Wide choices for mobile professionals

By Onno W. Purbo

JAKARTA (JP): As civilization advances toward a knowledge- based society, old limitations and paradigms in space, time and bureaucracy could be diminished.

Mobility and professionalism seem to be key characteristics of modern professionals. Thus, access to convergence tools in information, computing and telecommunications, such as, mobile computing, notebooks, personal digital assistance (PDA) and cellular phones, will be critical for mobile workers.

A notebook is definitely needed by frequent travelers.

There are four classes of notebooks: all-in-one, general use, ultra portable/light and mininote.

PDA, Palmtops and others are in the class less then mininote. In some cases, it would be difficult to categorize one machine in one of these classes.

In most cases, mobile workers need a notebook, a PDA/Palmtop and a cellular phone to be truly mobile.

In general, most notebooks are in the general-use class, with some leaning toward the ultra portable/light class. Depending on its available options and, consequently, price, certain types of notebooks may be focused at low-end, mid and high-end markets. New entry low-end notebooks, mostly in general or all-in-one classes, may be obtained for about US$1,000 to $1,400. There are not many known all-in-one class notebooks, one example is the Toshiba Satellite 1800 series.

The new mid-end general-use class normally comes with 64Mb RAM, 10Gb disk, 24x CD-ROM and a two- to three- hour battery life. It cost about $1,200 to $1,900. Those who wish to find low- cost notebooks may look to Taiwan-made general-use notebooks, such as, Twinhead efio 3200. It costs about $1,200 for PIII 866MHz, 64MB RAM, 10GB disk or $1,400 for PIII 1GHz, 128MB RAM, 20GB disk. For branded notebooks, Toshiba 1800 and 2800 seems to be the low-end and economical choice in the general-use class.

Ultra-portable class has a minimum screen size of 11" to 12", the CPU type used is normally one level lower than the general- use class, light-weight is the ultimate objective in the ultra- portable class. Sony seems to concentrate in multimedia-ready ultra-portable class.

Only a few mininote class have been produced, including, Toshiba Libertto (10.3" screen) and SONY C1 Picturebook (8.9" TFT screen and built-in MotionEye camera). They rely on a simpler CPU generation or special type CPU such as Transmetta, as used in Libertto. As expected, the mininote class is a small and light- weight (about 1 kg) notebook with no cooling mechanism as used in larger notebooks.

More advance high-end notebooks, which are more expensive, would lean toward the ultra-portable/light class with all the luxuries.

High-end notebooks may cost more than $2,000 and are more likely be in the $2,500 range. High-end users may be spoiled by all the goodies, such as, wide 15" TFT active screen 1024-by-768 pixel resolution, processor Intel Pentium III 900MHz and up, 30+ GB disk, up to 1 GB RAM, 8x DVD-ROM / 24x CD-ROM / CD-RW, five to eight hours battery life, integrated 802.11b WLAN, infrared, etc.

Module bay is normally used for warm-swappable peripherals. A high-end notebook is actually a server in a notebook. New advanced notebooks, such as HP Omnibook 6100, IBM T23 and Dell Inspiron 8100, based on a higher speed 1.13GHz Intel Pentium III processor (based on Tualatin 0.13 micron technology), code name Pentium III-M should be already available in the market now.

Powered by a non-Intel processor, i.e., PowerPC G4; Apple Computer creates the Apple iBook and PowerBook in the notebook arena. It may run Microsoft tools and Linux as you wish, although, it comes with MacOS. The PowerPC G4 processor capable of executing over one gigaflop, Apple may be the best choice in graphical and multimedia capability with Sony acting as its most hostile challenger.

Based on a notebook top-product survey conducted at www.shopping.yahoo.com, the five top notebooks are Sony VAIO PCG F690, Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600, Toshiba Satellite 1735, Sony VAIO Z505LS and Apple iBook.

Sony seems to work hard on catching up with Toshiba. Toshiba is not easy to catch, with more than 20 million notebook sold since 1985. According to an IDC 2000 report, Toshiba held a 14.2 percent market share worldwide, followed by Compaq 12 percent. Toshiba reaffirmed its world number one position again in 2000 for both worldwide and ASEAN/India.

To be honest, it would be a difficult task to choose the best model among these fine machines. The trick is to find one with the best after-sales service with piles of stock in parts/components in long period, more than five years.

A practical way to investigate is by asking the average repair time and the availability of old parts and components in the service center. The one with the shortest repair time and plenty old parts/components would be your best bet. In Indonesia, one may easily contact these centers at apkomindo@yahoogroups.com mailing list.

In the general-use class, we will find an abundancy of types. In the low-end segment, we may find Toshiba Satellite 1800, 2800, 3000 series and Acer Travelmate 520. In middle and high-end section, we may find Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 series, Toshiba Tecra 8200 series, IBM T20, Dell Inspiron 8000, Apple iBook, Compaq Armada E500 and Compaq Armada M700. Including 64Mb RAM, 10Gb disk, RGB video out, USB port, 24x CD-ROM drive and 12" TFT screen seem to be common for most mid-end general-use class notebooks. Wireless communications are included in Apple iBook (Airport) and some models of Satellite Pro 4600 (802.11b), Tecra 8200 (802.11b). Some models, such as, Apple iBook 500MHz PowerPC G3 and Satellite 3000 come with iLink (IEEE 1394) a.k.a. FireWire port for transferring handycam movie to your PC with the needed simple video editing software included. High-end Satellite 2800 and Satellite Pro 4600 models come with 15" TFT screen. Some models of Satellite 2800, 3000 and Satellite Pro 4600 come with a CD Writer (CDRW) needed to burn data into CD-ROM. Satellite 3000 series comes with Smart Media Slot, and 3 USB ports.

In the ultra-portable class, we find the Compaq Evo N400C, Sony R505 SuperSlim Pro, Sony SR series and Toshiba Portege 3490. a FireWire port, including the necessary software, seems to be common in all Sony models in an attempt to beat Apple in multimedia notebooks.

In the high-end general-use class, we will find the Sony FX series, HP Omnibook 6100, Apple PowerBook, Compaq Presario, IBM T23 and Dell Inspiron 8100. 15" TFT XGA display, FDD, DVD-ROM, 128-256MB RAM, 20-30GB disk, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet, 56K internal FAX-modem, USB port, PCMCIA slots, A FireWire port seems to be common for the high-end class.