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From: steven@prl.philips.nl (Steven Van Lerberghe 42468)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Re: Notebook Manufacturers Listen Up!
Message-ID: <2768@prles2.prl.philips.nl>
Date: 7 May 91 06:20:51 GMT
References: <1991May04.204037.21028@eng.cam.ac.uk> <1104@rna.UUCP>
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Re: `ultimate' notebook (was: `Notebook manufacturers, ...')

... hmm, well, I've been looking at portables/laptops/note-
books/notepads too, (for about a year now)

I agree with several points. Here is my own opinion (I seem to
always compromise on my `ideal' specs and a new entry on the
market realizes one of my requirement (seems there is a new
notebook at least once a week!). Example: pen-based notebook
(notepad?) isn't a _real_ notebook something you _write_ on?
Looks like GO's PenPoint OS makes this a possibility, at last.

The minimal size of a keyboard, even a standard one, is not
necessarily _the_ determining size factor: I'm sure a `foldable'
or `raisable' one is possible (IBM's sloping keyboard could be
physically realized by having the back of a flat keyboard lift
a few mm when opened up).

Concerning the display: _contrast_ is paramount. The Macintosh
`luggable' came pretty close, but suffered from parallax (only
the part of the sreen exactly in front of you wasn't `double').

I _do_ want graphics demand: the only thing I really want to
run on `my' notepad is PostScript (the sole reason I did not
by a Psion MC400: they are terribly late in releasing software,
even the developer's kit, so I couldn't even try). So, though
I'm an `MS DOS: just say no.' guy, I would almost accept one
because there are interpreters avaliable for PCs. A parallel
port is not necessary for PostScript printing (on e.g. a Canon
Bubblejet 10e :-) so...

Another _must_ is full auto-resume (again: like Psion...).
And I want looong battery life (same thing: MC400 = 60 hrs!),
preferably on standard _and_ rechargeable cells (idem).
I agree that the present magic two inches are too bulky: two
_centimeters_ would be more like it, to me!

Further, I would like to have some expandability, espacially
a co-processor (preferably special-purpuse for PostScript:
Philips make such a beast!), possibly a built-in modem...

What _I_ DON'T want are power-hungry and _noisy_ drives,
so, please only memory cards. In fact I advocate expasion
modules as cards too: Toshiba advertises its new 2000 with
an 8 meg `credit-card' expansion module too, I believe. Why
not have a modem and a coprocessor module in this size
(again, I think Psion's expansion slot comes reasonably
close to this...). Finally, I would appreciate the thing
to be robust enough to withstand some `rough' treatment
(Hewlett-Packard salesmen used to chuck their calculators
in a corner, retrieve them and show the customer it still
worked...). Having no moving parts (drives!) would help...

Maybe I would spend a little more on such a machine than you
advocate, let's say 500 UK-pounds or 1000 US-dollars?

Steven Van Lerberghe, still looking, ...