Portable PC

Portable computing is the theme in this question and answer area. If you are looking for info on desktop computers, peripherals or other technologies, please consult our sections on those topics at TheTechnoZone.com  or www.pcbuyersguide.com.

We welcome your questions on portable computers and related issues.

What to Buy?
Q: What can we get for our daughter in the way of a laptop? We would like to get her something that is not going to be out dated in a few months but also not something that is going to force us to remortgage our house. I guess we would like something that is middle of the road as far as price is concerned but yet adequate for a college student.
- AC

A: Over 80 percent of all laptops sold today have an active-matrix screen, sometimes known as TFT (thin film transistor). We'd recommend one of these, with at least 800-by-600 resolution. If you are considering a used unit, you should get at least a Pentium 133 (200 MHz or better is recommended, if you can afford it); if you can afford a new unit, you'll find most units are running at at least 2 to 3 times that speed. 400 MHz or better is definitely fast enough to last for a few years. Get at least 32 MB of memory on a used unit, or 64MB or more if you are going for a new machine. Portables can take advantage of the power-management and hot-swappable PC Card facilities in Windows 95, 98 or Windows 2000. These operating systems are thus better suited for use with a portable PC than Windows NT.

We'd also recommend getting a unit from a well-known company, such as Dell, IBM, Compaq, Toshiba, HP, Sony, Panasonic or NEC. Laptops tend to break down more quickly than they probably should, unfortunately, and I think it is wise to have at least a three-year warranty and the support of a major manufacturer.

While we're not happy about it, one of our Compaq LTE 5100 units has broken twice during its two-year life, and we've been lucky to have the support of a company that has service centres all over the world (unfortunately, in Canada, this now means "Toronto") and excellent support (along with a standard three-year warranty).

If you are looking for a reliable brand, consider a Dell. Their laptops are rated #1 in reliability and are fairly reasonably priced.

Q:  I own a Toshiba Tecra 720CDT running @ p133. It does not have a USB port. I would like to know whether it is USB compatible and if so is it in the form of PC cards or serial or ?

A:  usb.org lists the following:

Product: USB Port for Notebooks
Category: Adapters(add-in USB sockets)
Description: Upgrade your old Notebook to USB. Adds 2 USB Ports. Card Bus PC Card, Type II. Requires Windows 98.
Shipping Date: 07/10/1998 Company ADS Technologies, Inc.
Contact E-mail sales@adstech.com
Telephone (562) 926-1928 FAX (562) 926-0518
View Product Brochure www.adstech.com

For further reading:

• Lab Tests: The many flavors of mid-powered notebooks    July 98
• Extreme PC Notebooks - P200 and P233 portables. Jan. 98  (Survey)
• Upward mobility The new desktop replacement machines June 97 (Survey)
• Desktop replacement notebooks: powerful portables Jan. 97
• (Survey) Business-class Portables: feature-rich notebooks July 96
• (Survey) Entry-level notebooks: Yesterday's Dream Machines Mar. 96
• New York Times: Taking laptops on airplanes: Some common sense do's and don'ts (Aug. 6, 2000)