The search for weightlessness
Just because the marketing department labeled the computer a “laptop”
didn’t mean that it was sleek and lightweight. For a while there, it seemed like
anyone could get away with calling a portable PC a laptop, despite the computer
weighing up to 20 pounds — which is enough to crush any lap, not to
mention kneecaps.
In the fall of 1989, NEC showed that it could think outside of the laptop box
when it introduced the UltraLite laptop, shown in Figure 1-6. It featured a fullsized
screen and keyboard, but no disk drives or other moving parts! The
UltraLite used battery-backed up memory to serve as a silicon disk. The silicon
disk stored 1 or 2MB of data — which was plenty back in those days.
The UltraLite featured a modem, but it could also talk with a desktop computer
via its serial port and a special cable. Included with the UltraLite was
software that would let it easily exchange files and programs with any desktop
PC.
The weight? Yes, the UltraLite lived up to its name and weighed in at just
under 5 pounds — a feather compared to the obese laptops of the day. And
the battery lasted a whopping two hours, thanks to the UltraLite’s lack of
moving parts.
Figure 1-6: The NEC UltraLite.
From laptop to notebook
The UltraLite marked the line between what was then called a laptop to what
is today called a notebook. While manufacturers had perverted the term
laptop to include heavy, bulky portables that were anything but lap-friendly
(such as the bowling ball-heavy Compaq III), the UltraLite raised the bar and
created the notebook category.
Any laptop that weighs under 6 pounds and is less than an inch thick is technically
a notebook. Some even lighter units earned the moniker sub-notebook.
But keep in mind that all these terms are for marketing purposes; today, all of
these computers, regardless of weight, size, or what the brochure says, are
called laptops.
The modern notebook
As technology careened headlong into the 1990s, it became apparent that
users were desperate for three things from their laptop computers:
- Light weight
- Long battery life
- Full hardware compatibility with desktop systems
Over time, all of these were achieved — but at a price. Today, the Holy Grail
of a lightweight, PC compatible laptop that boasts a long battery life isn’t elusive,
it’s just expensive:
- Weight. Depending on how much you want to pay, your laptop can be
anywhere from 1/2-inch thick to just under an inch thick and weigh in at
between 2 to 6 pounds, such as the IBM Thinkpad shown in Figure 1-7.
The weight and size also depend on the features you want in your
laptop, with more features adding more weight.
- Battery Life. While the batteries themselves haven’t improved much in
the past several years, thanks to power management hardware and software,
modern laptops can extend battery life from the once-standard
two hours to about three or four hours.
- Hardware compatibility. Since the late 1990s, all laptops come with
color screens just like desktop systems. They also sport CD-ROM or DVD
drives, though floppy drives are seldom found in a modern laptop (and
then usually as an external device). Laptops also feature modems, networking,
and expansion options. Special laptop microprocessors and
other hardware have been developed over the years, keeping the laptop
hardware small and energy efficient.
Figure 1-7: The author’s IBM Thinkpad T-41 weighs in at 4 pounds.
The future of the laptop
Human laps aren’t getting any smaller. Human eyes can only comfortably
read text that’s so big. But most importantly, human fingers have trouble
with keyboards that are too tiny. Because of these limitations, the laptop
of the future will probably remain the about same size as a laptop of today.
(Even though scientists could make the keyboard and screen smaller, the
human form wouldn’t appreciate it.)
Technology will continue to make laptop hardware smaller, more energy efficient,
and better able to handle the portable environment. But one area that
needs vast improvement is battery technology.
The battery of the future will be the fuel cell, which is like a miniature power
plant directly connected to your laptop PC. Fuel cell technology promises
power that lasts for weeks instead of hours, which will prove a boon to
portable gizmos of every kind — but only when it’s perfected.
Presently, scientists are predicting that the first usable fuel cells will be available
by the end of the decade, or around 2009. Until then, we’ll have to slug it
out with rechargeable batteries and power packs.
(Refer to Chapter 8 for more information on batteries as well as other power
management issues.)
What about Tablet PCs?
This book doesn’t cover the so-called Tablet
PCs. These computers are essentially laptops,
but without the keyboard; the tablet consists of
only the monitor “half” of the laptop, on which
you write information using a special pen or
stylus. (Some Tablet PCs do have keyboards,
though that kind of defeats the purpose.)
While the notion of the Tablet PC sounds intriguing
(and I must admit that they are sexy), sales
just aren’t taking off. There’s a reason for this:
People prefer keyboards and want that method
of input. Also the Tablet PC is really nothing new.
Back in the early days of laptop computers, similar
devices were introduced, and they too failed.
Unless someone dreams up some must-have
reason for toting a keyboard-less laptop around,
I predict that Tablet PCs will (again) drop off the
computer radar screen.
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