Although the high-tech world remains mired in a three-year funk, notebooks remain somewhat of a bright spot. Laptop shipments increased by 17.6 percent last year, according to research firm Gartner, and they're expected to continue growing, in part because of the increasing demand for wireless computing. "There is going to be some uptick," Gartner's Mark Margevicius said. "Mobile is something like 20 percent of the market. We believe it will go up to something like 35 percent" over the next few years. Corporate buyers also appear to understand the benefits of wireless, said executives from nearly all of the companies, although getting them to open their wallets could take some work. Customers perk up when wireless comes up in sales meetings, said Franco. But, when issues like security and other potential problems arise, "you can see their eyes (figuratively) shut," she said. Still, by this time next year, the majority of HP's business laptops will have converted from the Pentium 4 to the Pentium-M, Franco added. PC makers are trying to capitalise on the shift toward notebooks and competing on a variety of fronts. IBM, for instance, is heavily emphasising design, long a strong suit for the company, on its three new notebooks: the T40, the X31 and the R40. The T40, a "thin and light" notebook for corporate users, weighs 4.5 pounds, about one-half pound lighter than its predecessor, the T30, and measures 1 inch thick, about 30 percent less. While the reduced energy consumption of the Pentium-M helped, IBM also worked with screen manufacturers and other component companies to lower energy consumption and reduce overall size, said Enochs. A standard T40 with a six-cell battery will run about 5.5 hours on a single battery charge, about twice as long as the T30, Enochs said, and about 7.2 hours with a nine-cell battery. Slipping an auxiliary battery into the DVD bay will extend the battery life to 9.5 hours. Designer showcase
In a typical IBM flourish, the T40's hard drive also rides on a series of springs and rubber padding to shield it from accidents. For wireless connections, the T40 comes with either the Centrino kit, an 802.11a/b chip from a third-party chipmaker, the Aironet Wireless 802.11b wireless unit from Cisco Systems, or no wireless component, depending on the configuration. IBM will begin to sell the 802.11g chip after that standard is finally solidified, company officials have said. The ThinkPad X31, meanwhile, is an ultraportable machine. It features a relatively small 12-inch screen, but weighs 3.6 pounds and can last 11 hours on a battery charge. The R40 is a wireless notebook for budget buyers and comes with Celeron or Pentium-M chips. Toshiba is one of the few manufacturers to adopt the low-voltage 900MHz Pentium-M, which consumes even less power. Most other manufacturers are sticking with the regular 1.3GHz to 1.6GHz Pentium-M chips. The Portege R100, which contains the low-voltage chip, can run 6.5 hours with a secondary battery. The Japanese giant is also releasing one of the few Pentium-M notebooks, the Tecra M1, with a built-in recording DVD drive. In all, Toshiba is releasing five new notebooks. All come with Intel's Centrino built in, but they can be ordered with other wireless bundles. For its part, Dell is emphasising variety. Dell's three new notebooks can be configured in different ways. The company will also offer snap-on color accents that attach to the back of the screen for the Inspiron 600m. The colors include Venice Blue, Burlwood and Bamboo. The Inspiron 600m starts at $1,399. By contrast, like HP, Gateway is taking a more gradual approach. Gateway's first Pentium-M laptop, the Gateway 450, is actually already being sold with a Pentium 4 chip; the company is merely swapping in the new processor. The chip change alone, however, has extended battery life by 1.5 hours, said Mike Stinson, vice president of the mobile products group at Gateway. Like HP, Gateway says that more and different models will come in the future. "We think there is going to be a strong desire to upgrade," said Stinson. "Once you go wireless, battery life becomes important." The notebook starts at $1,599. Intel will formally introduce the Pentium-M and Centrino in New York on Wednesday. However, PC makers began to announce their notebooks in Japan on Tuesday evening.
See Chips Central for the latest headlines on processors and semiconductors.
To find out more about the computers and hardware that these chips are being used in, see ZDNet UK's Hardware News Section.
Let the Chips Central editor know what you think by email. And sign up for the weekly Chips Central newsletter.
