See The Whole Box And Dice

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday March 7, 1995

IN the excitement about new software technologies, it's easy to overlook developments within the traditional hardware sectors of PCs and printers.

Many new and recent releases from hardware vendors in both categories will be on display at the personal computer show, PC95.

NOTEBOOKS

A PowerPC Thinkpad notebook will be the star of IBM's stand (915). Although it is a technology demonstrator and products based on it are not expected to ship until mid-year, IBM expects it to be one of the most-visited products at the show.

It is similar to the popular ThinkPads, but with a higher, curved profile top, to accommodate the in-built video camera.

The favourite toy of managing directors who like to advertise their status is the ThinkPad 755, which has an in-built CD-ROM drive. This can be swapped for a floppy drive. The IBM PC range of machines for businesses will be there, including servers, as will the Aptiva home user PCs, including a multimedia model.

Compaq (1101) will be showing its Contura 400 notebook range - the 410, 410C and 410CX. The top-of-the-range 410CX has an 8.4-inch colour TFT display, a 486DX2/50 processor and a 350 Mb hard drive, with an RRP of $5,421.

It will also display its notebook perennials, including the Aero sub-notebooks and LTE Elite corporate notebooks, which both recently underwent radical price reductions. Fujitsu's ErgoLite notebooks will be on display at the Fujitsu stand (1639).

Fashion victims should head for the Olivetti stand (1211), where sub-notebooks in deep blue and ochre will be on display. The Echos range's identifying numbers refer to the colours. The Echos 20 is the blue notebook. Echos 20C is the colour version (colour display as well as colour casing). Echos 40 and Echos 40C are the ochre notebooks, also known as terracotta, depending on the viewer's colour perception. Other colours have been released in European markets, but Olivetti Australia is weaning locals cautiously off grey-scale casings.

AST Computer (401) will show off its new Ascentia 910N and Ascentia 810N notebooks. Cruiser Australia (348) claims to have the world's only notebook computer with a removable TFT active matrix colour screen with full-screen television capabilities. Toshiba's range of notebooks, including its Pentium-based T4900 and its multimedia notebook with built-in CD-ROM drive, will be on show at Portable Computer System (110).

Still on notebooks, TeleAdapt Pty Ltd's stand (1932) is a must for travelling notebook users. It has a fantastic range of products - from foreign telephone plugs to advanced acoustic couplers that work at 14.4 Kbps - which let notebooks connect to foreign and domestic telephone systems, cellular phones and pay phones. It also has a wide range of connection accessories for Apple Powerbooks

DESKTOP PCS

PowerPC-based desktops will be on the IBM (915) and Apple stands (1625). The publishing capabilities of Apple's latest Power Mac 8100/110 will be demonstrated.

AST (401) claims it will be raising, "the value bar on consumer multimedia PCs", with some new models and pricing in its Advantage! range. Quad speed CD-ROM drives now come as standard on all the Advantage! models, as does 8Mb of memory. The entry-level recommended retail price is $2,699 for these specs, and an entry-level Pentium multimedia Advantage! starts at $3,699. The PCs are all bundled with a data modem and AST Works, a software bundle that includes DOS, Windows, MS Works and a bundle of Microsoft CD-ROMs, including Encarta and Cinemania.

Fujitsu (1639) will show its Ergo Pro new range of desktop PCs for businesses. The entry level is the DX2/66, followed by a DX4/100 and Pentium machines at 75, 90 and 100MHz. The PCs, which will be manufactured in Dandenong, Victoria from April, are designed in Sweden to meet the high ergonomic standards required by Scandinavian countries.

In addition to the features of earlier Ergo Pro PCs - such as curved profile keyboards and low-glare monitors - the new models will have a new power saving utility similar to those found in notebook PCs. The data will be saved automatically to the hard drive so that the PC can go to sleep when not in use, consuming a fraction of a watt of power. A disk silencer will also be added.

Fujitsu will also display its Indiana range of PCs for the home market. These will be black. "Black CPU, black monitor, black speakers," said Alvaro del Pozo, product manager. "It fits into the home environment. It sits next to your TV, which is black, your VCR which is black, your CD player which is black."

Indiana will be available in 486DX2/66 and Pentium 75 multimedia versions, plus a non-multimedia 486SX2/50 machine. "We've found in the UK that there is still a market for the home buyer who's not interested in multimedia, who just wants to bring their spreadsheet or word processor home," said del Pozo. This will come in at about $1,400.

Olivetti (1211) will show its Midi-Music Centre, a PC-based music studio for home users.