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computerwriter.com
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Just the Right NoteToronto Star Fast Forward section front for April 5, 2001 Copyright © Myles White, 2001 There's been a shift in the notebook computer market over the past 18 months. Once upon a time, small portable computers, variously known throughout the years as laptops or notebooks, were predominantly sold into the corporate market.
Then and now:If we step back a mere couple of years to the spring of 1999, you can see the differences. The top-of-the-line notebook models were selling for nearly $10,000, while you would be hard-pressed to find models with two year-old technology selling for less than $2,500. Today, the top models are closer to $6,000, while there are several choices to be found for under $2,000, and some for less than $1,500. I went hunting for bargains, looking for the least expensive models by Canada's top six "name-brand" vendors (in alphabetical order: Compaq, Dell, Eurocom, Hewlett Packard, IBM, and Toshiba). And, if this sort of thing interests you, the top three vendors by shipping volume in Canada in Q4, 2000, for the corporate market, were IBM, Dell, and Toshiba, while the top three in the consumer market were IBM, Dell, and Compaq (Evans). It's also worth noting that while Compaq and HP have specifically created lines of consumer models (under the Presario and Pavilion brand names), the others have not. As you'll see by the table below, IBM and Toshiba tied for the lowest published price of $1,399. IBM's price came from its online shop, while Toshiba's is a list price, so both should be a little less through a storefront retailer (and that will be the case for everyone, except Dell). Of course, you can find more expensive notebooks than those listed.
What you get:Almost universally, these low-cost notebooks are using Intel's mobile Celeron processor, at speeds ranging from 500 to 600 MHz. The notable exception here is Hewlett Packard with its somewhat slower AMD K6/2+ processor in the Pavilion n3438. 64 MB of memory is par for the course, but Toshiba is alone in offering only 32 MB in this price range. Using graphics chipsets that utilize main system memory instead of having their own (Compaq, Eurocom, HP) may bring the price down, but it will also result in a product that doesn't perform as well as a model that has a separate memory pool for graphics when all else is equal. When this occurs in the desktop world, for example, the average performance discrepancy can be as high as 20 per cent. Thin-film transistor (also known as TFT or active matrix) LCD screens at 12.1 inches diagonal are nearly universal in this price range. However, you should note that both the Compaq and Toshiba models featured use the older (slower, and dimmer) passive matrix screens. We don't show them on our table, but you may also find notebooks in the under-$2,000 category that are closer to $1,900. They tend to have slightly faster processors (Celeron 650) and bigger hard drives (10 GB). Those in our list have storage capacities ranging from 4.8 to 6 GB. It's possible to buy a low-cost notebook without a floppy drive, but only from IBM. Everyone else ships one as a standard component. If you're looking for a Digital Video Disk (DVD) drive or a CD-RW (ReWriteable) drive, you're not shopping in the under-$2,000 category. These units almost invariably come with 24X CD-ROM drives (although one ThinkPad from IBM, not shown in our table, had a slightly larger screen, but only an 8X CD-ROM drive). Only Dell offers a low-cost notebook without a modem, while only Eurocom offers one with a built-in Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN) as standard equipment in addition to a modem. All of our models have on-board sound, but Eurocom, IBM, and Toshiba include a built-in microphone (the others have only a microphone-in port). Support for one Type III or two Type II PC cards is standard, but only Hewlett Packard advertises support for zoomed video. Likewise, only Dell advertises an S-Video (TV) out port. If you want IrDA (infrared) 1.1 support, only Dell and Eurcom advertise that they have it in these low-cost models. All of the models have ports for Universal Serial Bus, but only Compaq and IBM provide two USB ports instead of just one. It's still fairly common to find Nickel Metal-Hydride (NiMH) batteries that can suffer premature failure from "short charging." However, both Dell and Eurcom offer longer-lived Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) batteries. Only Dell offers next-business-day on site service as part of the deal. All others are carry (or ship) in. One-year warranties are standard. The units summarized here come with varying software packages (and you can get more details at the company's Web sites), but with one exception (Eurocom) they come with Windows Millennium Edition as the operating system. Windows 2000, if it's available, will cost extra. Not reported on the table is one last item. Only Eurocom supplies a carrying case for the price listed, although the others will certainly sell you one if you wish. Also not reported is the pointing device. Most companies are now using digital pads you work with your finger, although both IBM and Toshiba still cling to their "eraser-head" pointing sticks embedded in the keyboard. What you don't get:To see what you're missing by buying at the low end of the price scale, aside from a bigger hole in your bank account, you need to have a look at what's being offered at the top of the technology curve (or even a few steps up the ladder). Extra money buys you (in no particular order):
Bottom Line:One last note on the prices. They were gathered from the companies' Web sites on March 27, 2001. I've indicated whether they are online pricing from the company's e-store, or if not, exactly what the company does call them. My experience in checking prices for a wide variety of products is that a storefront retailer often (although not always) sells for less. It always pays to shop around. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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