Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!ames!pacbell!att!cbnewsh!wcs
From: wcs@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (Bill Stewart 201-949-0705 erebus.att.com!wcs)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Re: Market Study for laptops and your input?
Message-ID: <7924@cbnewsh.ATT.COM>
Date: 6 Feb 90 00:30:44 GMT
References: <1777@apt.UUCP>
Reply-To: wcs@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (Bill Stewart 201-949-0705 erebus.att.com!wcs)
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs Random Organization Name Generator
Lines: 81

In article <1777@apt.UUCP> brian@apt.UUCP (Brian Litzinger) writes:
]My company is about to commence a market study of laptop computers
]for one of our clients.
]Do the readers of this group wish to have an opportunity to offer
]their opinions on laptops, their designs, and the features they'd
]like to see in future laptop designs?
]Or is it improper to use this forum for such a purpose?

Advertising belongs in biz.hardware.*, but an occasional request for
information or an occasional "we're thinking of doing a laptop like
this - what else should we add?" seem ok to me.  comp.newprod will
basically take one product announcement per product.

If you're going to do the survey here, you should be willing to post
the results; your client may not be thrilled about that.

Now, as to what I'd like to see in a laptop:

small, light, cheap, powerful all at once (of course!)

MODULARITY!!
	In particular, design should be modular, with reasonably
	priced modules - the Tandy and Toshiba-1200 strategy of a
	floppy-only model and a $1000-extra hard disk model
	strikes me as gouging.  Unless you're going to compete in
	the ultra-light market, you probably should be offering a
	model with some hard disk, with a range of sizes available.

	The interfaces should be standard!!  I don't want to be
	limited to a FOONLY-37 modem and FOONLY-38-40 disks -
	I want standard (small) slots so I can plug in whatever
	industry-standard peripherals are available.  I don't want
	to wait around for your manufacturer to develop an Ethernet
	card or 9600-baud modem or ISDN-card or XXX graphics adapter,
	and gouge me $500 extra for using your special card size.

	I'd really appreciate if the disk-drive port on the back spoke
	either SCSI or at least ST-506; I'm tired of having to buy
	custom drives like my Toshiba requires.

You don't think I plan to only run DOS on it, do you?  Thank you.
	Maybe I'll run UNIX, maybe some bean counter will want OS/2,
	maybe GNU-Mach-386 or Dynabeast will come out.  Don't lock me in.
	In particular, DON'T do anything that limits me to 640K.

Make sure the memory is user-replaceable.  I realize this is tougher
	with laptops, but it's important.  If you won't put sockets
	on the motherboard because chips shake around, give me some
	kind of expansion board for memory.  And don't charge me
	$1000/megabyte for the stuff when SIMMs cost $125/MB.

Screen - who know what screen technology is doing these days.
	MAKE SURE IT CAN DO 25x80 CHARACTERS, and follow some
	standard for graphics so I can use whatever it is.
	I'd guess that VGA is the minimum acceptable resolution for
	anything weighing more than 5 pounds.

Gee-Whiz Stuff - the new GRiDPaD looks cute.  Maybe touchscreens are
	the way to go.  One of those little capacitance-pads is a
	partial substitute for mice, sometimes, or maybe a trackball.
	Don't limit me to the equivalent of a 1-or-2-button mouse.
	Sun's NeWS or other display form of Postscript would be fun.

Users will always use your machine for things you never dreamed of.
	Expect it, and leave them room to do it.
	If you give them a user-friendly interface, make sure they
	can shut it off!  They may want to use their own.
	As Hugh says, maybe I'll use this to build my next DynaBook with, 
	so don't wire in 640K of stuff I don't want.
	Or maybe the user will want something like a GrIdPaD with a
	bar-code gun and a touchscreen for factory applications.

Have you checked in an Avis car at LAX airport recently?
Their little hand-held beast also has a radio connection to
the main computer, so they blip the bar code and your bill
prints out right then and there.  People will build stuff like this!

-- 
# Bill Stewart AT&T Bell Labs 4M312 Holmdel NJ 201-949-0705 erebus.att.com!wcs

# ho95c has gone the way of all VAX/785s, so I'm now on erebus.att.com