Toshiba Launches P4 Notebooks

Toshiba has released a new line of notebook computers with Intel's new mobile Pentium 4 chip.

The new consumer Satellite 5105 and Satellite Pro 6100 for mid-sized business customers will ship with 1.7GHz mobile Pentium 4 chips built on Intel's NetBurst architecture, said Masa Okumura, director of portables and worldwide product planning for Toshiba's Computer Systems group.

Toshiba will also use the chip in the Tecra 9100, aimed at corporate users.
The faster processors should help speed various multimedia applications such as streaming video and gaming. In addition, the Pentium 4 chip includes hyper-threading technology that can let one chip appear as two processors to the operating system, helping a PC-run numerous applications at once.

While the Pentium 4s do increase software performance, Okumura said that with normal usage battery life would be about 15 minutes to 30 minutes shorter with the new chips. Users should expect around two hours of battery life with normal usage.

The Satellite 5105 comes with a LCD touchpad call the cPad. Located on the main body near the keyboard, the cPad has a black and white display that allows users to launch applications such a calculator or clock and to input signatures.
Users can set their own grayscale pictures as the cPad's background and customize the control panel to run various programs, Okumura said.

The Satellite Pro 6100 is targeted at small and medium-sized businesses and touts 256M bytes of DDR SDRAM memory, a 40G byte hard drive and Nvidia's GeForce4 420 Go GPU. The notebook also includes built-in support for 802.11b and Bluetooth wireless technologies.

The Satellite Pro 6100 arrives in mid-March, starting at $2,399.The high-end Tecra 9100 also ships with 802.11b and Bluetooth support, along with 256M bytes of DDR SDRAM memory and 40G byte hard drive. The notebook starts at $2,829.

AMD Athlon XP for Notebooks

Extending its focus on the mobile computing market, AMD, the microprocessor major, has introduced its new Mobile AMD Athlon XP Processor.

The new processor is based on AMD's state-of-the-art 0.13 micron technology featuring AMD PowerNow, power management solution and QuantiSpeed architecture, that offers optimal performance of Windows XP operating system.
The new product is targeted at the notebook manufacturers. This new product has been evolved as a next generation processor incorporating the winning features of both Athlon XP and its earlier mobile processor Athlon 4 processor 1600+.

"Mobile AMD Athlon XP Processor is available in India. But we do not expect the Indian market to show great sales as there are very few notebook manufacturers in the market here. But if there are manufacturers who want to use this new product, it is available for them," said Rahul Singh, Senior Market Specialist, AMD India.

Sharp has already announced notebook PCs in Japan based on this processor, while Compaq has been using Athlon 4 processor 1600+ for it laptops.

The Mobile Athlon XP processors 1400+ and 1500+ are being shipped in the beginning of this quarter. While models 1600+ and 1700+ are expected by later this quarter.

This product is seen in direct competition to Intel's recently launched Mobile Pentium 4. According to some resellers in Delhi, AMD's Athlon processors for desktops have been seeing a good market response due to its pricing and speed, which they claim is nearly 20 times that of Pentium 4.

According to an IDC analyst, the launch of this mobile AMD Athlon XP processors will help AMD consolidate its position in the consumer market and will help thrust it into the mobile computing arena.

Lightweight Notebooks From Compaq

Compaq Computer India has launched two lightweight notebooks, the Evo N200 and Evo N600c for SMEs and large corporate bodies.Ravi Swaminathan, director, Access Business Group said, "With the addition of these two new offerings, Compaq today has the largest portfolio of mobile computing products in the country. We believe, our competitive pricing strategy, broad portfolio of mobile computing products, and dedicated distribution channel of 'Compaq Mobile' stores across the country will help us capture significant market share in the mobile computing market".

The Evo N200, powered by the ultra low voltage mobile Intel Pentium III 700 MHz processor, is ultra-light at 1.13 kg notebook and can operate more than 6.5 hours without having to recharge the batteries.

The portable has a 10.4-inch color display, 192 Mb SDRAM memory and a large 20GB hard disk at a price of Rs 1,44,900.

The Evo N600c comes with MultiPort technology that provides a superior platform to integrate next generation wireless technology such as Wireless LAN and Bluetooth. The notebook weighs around 2.2 kg and is powered by a mobile Intel Pentium III 1.06 GHz or 866 MHz processor.

The Evo N600c includes a 14.1-inch color display, 128 Mb SDRAM memory, an ATI Radeon graphics controller and 64 bit video graphics with 16 Mb DDR SDRAM for increased color depth and graphics performance.

A special feature of the Evo N600c, priced at Rs 1,75,900, is its MultiPort technology, that allows users to connect using multiple wireless standards such as wireless LAN or Bluetooth for networking by simply changing out the MultiPort module.

The new Evo notebooks will be available through Compaq's network of authorised distributors and resellers.

Apple Bets on Notebooks

Focuses on prosumers and education segments
Apple Computer will continue to bet on notebooks as it sees good growth in this segment in the next few years.

Parminder Singh, marketing manager of Apple, said, "We believe that the notebook market will increase by leaps and bounds in the next 3 years with new users in prosumer and education segment acting as catalysts for this growth."
The Prosumer, a combination of consumer and professional was coined by Apple and denotes a customer who is technology savvy.

Rubbishing claims that Apple is not doing well, Singh said, "We are profitable in the markets we chose to address, viz., creative and education."

According to Apple, the education sector and biotechnology labs have been its major customers. Its strategy is to ensure that its products have the widest reach and usage in these segments.

In addition to its flagship products, the IMacs and the PowerMacs, it had launched its Powerbook in February this year and targeted it at corporate segment.

Powerbook 400 is priced at Rs 1,82,600 and the Powerbook 500 is for Rs 2,48,800. According to Singh, response from the reseller community to the Powerbook launch has been good.

Apple has Ingram Micro and Neoterique as its national distributors and has a network of 60 authorized resellers.

Apple is also aware that other PC manufacturers have been coming out with trendy designs but discounts them as imitations. Singh said, "We are still streets ahead on both technologies and designs."

Second Hand Notebooks in Demand

The need for notebooks has been felt not only in the high-end segment but also in the SMEs and the home segment.

Its tremendous potential has created a market for second hand notebooks.

One of the market participants in this business is Mumbai-based Panatron Infotech Systems, which has been dealing in portable computer devices since 1994.

It offers an exchange scheme for old Pentium notebooks of IBM, Toshiba, Compaq, Acer and HP in working condition. The models can then be exchanged for IBM ThinkPad (i - 1161-96A) at Rs 84,900, Toshiba Satellite (2805-5202) at Rs 89,900 and Sony (Vaio FX - FX -120) at Rs 98,900.

Panatron deals in mainly four brands out of which Toshiba and Sony are directly imported, while Compaq and IBM are bought from local dealers.

Kamlesh Nihalani, CEO of Panatron, said, "The prices for these second - hand laptops are very economical and are apt for the segment that is constantly on the move and needs to be connected."

The market is presently flooded with major vendors offering notebooks at comparatively low rates. Thus there is really no need to invest in a used laptop.

However, Suresh Keswani, manager of Panatron at Pune pointed out one distinct advantage. A used laptop is a source of genuine components, as necessary original components may not be available when a custom made laptop is to be configured.