bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

IF you are thinking about buying a notebook computer, probably the best places to start looking are the Silvercord Centre or Star Computer City in Tsim Sha Tsui, or the Golden Centre Shopping Arcade in Shamshuipo.

  All three of these renowned computer plazas in Kowloon offer the full range of notebooks.

  One of the newer models on the market is NEC's UltraLite Versa series. The Versa 20 is a monochrome machine running at 20 megahertz (MHz). A 25 MHz version comes in monochrome and colour models.

  Its CPU is a 486SL processor with eight kilobytes (KB) of cache memory and built-in numeric co-processor. It has a standard four mebabytes (MB) of random access memory (RAM), upgradeable to eight MB, 12 MB or 20 MB; 256 KB flash ROM; one MB video RAM.

   It comes with a removable 2.5-inch hard disk drive of 80 MB, 120 MB, 180 MB or larger if available; there is also a removable 1.44-MB 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and secondary battery slot.

  The displays can be either super VGA colour or monochrome.

  The colour models come in dimensions of 297 x237 x53 mm and weigh 3.1 kilograms; while the monochrome model weighs 2.8 kg. It also has a removable a battery pack which can last between 2.5 and five hours.

  All this for about $25,00.

  Texas Instruments, another major notebook, has a range of models in the TravelMate 486 series.

  Bottom of the range is TI486SLC running at 25 MHz, with two MB RAM expandable to a maximum of six MB; and one KB of internal cache.

  It has a 60-MB hard disk and a 1.44-MB 3.5-inch floppy disk drive.

  It has VGA colour monitor, MS-DOS 5.0, Windows 3.1, and weighs 2.5 kg. It is priced at $13,000.

  Further up the range is the WinDX2/50. For $26,000, it runs on a 486DX2 processor at 50 MHz.

 The machine comes with eight MB standard memory expandable to a maximum of 20 MB; eight KB of internal cache; VGA colour monitor; 200 MB hard disk and 1.44 MB 3.5-inch floppy drive. It weighs 2.5 kg.

  Next up the range is the WinSX/25 Colour for about $22,000.

  It has a 486SX processor with 25 MHz speed. The standard memory is four MB going up to a maximum of 20 MB. It has an internal cache of eight KB; VGA colour monitor; 120 MB hard disk; 1.44 MB 3.5-inch floppy drive; and weighs 2.9 kg.

  AST is another maker who weighs in with two PowerExec EL notebooks. In this range, the 386 costs $16,800, and 486 goes for $32,000.

  The 386SL runs at 25 MHz, and comes with two MB or four MB standard memory; 3.5-inch 1.44-MB disk drive; 2.5-inch removable hard drive (60 MB, 80 MB, 120 MB, 160 MB, and 200 MB choices are on offer).

  It has 640x480 VGA resolution and weighs 2.68 kilos.

  The Sharp PC-7750 notebook has a 486DX processor running at 33 MHz; eight KB cache, math co-processor; four MB RAM expandable to 20 MB; 124-MB hard disk; and 3.5-inch 1.44-MB floppy drive.

  It has a 25-cm VGA display supporting 64 grey shades; rechargeable battery; MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1. All for about $16,800.

        Compaq has come out with its Contura series. The 4/25CX has a 486SL microprocessor running at 25 MHz with integrated eight KB cache and numeric processor; colour display; four MB system memory expandable to 20 MB; and 120-MB hard disks; 3.5-inch 1.44-MB floppy drive.

  With a built-in trackball, it weighs three kg and is priced at about $25,000.

  IBM's PS/note N45 SL has a 386SL running at 25 MHz; 64-KB cache; maths coprocessor socket; two-MB standard memory expandable to eight MB; 80-or 120-MB hard disk; 3.5-inch 1.44-MB disk drive.

  It weighs 3.1 kg and is priced at $9,800.

   An IBM 486SLC2 50-MHz processor with VGA, four-MB RAM, 160-MB hard disk and weighs three kg. It costs $22,900.

  The IBM486SLC runs at 25MHz, and comes with active matrix screen, four-MB RAM, 120-MB removable hard disk weighing 3.1 kg and costs about $28,000.

  IBM's 486SLC2 runs at 50 MHz, has an active matrix screen, four MB of RAM, 160-MB removable hard disk, integrated trackpoint, and weighs 3.1 kg. It costs about $36,000.



Guide through buyer maze