walked into my bank the other day and discovered that all of the tellers' old-style computer terminals had been replaced with laptops. These weren't just any laptops, mind you: They were sleek, black, IBM ThinkPads. The teller told me the laptop computers took up less room than the old terminals, they were easier to replace when they broke, they were cheaper, and the software was easier to use. She loved her new laptop, even if she couldn't take it home every night.
My bank isn't alone. In the past few years, there's been a laptop craze. Portability and size have their advantages, of course. But laptops are also expensive. Their prices, combined with their attractive styling, have made them a mark of wealth and sophistication. The use of laptops in movies and television shows have further increased demand. Many people who would be better suited by a desktop computer have instead bought laptops.
Before you buy a laptop, remember that the machines are generally slower than desktops and less expandable. They are also more fragile. These days it is rare to have a desktop computer physically malfunction. Laptops, on the other hand, routinely suffer a range of physical maladies, from damaged screens and missing parts to inoperable hard drives and failed components.
One reason for this higher mortality rate: the beatings they take because of their portability. Laptops are constantly being picked up, dropped into bags, and carried around. There's also far more opportunity for laptop computers to receive a static discharge, something many of them cannot handle. All in all, laptops make a poor choice for a first-time computer user.
Nevertheless, many people want the machines.
Over the past month I've had the opportunity to review two new laptops: IBM's ThinkPad 570 and Acer's TravelMate 332T. Comparing these machines with last year's laptops, and with each other, is a good way to point out the features any potential laptop user should consider.
The ThinkPad 570 is an ultraslim (1 inch thick) computer that weighs just 4 pounds. The machine is available in two basic configurations. With an 800x600 screen, a 300 Mhz Pentium II microprocessor, and a 4GB hard drive, the computer costs roughly $2,700. Substitute a 1024x768 screen and a 333 Mhz Pentium II, and the price jumps to $3,200. You'll also need to buy the $130 ThinkPad 570 Ultrabase, which gives you a CD-ROM/DVD drive and a place to put the 570's external floppy.
The Acer TravelMate is a better value. It weighs 4.1 pounds and gives you a 366 Mhz Pentium II, an 800x600 display, and a 6.4 GB hard drive for $2,700. An external floppy disk/CD-ROM/DVD drive is part of the package. Although the case is smaller and thinner than the IBM, the screen and keyboard are the same size.
Both laptops have an infrared port, USB port, built-in V.90 faxmodem, and a sound card. They can both drive external video monitors at resolutions of up to 1280x1024 - last year, most laptops I saw could drive external monitors at only 1024x768. Another feature both of these machines share is the ability to drive two displays at the same time. That is, they can take advantage of Windows 98's ability to run two monitors at the same time by showing one image on the LCD screen and sending another image out the video port.
One important difference between these machines is the pointing device. The TravelMate has a touch pad, while the IBM uses a TrackPoint, which looks like a little red pogo stick that's mounted in the center of the keyboard. I prefer the touch pad, but be advised it won't work if your fingers are wet or greasy.
I'm a big fan of laptop docks, which are sometimes called port replicators. A dock gives you a place to plug in your full-sized keyboard, external mouse, video monitor, and other devices, effectively turning your laptop into a desktop machine. Then, when you want to go mobile, you just pop the laptop out of the dock and take it with you. Unfortunately, you can't get a dock for either of these laptops. (The ThinkPad's UltraBase isn't a dock because it doesn't replicate any of the ThinkPad's ports.)
Both of these laptops have sleep modes, which let you save batteries by closing the lid and temporarily suspending operations. A bit of power keeps flowing to keep the memory fresh. Open the lid and press a key, and it takes between 15 and 30 seconds for the machine to come back up. The Acer also supports a suspend mode, in which it stores the contents of memory onto the hard drive. This can take as long as two minutes, but it's still faster than doing a shutdown and rebooting the computer later.
Sleep mode is one of the things laptop makers usually implement poorly. A friend of mine has a Dell laptop. When its battery runs low, the machine is supposed to automatically go into sleep mode, but instead it goes catatonic. The only recourse is to unplug the power cord and pull out the computer's battery. IBM's implementation of sleep, on the other hand, is the best I have ever seen.
If you buy a laptop, be sure to factor in the cost of an extra battery, for long trips, and possibly an extra power supply. Power supplies take up a lot of space: if you routinely carry a laptop from home to office, it's awfully nice to have a power supply at both ends.
Technology writer Simson L. Garfinkel can be reached at plugged-in@simson.net
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