Webeye

February 14 2008 – Laptops/Notebooks All The Way

In Hardware on February 14, 2008 at 8:25 pm

A real change is occurring in the PC market. Laptops are becoming more popular. In 2007 sales of laptops, or notebooks as they are sometimes called, was expected to be 40% of all machines sold.

Laptops, are more versatile, you can use them anywhere. With a desktop, you’re stuck sitting in front of the screen, wherever you have it placed. No going out into the garden on nice days, and writing that novel in the fresh air. We are becoming a more mobile population. Cell phones have enabled people to be contacted easily and quickly. This mobility is now being extended to the computer. People want to be able to read their email, or favourite blogs, anywhere. Laptops provide this roaming.

The increase in processor power has seen a growth in functionality available with laptops, that would normally be described as having low-end specifications. Manufacturers have discovered that people are buying the lower-end laptops. The buyers are not concerned that Microsoft’s Vista operating system is not available, or in some cases won’t run on these machines. Vista is considered to be too bloated for some of these less powerful laptops, and therefore the manufacturers are having to look elsewhere. Some of the companies building laptops have stayed with Windows XP, others have taken a slightly different route, and are releasing machines with the Linux operating system installed on them.

Recently a small machine has become available in New Zealand. It is the Asus Eee PC, is about the size of a paperback book, and uses a version of the Linux operating system called Xandros. It also comes packed with some interesting features. It has a microphone, speakers, and webcam built-in. WiFi is also provided. The real innovation is the use of a 4GB flash drive, similar to those used in iPods. There are no moving parts, so this allows fast access to the data, and makes the device rugged. There is only 512MB of memory, and it runs on a 900 MHz Intel Celeron processor, which has been fixed to run at a top speed of 630 MHz. These are not impressive specifications, but by using Xandros, Asus have made available a machine that users can surf the web, process email, use Skype, work with digital cameras, and write documents and spreadsheets in OpenOffice.Org. Admittedly the screen is small only, 7″ (about 18CM), and users will need to practise on the small keyboard before becoming adept. It is the size, and the price, under $600, that make it attractive.

Other manufacturers are taking a different route. Acer have started selling a laptop, the Aspire 4315-100508Ci, which comes preloaded with Ubuntu Linux. There is nothing unique about this laptop’s specifications. The manufacture must have realised the potential in the market for a laptop in the $600 price range, and have reacted to consumer demand.

Apple have also announced a new laptop in the USA, called the Macbook Air. This is billed as the world’s thinnest notebook. At .76″ (19.30 MM) thick, it comes with a 13.3″ (33.78CM) screen and a 80GB hard drive, and is 12.8″ (35.51CM) wide and 8.95″ (22.73CM) deep. The only problem with this device is that, true to Apple, the price is high, US$1,799.

In the middle of last year I wrote about Dell releasing Ubuntu Linux machines, but not making them available in New Zealand. Now it seems that there is a rush to provide Linux laptops, and I can’t wait to see what develops latter in the year.