Feature

A notebook for every user

Buying the ideal notebook isn't easy but it isn't impossible either. As long as you keep your objective firmly in mind, there's a notebook that fits your need.

If are to go by the trend then time isn’t far when notebooks will completely replace the big, bulky desktop machines. It is certainly time to live wire free. That’s the mantra for executives, entrepreneurs, students and even home users. As the economy booms, business related travel is on the rise. Be it for business, education or just to stay connected; notebooks are replacing desktops thanks to their portability.

Buying spree

People are on a buying spree—businessmen, students, educational institutions, and casual users are all buying notebooks. According to some of the analyst’s reports, notebooks sales are more than doubling every year and this trend is not looking to run through a speed breaker test for many more years to come.

It is not only executives of top notch firms who are buying notebooks but most of the companies are selling these sleek devices to educational institutes and students, institutes, students, small office segment. Apart from the common usage of notebooks for sales and marketing forces, various insurance agents are also looking to be wire free.

Among enterprise customers, many businesses are adopting a laptop-only policy and hence all PC purchases are those of notebooks leading to notebook sales growing by a large margin. Apart from enterprises, in specific segments, services industries with the exception of banking and BPO are one of the highest buyers.

This explosive growth has been due to a combination of affordability, increasing demand for mobile computing, and the growth of wireless technologies. Moreover, price competitiveness of laptops vis-à-vis desktops has played a major role in sales of laptops.

Variations galore

With various segments buying notebooks, the needs of each differ. While business users mostly go for connectivity or enhanced battery life, home users or casual users look for multimedia and entertainment options.

Looking the current technology boom, there are virtually no limitations on the capabilities of notebooks. The increasing proliferation of broadband access and the multiple modes of gaining access to the Internet are playing a big role in this change. Wireless access, enhanced gaming capabilities, and tremendous improvements in multimedia—audio, photography and video—will continue to drive demand for mobile computing.

People are now demanding same level of performance that they are used to from their desktop experience, something that is technically possible today. Heightened interest in gaming is forcing notebook vendors to offer superior graphics capabilities as is the availability of Windows Vista. People want a good looking device and this is putting pressure on designers too. People don’t want entry-level or basic products anymore. It is more about the experience and the notebook complementing a user’s lifestyle. A notebook has become a personal accessory.

The popularity of the Internet means that users want to attach accessories to their notebooks be it Wireless LAN cards, a Web camera, speakers or microphones. These devices help users stay connected with the rest of the world. For business users these advances in technology serve as a fast and cheap mechanism for meetings and conferences.

With Vista there’s a need for better configurations in terms of RAM and hard disks. Today consumer is looking for a high-end configuration. About 1GB RAM with DVD writers bundled with a large hard disk (80 or 120 GB minimum) are essentials. Integrated camera, inbuilt software features such as anti-theft technology, easy presentation settings and quick recharge technology are catching the trace of hot selling configurations.

Now that there’s no need to compromise on computing power, key considerations in the purchase of a notebook today are battery backup time, wireless access capabilities and weight. Processor speed, wireless connectivity, quality and size of display, optical drives and pointing devices, power consumption, cost of usage, maintenance and a host of other factors come into play depending on a consumer’s specific needs.

Not just another computer

Vendors are using new technologies to lure customers. Vendors are coming up with technologies such as a dual screen for showing important messages while executing specific software applications. One can check the system’s status even when the screen panel is closed. Besides MP3 and DVD playback, wireless Digital TV or analogue cable TV can be recorded onto the hard drive. These multi media features are adding a lot of value to the product.

One the processing front, Intel is currently running a project called Santa Rosa—the fourth-generation Centrino platform which happens to focus on all three vectors of mobility by improving processor performance, battery life and connectivity options. This platform comes in two variants—Centrino Duo for casual and home users and Centrino Pro for business users.

