000 Series have both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth features.

What are some of the latest technological breakthroughs that we can find on today's notebooks? For one thing, despite its portability, a notebook's screen is not really readable when used outdoors.

NEC (www.neccomp.com) has incorporated its own solution into its Versa Daylite notebook. The screen can still display clear images and text, even if you look at it under direct sunlight. Thanks to NEC's Advanced Illuminated Reflective Display technology, golfers now can compute their handicaps right there and then. People who need longer battery life and who do not really care about speed can now choose notebooks with processors made by Transmeta. Called Crusoe, the processor consumes less power than Intel's. At present, it seems that Crusoe is not really ready for prime time yet. Still, Crusoe processors can already be found in Toshiba's Libretto L1 and NEC's Versa UltraLite, for example.

If you insist on the zippiest performance on the road, however, you should stick to Intel Mobile Pentium or AMD Athlon 4 mobile processors.

There are also specially built notebooks on the market. Panasonic, for example, has been making rugged notebooks that are intended for use in a harsh environment, such as a military operation. Its ToughBook 28 has a full magnesium alloy, moisture- resistant case, in addition to a removable hard disk mounted on a shock-absorbing gel and a case made of stainless steel. Like the NEC Versa Daylite, the ToughBook's transreflective screen is also designed for daylight use. This notebook is designed for various wireless features too, including the 802.11b and Global Positioning System (GPS). It certainly sounds like a hummer of a notebook.

Notebooks are becoming more and more popular. According to Gartner, this year 30 million of them will be sold worldwide, accounting for 20 percent of the total number of PC sales. IDC puts it at 24 percent.

One of the key driving factors is the fact that business organizations have realized that giving their employees a notebook instead of a desktop computer will increase their productivity. Another factor is the fact that the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a notebook has come down significantly, although it is still around 60 percent more than the TCO of a desktop version.

Notebooks are much better built now, and therefore the repair cost throughout their life cycle has generally come down. Finally, despite its slow progress, telecommuting is also driving up the popularity of notebooks.

And, according to IDC, the proportion of notebooks in the PC market can only continue to rise. Now, let's see whether IDC is right.