PENTIUM NOTEBOOKS BOOST LAPTOP SALES.Byline: Yardena Arar Daily News Staff Writer If you've been thinking about buying a laptop computer A portable computer that has a flat LCD screen and usually weighs less than eight pounds. Often called just a "laptop," it uses batteries for mobile use and AC power for charging the batteries and desktop use. Today's high-end laptops provide all the capabilities of most desktop computers. but have been holding off because of the expense, it's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a to go shopping again. That's the word from the mobile computing Using a computing device while in transit. Mobile computing implies wireless transmission, but wireless transmission does not necessarily imply mobile computing. Fixed wireless applications use satellites, radio systems and lasers to transmit between permanent objects such as buildings industry, where change occurs so rapidly that yesterday's new models are today's bargain-priced closeouts - and today's hot machines are so in demand that even with price tags of $5,000 and up, they can be hard to come by. "At this particular time, demand is very strong - quite surprisingly so, in fact," said Jeffrey Friederichs, vice president in charge of product marketing for Toshiba of America Information Systems. "Usually you get a seasonal dip, but we'll be shipping more in the first quarter of '96 than we did in the fourth quarter of '95." The Irvine-based subsidiary of the $54 billion Japanese electronics giant led the notebook industry last year with sales of over three-quarters of a million units, more than second-ranked Compaq and third-ranked IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) combined, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. reports from the San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. research firm Dataquest. Friederichs attributes the surge in demand to the long-awaited arrival of affordable Pentium notebooks. "We're just seeing our surge in the Pentium upgrade path," he said. "That's something that happened a year and a half ago in desktops." Toshiba has ramped up production in an effort to meet demand, but observers say shortages of certain models are a constant in the notebook business. "The technology is changing very quickly, and as companies are able to incorporate advances into their product line that offer significant differentiation, buyers tend to flock to where the hot spots hot spots acute moist dermatitis. are," said William F. Ablondi, vice president in charge of mobile computing and communications for Giga Information Group, a Westport, Conn., research firm. "When that happens, companies may not be able to get adequate supply of the leading-edge component." For example, 1-1/2 years ago, 10-inch active-matrix screens - the brightest and fastest on the market - were in short supply. Today's hot technology are lithium-ion batteries Lithium-ion batteries (sometimes abbreviated Li-ion batteries) are a type of rechargeable battery commonly used in consumer electronics. They are currently one of the most popular types of battery for portable electronics, with one of the best energy-to-weight ratios, no , multimedia capability, larger screens and new Intel Pentium chips that are lighter and less power-hungry than their predecessors. For retailers, keeping up with the laptop market can be a major headache. "It's expensive to keep those products on inventory," said Mike McGuire, senior analyst for mobile computing at Dataquest. "When the top of the line product is an $8,000 computer, you don't see that at retail. That's not a product that will be sold." Paul Rakov, spokesman for Circuit City, said laptop inventories are currently low for the Richmond, Va.-based electronics store chain and other retailers, partly because everybody is waiting for shipments of new notebooks with multimedia capability. "Right now they're not widely available," Rakov said. "However, there should be plenty by early to midsummer." On the other hand, Rakov added, this is a good time for buyers on a budget to shop, especially if they don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. about multimedia features. "There are some good closeouts going on now," said Rich Malloy, editor in chief of Mobile Office magazine. IBM's highly praised ThinkPad 701C, Malloy said, "costs half of what it did a year ago. I saw an ad for a Digital Hi-Note Ultra for less than $1,000." For those with a little more cash, Malloy said it's now possible to buy a Pentium notebook for less than $2,000. CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo Circuit City and other electronics retailers have seen a surge in the demand for notebook computers A laptop computer that weighs in a range from five to seven pounds. The term originated when laptops were routinely more than 10 pounds, and those that became lighter were placed in a special "notebook" category. In practice, notebook computer and laptop computer are synonymous. . David Sprague/Daily News |
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