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SCMP Reporter

Why buy a desktop PC when you can get the same power and performance packed into a portable, lightweight package? Why, indeed.

 Today's top-of-the-line notebook computers can do everything that your desktop PC can do.

 Today's notebook PCs are:  Fast - 150 MHz to 166 MHz Pentium MMX processors at the top of the line.

 Heavy on storage - many of today's notebooks boast two gigabytes of hard disk space.

 Easy on the eyes - 13.3-inch active-matrix screens are almost as big as 15-inch desktop monitors.

 Multimedia-ready - 10x CD-Rom drives, graphic accelerator chips and speakers are becoming standard.

 Inexpensive - powerful Pentium 120-133 MHz models are being sold for less than $9,000.

 And the timing is great.

 Early this month, leading vendors such as Hewlett Packard, Acer, Toshiba and Apple all slashed prices on their notebook PCs, some up to 20 per cent. Other makers are following suit.

 Not that Hong Kongers need to be sold on the merits of notebook computers.

 Dataquest's Cherry Velarde said about 25 per cent of all computer purchases - about 70,000 - were notebook computers, a higher percentage than any other country in Asia.

 If this convinces you, then the question is: what notebook PC is best for you? Well, it depends on what is most important to you.

 Here are some of the most important factors and a list of some outstanding notebook PCs in each category.

Absolute power Notebook PCs used to lag badly behind their desktop counterparts in power and performance.

 Top notebook PCs always trail desktop computers by two upgrade cycles. Notebook Ram also was more pricey, and components like hard disks and CD-Rom drives were all much slower.

 The result? Slow 486 machines that tended to crash when Windows 95 placed too many demands on them.

 That is not true with today's top notebooks. Their 150 MHz to 166 MHz Pentium MMX processors can handle easily anything Windows 95 throws up.

 They also come with external (L2) memory caches, which store commonly used commands for faster access, of 256 or 512 kilobytes.

 And with relatively cheap Ram these days, a lot of notebooks are coming with a standard 32 megabytes of Ram.

 Desktop PCs always will be faster than notebook PCs of the same processor speed. Their motherboards have larger memory caches and wider paths for data to travel through.

 Unless, however, you are doing some serious number-crunching or video game-playing, today's notebook PCs, even without the MMX enhancements, are more than fast enough for typing, databasing, Web surfing - basically, anything short of 3-D computer animation.

 Recommended PCs: Apple PowerBook 3400C (PowerPC 603E 240 MHz, 40 MB Ram); AST Ascentia P80 (Pentium 166 MMX, 32 MB Ram); Compaq Presario 1082 (Pentium 166 MMX, 16 MB Ram); Texas Instrument 670CDT (Pentium 166 MMX, 16 MB Ram); Toshiba Satellite 460CDT (Pentium 166 MMX, 32 MB Ram); Toshiba Tecra 740CDT (Pentium 166 MMX, 32 MB Ram).

Size matters With monitors, size matters. My old notebook PC with the 8.4-inch screen used to hurt my eyes from too much squinting.

 My wrist ached, too, from the extra mouse scrolling I did as my 640 x 480 pixel screen could not fit the whole width of a Web page.

 Notebook PC screens are now at least 11.3-inch or a 12.1-inch size, with Super VGA (800 x 600 pixels).

 Even better are the notebooks offering 13.3-inch screens and XGA resolution (1024 x 768 pixels).

 These 13.3-inch screens give you the same actual viewing area of 15-inch desktop monitors.

 For those who really want to maximise their monitor real estate, 14.1-inch screens, with actual viewing areas of 17-inch CRT monitors, will be ready by Christmas.

 Make sure your display also is an active-matrix, or TFT (thin-film transistor), screen. TFT screens are brighter and easier on the eyes than passive matrix, dual-scan (DSTN) screens.

 However, some vendors like Toshiba are introducing higher-quality, passive-matrix screens rivalling TFT screens in quality.

 Recommended PCs: Digital HiNote Ultra 2000 (14.1-inch XGA active-matrix), Hitachi VisionBook (13.3-inch XGA active-matrix), NEC Versa 6200MX (13.3-inch XGA active-matrix can be hooked up to a simultaneous 1600 x 1200 external display), Sharp WideNote W100T (11.2-inch XGA active-matrix screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio that lets you view two pages at a time).

 A final note: it is common for notebook PC screens to arrive with some defective pixels or to develop problems during the warranty period.

 Before you buy, ask about the manufacturer's dead-pixel policy, make sure they will replace your screen if it has one, five, or 10 dead pixels.

Buying on the cheap The way to get a notebook PC bargain is to have restraint and an elephant-like memory.

 For example, remember how the ads just six months ago screamed about the blazing-fast speed of the Pentium 120 MHz notebook PCs?  Well, these same notebooks are now being sold at bargain prices.

 Take the Compaq Armada 1130, which was introduced about nine months ago for about $20,000.

 Today, you can buy this PC, loaded with a Pentium 120 MHz processor, a 10.4-inch DSTN screen, 1 GB hard disk drive, for a mere $8,888.

