Notebook for Mobile Workers

Onno W. Purbo

As civilization advances towards knowledge based society, it apparently degrades the old limitations & paradigm in space, time & bureaucracy. Mobility & professionalism seem to be the key characteristics of the modern professionals. Thus, access to convergence tools in information, computing & telecommunication (ICT), such as, mobile computing, notebook, personal digital assistance (PDA) & cellular phone, would be critical for mobile workers.

Notebook is definitely needed by those frequent travelers. There are four (4) class of notebooks, namely,

All-in-One Class
General Use Class
Ultra Portable / Light Class
Mininote Class

Personal Digital Assistance (PDA), Palmtop etc. 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 would need a notebook, a PDA / Palmtop and a cellular phone to move on. Please make sure a valid distributor’s warranty prior to buy one, rather than rely on black market mechanisms.

In general, most notebooks are in general-use class, some leaning towards ultra portable / light class. Depending on its available options and, consequently, price, certain type of notebooks may be focused on low-end, mid, and, high-end market. New entry low-end notebooks, mostly in general or all-in-one class, may be obtained at around US$1000-1400.  There are not many known all-in-one class, one of the example is Toshiba Satellite 1800 series.

The new mid-end general-use class normally comes with 64Mb RAM, 10Gb disk, 24x CD-ROM, 2-3 hours battery life. It would cost around US$1,200-1,900. Those who wish to find low cost notebooks may look to Taiwan made general-use notebooks, such as, Twinhead efio 3200. It costs around US$1200 for PIII 866MHz, 64MB RAM, 10GB disk or US$1400 for PIII 1GHz, 128MB RAM, 20GB disk. For branded notebook, Toshiba 1800 & 2800 seems to be the low-end & economical choice in general-use class.

Ultra portable class has a minimum screen size of 11-12”, 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 few mininote class have been produced, to name a few, Toshiba Libertto (10.3” screen) & SONY C1 Picturebook (8.9” TFT screen & built-in MotionEye camera) are some of it. It relies on simpler CPU generation or special type CPU such as Transmetta as used in Libertto. As expected mininote class is a small & light (around 1 kg) weight notebook with no cooling mechanism as used in larger notebooks.

More advance high-end notebook which normally more expensive would lean towards ultra portable / light class with all the luxuries. High-end notebooks may cost more than US$2000 and more likely in US$2500 ranges. 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, 5-8 hours battery life, integrated 802.11b WLAN, infrared etc. Module bay is normally used for warm-swappable peripherals. 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 the higher speed 1.13GHz Intel Pentium III processor (based on Tualatin 0.13 micron technology) code name Pentium III-M should be available in the market by at least August 2001.

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

Based on notebook top product survey conducted at http://www.shopping.yahoo.com, we may find the top five (5) notebooks are 1. Sony VAIO PCG F690, 2. Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600, 3. Toshiba Satellite 1735, 4. Sony VAIO Z505LS, and 5. Apple iBook. Sony seems to work hard on catching up Toshiba. Toshiba would not be easy to catch with more than 20 million notebook sold since 1985. According to IDC 2000 report, Toshiba held 14.2% market share worldwide, followed by Compaq 12%. Toshiba re-affirmed its world number one position again in the year 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 best after sales service with piles of stock in parts / components in long period more than five (5) years period. A practical way to probe is by asking around the average repair time and the availability of old parts & components in the service center. The one with shortest repair time & plenty old parts / components would be your best bet. In Indonesia, one may easily contact these centers at apkomindo@yahoogroups.com mailing list.

In general use class, we’ll find abundant type of machines. In the low-end segment, we may find Toshiba Satellite 1800, 2800, 3000 series & Acer Travelmate 520. In middle & 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. 64Mb RAM, 10Gb disk, RGB video out, USB port, 24x CD-ROM drive, 12” TFT screen seem to be common for most mid-end general use class notebook. Wireless communication 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 & Satellite 3000 comes 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 & Satellite Pro 4600 models comes with 15” TFT screen. Some models of Satellite 2800, 3000 & Satellite Pro 4600 comes with CD Writer (CDRW) needed to burn data into CD-ROM. Satellite 3000 series comes with Smart Media Slot, and 3 USB ports.

In ultra portable class, we may find Compaq Evo N400C, Sony R505 SuperSlim Pro, Sony SR series, Toshiba Portege 3490. FireWire port including the necessary software, e.g., Adobe PhotoDeluxe, ArcSoft Photo Printer, QuickTime, Sony Movie Shaker, Sony Dvgate, Sony Media Bar, Sony PictureGear, Sony Smart Capture & Sony VisualFlow, seems to be common in all Sony models in attempt to beat Apple in multimedia notebook.

In high-end general-use class, we will find Sony FX series, HP Omnibook 6100, Apple PowerBook, Compaq Presario, IBM T23 & 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, FireWire port seem to be common for high-end machines. Apple PowerBook comes with 256MB RAM, two USB ports & 8MB video memory. Sony FX series is a slim high-end ultra portable notebook with all facilities included. Longer operation time is obtained by Lithium-Ion Battery & Secondary Battery (Optional). The HP Omnibook 6100 is a high-performance thin-and-light two-spindle notebook. It runs on the fastest Mobile Intel Pentium III-M 1.13 GHz with up to 1GB RAM. Long battery life up to 8 hours with a second Li-Ion battery in the module bay; 5 hours on the rechargeable 8-cell Li-Ion primary battery. Integrated 802.11b mini-PCI wireless LAN capabilities (depending on configuration). Professional, stylish and durable magnesium display cover that can withstand up to 30 pounds of pressure, in a package that weighs approximately 5 pounds (depending on configuration) and measures 1.26 inches thin. Warm swap front-loading module bay for 8X DVD-ROM, 24X CD-ROM, FDD drive, CD-RW, Zip, second hard drive and additional battery.

For those who wish to learn more on these notebooks may find valuable information on http://www.toshiba.com, http://www.twinhead.com, http://www.twinhead.com.tw,  http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio/index.html, http://www.ibm.com, http://www.dell.com, http://www.hp.com/notebooks/us/eng/index.htm, http://www.apple.com,  http://www.compaq.com/showroom/notebooks.html as well as various user’s survey sites at http://www.shopping.yahoo.com or Internet mailing list, such as, apkomindo@yahoogroups.com.