New Wave Of Smaller Sub-notebooks Arrives

The Age

Wednesday August 25, 1993

David Frith

PORTABLE personal computers are getting more portable ... and more personal. They are becoming smaller, lighter and smarter.

The mobile PC market is booming in Australia, with sales this year likely to top $250million. It is the fastest-growing sector of the computer market. The majority of portables are so-called ``notebook" models _ about the same shape as a sheet of A4 paper turned sideways and weighing 2-3.5 kilograms. The notebook PC has already driven the older 4-5kg laptop out of business, but many mobile executives still find the current crop of 3kg notebooks too heavy to lug far. They want something small enough to slip into the side pocket of a briefcase or handbag and light enough not to cause shoulder sag while walking airport corridors.

For these users, there is a new and growing class of ``sub-notebooks" _ smaller machines weighing between one and two kilograms, but with reasonable sized keyboards and screens big enough to display the popular Microsoft Windows graphic interface or its Apple Macintosh equivalent.

If sub-notebook computing sounds like your cup of electronic tea, run your eyes over the Hewlett Packard OmniBook, the Olivetti Quaderno, the Zenith Z-Lite and the Apple PowerBook Duo. All have monochrome screens: color, which is all the rage in notebook PCs this year, has yet to make its way to the sub-notebook class.

THE Z-Lite range hails from Zenith Data Systems (ZDS), a company based in the US but owned by the French Bull group. It has had a relatively small presence in Australia but now has a new distributor, Z Express, which is out to improve that and has already appointed around 100 dealers. The Z-Lite 320L weighs just 1.8kg, has a claimed battery life of 3-6 hours, VGA screen, a low-power 386SL processor, a 60-megabyte hard disk drive and two megabytes of random access memory, all packed into a stunningly small package, designed by the appropriately named Frog company responsible for much of today's better industrial design.

The 386SL chip is a processor that the Intel company has designed with the demands of mobile PCs very much in mind. It operates at 3.3 volts, instead of the normal five, extending battery life significantly.

The 320L will be joined later this month by the Z-Lite 425L, powered by Intel's 486SL processor, a 3.3-volt low-power version of the 486 chip used in high-performance desktopmachines. Both models have 22- centimetre backlit VGA screens, quite adequate for Windows operations, and easy to read in any lighting condition, from a dimly lit aircraft cabin to a seat on a sunny terrace.

The Z-Lite's back panel has two slots to accommodate Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) cards. If you haven't yet heard about PCMCIA cards, rest assured you will. These cards have much the same dimensions as a credit card but are rather thicker. They can be used to add extra memory, modems, network connectors or other miniaturised peripheral devices as easily as slipping a bank card into an automatic teller machine.

By the end of this year nearly all notebook and sub-notebook PCs will be sporting PCMCIA slots. Next year they are likely to become common on desktop machines, too.

The Z-Lite has no inbuilt floppy drive Q, which is one way the weight has been kept down to 1.8kg. However, an external 3.5inch floppy drive is available as an option. The Z-Lite 320L sells for around $3360, the 425L from $4634. A PCMCIA fax-modem card costs an extra $700. For further information contact Z Express on (02) 417 1522.

HEWLETT PACKARD's OmniBook 300 at 1.3kg is even lighter than the Z- Lite. The product of an unusual alliance between Hewlett-Packard and the software giant Microsoft, it comes with Windows, word processing, spreadsheet, electronic diary, phone book and financial calculator programs all pre-loaded into read-only memory.

At 23cm, its screen is a fraction larger than the Z-Lite. The processor is a 386SX.

There are two versions of the OmniBook: one with a conventional 42- megabyte hard disk drive, the other with 10 MB of solid-state ``flash memory". Flash memory is expensive but lighter and needs less power than a disk drive. Claimed battery life is five hours for models with the disk drive and up to nine with flash memory.

If you ever run short of power, the OmniBook's rechargeable nickel metal hydride battery can be replaced with four AA cells.

There is a PCMCIA slot but no floppy drive _ not even an external option. To get files in and out of an OmniBook you need to link it by a supplied cable to a desktop PC.

An OmniBook with 42-meg hard drive costs around $3950; the flash- memory version is around $4,800. Further information from Hewlett- Packard on 008 033 821.

OLIVETTI's Quaderno 33 weighs about the same as an OmniBook at 1.3kg but is a little shorter and fatter. Powered by an AMD 386 chip, it has a smaller screen (17.5cm) but a keyboard that includes a full numeric keypad _ something missing from most other sub-notebooks.

Another unusual touch is a built-in voice recorder, with microphone and loudspeaker. You can use it to add voice annotations to your word processing files.

Pre-installed software includes MS-DOS 5, Windows, Microsoft Works and Lotus Organizer (an electronic diary and phone book). Battery life is said to be six hours. With a 60-megabyte hard disk drive, the Quaderno costs $3,495. More information from Olivetti Australia on (02) 748 2600.

APPLE's Macintosh PowerBook Duo in many ways is the best of the sub- notebooks. The sleek Duo weighs 1.9kg, has a full-sized keyboard, and a crisp 23cm black-and-white screen. It is not, of course, a Windows machine but it has the superb Macintosh operating system that many people find superior and easier to use.

If you specify the optional external floppy drive (about $400), you can swap files with DOS or Windows PCs. Another option for the Duo is the $1,995 DuoDock, a docking station that automatically connects the Duo to a full-sized monitor _ yes, color if you wish _ and keyboard, effectively turning the Duo into a full-scale desktop computer.

The Duo 210 currently sells for $2,692 _ a special-deal price which includes external floppy drive and ClarisWorks software; the more powerful Duo 230, without the extras, costs $3,995.

Further details from Apple Computer on 008 025 355.