 Notebook PCs rarely last more than nine months on the market, with their prices eventually cut to little more than half of their original price by the end of the cycle. That means plenty of Pentium 120 MHz to 133 MHz notebook PCs introduced last year are being cleared out by retailers to make space for the next batch of higher-powered machines.

 Granted, these computers do not have MMX, and their screens are usually DSTN.

 Unless you plan to play a lot of games or watch movies on your notebook PC, consider these to be relatively minor disadvantages.

 Recommended PCs: AcerNote Light (Pentium 133, 11.3-inch DSTN screen, 1.4 GB hard disk,) about $13,500; Apple PowerBook 1400CS (PowerPC 603E 117 MHz, 11.3-inch DSTN screen, 750 MB hard disk) about $15,000; Compaq Armada 1130 (Pentium 120, 10.4-inch DSTN screen, 1 GB hard disk) about $9,000; IBM Thinkpad 380 (Pentium 150, 12.1-inch DSTN screen, 1.08 GB hard disk) about $13,000; Texas Instruments 570 CDT (Pentium 100, 10.4-inch TFT screen, 1.2 GB hard disk) about $10,000; Texas Instrument TravelMate 6020 (Pentium 120, 11.3-inch TFT screen, 1.08 GB hard disk) about $12,000; Toshiba Satellite 220CDS (Pentium 133, 12.1-inch DSTN screen, 1.35 GB hard disk) about $14,000.

Sound and vision If watching movies, listening to CDs, and playing animation-intensive video games are part of your plan, then consider a multimedia-ready notebook PC.

 What do you need? First, a Pentium MMX processor.

 Second, a big TFT screen.

 Third, a fast CD-Rom drive (10x or faster).

 Fourth, a graphics accelerator chip (either 64-bit or 128-bit) with 1-2 MB of video Ram. Finally, excellent built-in speakers with 16-bit stereo sound.

 Recommended PCs: AST Ascentia P80 (Pentium 166 MMX, 12.1-inch SVGA TFT screen, 64-bit PCI graphics accelerator and 2 MB video Ram, 10x CD-Rom drive); Compaq Presario 1082 (Pentium 166 MMX, 12.1-inch SVGA TFT screen, 128-bit PCI graphics accelerator, 10x CD-Rom drive); Dell Latitude LM M166ST (Pentium 166 MMX, 12.1-inch SVGA TFT screen, 128-bit graphics accelerator, 10x CD-Rom drive); Toshiba Tecra 530CDT (Pentium 166 MMX, 12.1 XGA TFT screen, 64-bit graphics accelerator and 2 MB video Ram, 16-bit stereo sound, 10x CD-Rom drive).

Endurance is key Nothing is more irritating than having your notebook PC run out of power on a trans-Pacific flight before the peanuts even arrive.

 Wimpy nickel cadmium batteries were the problem. Not only did these batteries have limited storage, but they also suffered from a 'memory effect' which caused their maximum charge to shrink.

 Today's notebook PCs are using either nickel metal hydride or lithium ion batteries.

 Besides storing more energy, these batteries do not suffer from the memory effect.

 However, the bigger TFT screens and faster processors also demand more energy from the battery, which has cancelled most gains from battery technology.

 However, here are a few notebook PCs with superior battery life (timed by PC Magazine): AcerNote Light (four hours) AcerNote Nuovo (seven hours) AST Ascentia P80 (3.5 hours) Texas Instrument TravelMate 7000 (seven hours).

Notebook retailers interviewed for this report: ComputerStore (2865 1938) Notebook Collection (2735 7770) PC Warehouse Holdings (2882 5999) PC Zone (2851 1760).

BUYER'S GLOSSARY Cardbus - the slot where credit card-sized modems and other devices are inserted to connect with the PC. It is the successor to the PC-Card standard, which succeeded the PCMCIA standard. The cardbus can transmit at fast speeds of up to 132 Mbps.

 DSTN - Dual-scan super-twisted nematic is the older version of LCD screens. Displays are not as bright as TFT screens, but require less power.

 IrDA - infrared wireless connection enabling PCs to send data without cables.

 L2 External Cache - stores commonly accessed commands and data for faster processing by the CPU. Typically 256 or 512 kilobytes, but sometimes omitted as they generate heat.

 Li-Ion - Lithium ion batteries which hold the longest charge.

 MMX - MultiMedia eXtensions. Enhancements to Intel's Pentium processor enable it to handle graphics and sound faster.

 NiCd - Nickel cadmium batteries. The weakest type, now obsolete.

 NiMh - Nickel metal hydride batteries. Hold more charge than NiCd batteries, but gradually being phased out.

 SVGA - screens with 800 x 600 pixel displays.

 TFT - Thin-film transistor. These LCD screens are brighter than DSTN screens and can be viewed from more angles, though they use more energy.

 USB - Universal serial bus. A new type of connector which is faster than regular serial port connections.

 VGA - screens with 640 x 480 pixels.

 XGA - up to 1,024 x 768 pixels.



When size really matters