HCL has come up with features like EC2 (Embedded Continuity and Control) PC-restoration technology. A notebook with EC2 is practically a zero-downtime PC, since even in the eventuality of a major crash, virus attack, software malfunction or any other error in data stored on the PC, EC2 enables ultra-fast restoration of a PC to normal working condition in less than sixty seconds.

Increasing mobility and exposure to unknown networks has led to concerns over the security of notebooks and the data stored on them. Notebooks are easily accessible and that can be a worrying factor for users. How is the laptop protected from unknown users, how is the data encrypted and how can lost data be recovered; these are some of the basic questions asked by consumers.

These questions are answers by some of the companies by providing fingerprint scanning and TPM (Trusted Platform Module) which is used to manage system resources and data stored on a notebook if the password and necessary fingerprint identification are not completed. Motion lock prevents the user’s data from being seen while the user is away for a short period of time. Some of the tracking facilities are also provided with the notebook to save your computer from getting lost.

Net worries

Talking about the Indian mobile device market, it has not matured to the point where an adequate number of hot spots for Wi-Fi connectivity exist. Barring the occasional coffee shop or mall food court, Wi-Fi is not available in most public locations. WiMAX isn’t there yet. Internet data cards are expensive in terms of speed and the price that they come for.

The effective speed of wireless access is currently far too slow when compared to that of fixed access. The Internet user community is anxiously looking to the speedy deployment of WIMAX which will provide wireless speed matching what is available in fixed access, at least in moderate traffic conditions.

The government’s step to deregulate the wireless spectrum and de-license wireless technologies such as 802.11b and 802.11g standards is an important step towards improving Internet penetration.

As far as mobile Internet access is concerned, the race has just begun While the growth of notebooks is measured at 104 percent for the previous year, we lag by a huge margin compared to usage of notebooks in western countries. Prices needs to fall significantly, something that is not happening due to duties and taxes imposed on notebooks. As the customers look beyond basic usage, vendors need to pull up their socks to get new technologies to the market. The market will grow robustly in 2007 and over time desktops will be replaced by notebooks.

	Product	Features	Price
	Lenovo 3000 Y300 Model: 7759 1AQ	Intel Core Duo 2250 (1.73 GHz, 533 MHz, 2MB L2 Cache) 512 MB DDR2 Memory 80 GB SATA hard disk and DVD combo Biometric face recognition technology 13.1" WXGA Vibrant View of screen Windows XP Home	Rs 59,490
	Dell Latitude D830	Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (2.40 GHz, 4 MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz FSB) 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800 resolutions), Up to 4 GB of 667 MHz Dual Channel Shared DDR SDRAM memory 160 GB hard disk weight 2.9 kgs LAN 10/100/1000 Ethernet	Rs 63, 769
	HCL Notebook L1906	Intel Celeron M processor, 512 MB, 80 GB hard disk Combo Drive, Video Camera Integrated 15.4" Wide screen, Wireless LAN, HCL eSafe, View Perfect Technology, Airtel Broadband Offer, Reliance NetConnect Offer, Windows Vista Starter 1 Year Warranty	Rs 29,990
	Sony VGN-C25G	Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor T5500 (1.60GHz) 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 80 GB (HDD recovery storage: 7 GB, C: Remain) Serial ATA, 5400 rpm, DVD combo 13.3" Wide (WXGA 1280 X 800 resolution) Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 and Total Available Graphics Memory (Max) 64MB Windows Vista Home Edition Weight 2.3 kgs	Rs 69,990 (MRP)
	Acer TravelMate 6292	l Intel Core2 Duo mobile processor T7100 (2 MB 2 cache, 1.8 GHz, 800 MHz FSB) 2 X 512 MB DDR2 memory l 12.1" WXGA TFT LCD 1280 X 800 resolution l 160 GB hard disk l Operating system - Windows Vista Business l FSB), supporting Intel 64 architecture l 8 X DVD l Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG1, 2 (dual-band trimode 802.11a/b/g) Wi-Fi	Rs.69, 999
Note: Prices are excluding taxes except in the case of the Sony notebook