Six months after the introduction of its OmniBook 5000 - its first Pentium-based notebook computer - Hewlett-Packard has created the even more powerful notebook PC, OmniBook 5500. Weighing in at three to four kilograms, the OmniBook 5500 runs with a Pentium 133 megahertz chip. The new notebook adds a quad-speed CD-Rom drive, and a 12.1-inch, viewable-image VGA active-matrix colour display. HP's architecture includes full implementation of peripheral component interconnect (PCI) in all subsystems. The docking system enables high-speed networking and accelerated video graphics. Multimedia is highlighted, with 16-bit soundblaster-compatible stereo sound and a Midi/joystick port. The four megabits per second infrared port gives fast access to network resources and printing without cables or adapters. This technology comes at a price. Listed at HK$60,850, the OmniBook 5500 is not a light purchase, but that is because it is a heavyweight notebook. It is the power user's notebook aimed squarely at the desktop replacement segment of the market. HP still offers its lightweight OmniBook 600C and 600CT, the subnotebook class of machines with the pop-out mouse. The release of a Pentium 133MHz machine has given HP a model to compete against products from Compaq, Toshiba, Digital and Texas Instruments, companies that have raced their notebook-optimised 133MHz Pentium microprocessor designs to market since March this year. The new machine is significant not only for its new cursor pointing device but for the assembly of the heavyweight OmniBooks at its Singapore plant. Previous models of the HP higher-end OmniBook lines were built with a trackball under a sub-contract basis by original equipment manufacturers in Taiwan. The new OmniBook 5500 has a pointing stick device in the centre of the keyboard, first popularised by IBM and its design partner Lexmark in the ThinkPad and LexBook notebooks.
