Notebooks becoming increasingly indispensable

Samsi Dharmawan, IT market analyst, Jakarta

Visit any of Jakarta's shopping centers and you can easily see young executives and businesspeople carrying around their notebook computers.

Sometimes they are to be found in coffee shops, where they can avail of hotspots, services provided by Internet service providers that allow users to enjoy wireless access through their laptop computers or PDAs as long as they are equipped with Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) technology.

So, sitting in a coffee shop, these young executives and businesspeople can do their work, surf the Internet and exchange e-mails.

The concept of an office has now changed. With many jobs no requiring high levels of mobility, executives often no longer need to be physically present in their offices. A report published by Business Week shows that top managers in the United States now spend only a third of their working time in the office. In the remaining time, they can run their companies from just about anywhere: their own homes, a cafe, or even an entertainment center.

In the present multimedia era, communications can be easily made by anybody, with anybody and from anywhere. More and more people have become used to working with a high level of mobility and in this respect notebooks are becoming increasingly indispensable

In the United States, notebook sales have now surpassed desktop computer sales, a fact revealed by Current Analysis, a research company, which says that the United States is now witnessing a boom in notebook sales. This company's research shows that 53 percent of all personal computers marketed in May, 2005 were notebooks. By comparison, sales of notebooks stood at 46 percent in May, 2004.

Of course, the findings of the research carried out by this San Diego company cannot be universally applied. However, they show, at the very least, that the demand for notebooks in the world is now increasing as their prices come down and their quality improves.

In the past few years, the prices of notebooks have dropped by 17 percent, while the prices of personal computers have gone down by only 4 percent.

What is obvious now is that notebooks are becoming increasingly essential for users with high levels of mobility.

Notebooks are now provided with features that can expedite long-distance working, such as the ability to capture wireless signals, more durable batteries, and so forth, including, of course, attractive designs. In the past, you might expect to get replies to your e-mails only after a few days. But now, people want to stay in contact at all times and expect their e-mails to be replied to within 24 hours.

Merle Sander, a senior analyst with research company International Data Corp. (IDC), has said that most homes are now also used as offices and as such they are provided with more sophisticated technological instruments than homes in the past. People want to be able to keep up with the latest technology so that they always upgrade their computers or even buy new ones. Even expensive portable computers are often found in the home these days.

An IDC study, which involved 33.1 million homes in the United States, shows that there are two major categories of workers who use their homes as offices. They are office workers that spend some time at home doing their jobs and entrepreneurs who run their businesses from home.

Most home workers (about 56 percent) choose light and slim notebooks. The notebooks they buy are usually those with a 15- inch monitor, a CD read-write facility and, perhaps, also a DVD player.

Next come the people who prefer notebooks with a complete set of features. Up to 33 percent of home workers opt for notebooks that possesses a multimedia feature and a wide screen.

The last group of people are the true notebook lovers. Their notebooks are really portable. Sometimes their identities may be reflected in the optic disk drive equipment in their notebooks, which is one of the ways to save space and keep the price low.

For some people, notebooks are really pleasant working companions. They are compact in design but can produce a high- level performance. As such, they can be used as mobile offices, a function that has developed further following their enrichment with various connectivity features. Thanks to these wireless data access support instruments, the users, particularly those spending more time outside their offices, can enjoy greater notebook facilities.

Notebook makers continue to improve the functions and capabilities of these particular computers to keep up with the demands of buyers. The need for a lot of power, for example, has inspired makers to develop a more durable battery system and more energy-efficient notebooks.

Meanwhile, matters pertaining to wireless access such as the threat posed by viruses, worm attacks or the activities of hackers, have inspired notebook developers to improve the security of stored data and protect the data from possible damage, virus threats or misuse by other people, including damage to the data because of physical damage to the notebook.

Toshiba, for example, has introduced EasyGuard to improve the capability of its notebook computers as well as their security systems. This technology is used in its latest products, such as the Portege M300. EasyGuard provides protection to data and has facilities for wireless connectivity. An innovation in the shock- resistance technology also protects the notebook, physically.

This technology not only provides protection but also conducts diagnoses of any damage to the computer and makes the necessary repairs, cutting the time and money needed for maintenance.

New models offer innovative features

Meanwhile, IBM has also improved the capability and security of its notebooks. ThinkPad T43, for example, is provided with various innovative features such as a fingerprint reader, a new protection layer against viruses, power management, a data recovery facility and a device to support mobility.

ThinkPad T43 also has the latest version of the ThinkVantage Technology, Rescue and Recovery 2.0 with Antidote Delivery Manager.

Rescue and Recovery is an instrument placed in an emergency system planted in the device and is prebooting in nature. With this feature, a user needs only to push one button when he faces a problem even when the main operating system of the notebook is damaged by worms or viruses. As for the Antidote Delivery Manager, this feature helps protect ThinkPad from worms and viruses. With this feature, a company can also send important updates to all its divisions more efficiently.

Before you decide to buy a particular notebook you usually have to take into account not only the technological features of the notebook but also its practical design. It is this consideration that was behind Toshiba's launch of its Libretto series, an improvement on the previous series under the same name whose production was stopped in 1999.

Fujitsu has also introduced its latest series, the P-1510, which is a convertible mini-notebook whose monitor can be folded and uses Pentium M 753 with 1.2 GHZ processor speed. This sub- notebook weighs no more than 1 kg and comes with dual batteries that can last eight to 11 hours.

Taiwanese company Dialogue Technology Corp. has also launched a lightweight 1.2-kilogram notebook called the Flybook. This notebook comes in an artistic design in six attractive colors (platinum, deep black, blue reflect, purple red, yellow cab and sea white).

It uses an old processor technology, Transmeta Crusoe TM- 5800, with a computing speed of up to 1 Ghz. Jack Lee, CEO of Dialogue Technology, has said the Crusoe processor was chosen because it is inexpensive and power efficient. The batteries can be charged in two hours.

The wireless feature that the Flybook comes with includes the GPRS feature, making it also a cellular telephone. Thanks to this capability, the Flybook has become an attractive telecommunications means for data and voice accessing.

This mini-notebook has become like a big PDA with a monitor screen measuring 8.9 inches. It is provided with GPRS access and possesses the following features: Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11B wireless capable of accessing a network at a speed of 11 mbps and an optional instrument for GPS (Global Positioning System) accessing. In addition, its wireless connectivity also comes with two FireWire rooms, a modem, an Ethernet and USB.

Telephone conversations and SMS communications can be arranged as a digital file for various purposes. The use of a SIM card in a notebook is nothing new as Zyrex introduced this use in 2002 for its product the Commander. Indeed, the Flybook was invented for those people who are highly mobile and need seamless connectivity wherever they are. It is a product that reflects the convergence and dynamism of the progress in technology.

Indeed, the development of notebooks has become critical today not only because of the technological capabilities they possess, but also thanks to their ability to replace a desktop computer and present features that until now were found only in big computers in offices and homes. A notebook offers a different perspective: it allows anybody to do computing activities anywhere and anytime.