Sample scenario
Company: Cuff Enterprises. This company wants to provide highend notebooks for its top executives and IT managers.
Approximate budget: $7000 per notebook.
Requires: Five notebooks with at least 256MB memory, 14in or larger screens, at least 30GB hard disk, Windows 2000 installed.
Concerns: Notebooks should inspire warmandfuzzy feelings of loyalty in employees, and envy in their friends and colleagues. Performance and connectability are also important factors.
Best Solution: The Toshiba Satellite 5200 stands out as a clear winner here. It’s a fresh new notebook with some great new features that none of the other notebooks would dream of having. Things like the DVD-RAM/DVD-R drive and the Cpad are great new features that will inspire envy in your colleagues. This notebook is also extremely fast, it has a large screen, a variety of connectors, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, and it also has a long-lasting battery to top all that off.
We also decided to give the Apple PowerBook a mention. The PowerBook is full of class but watch out for the new 17in display PowerBook.
What to look for when buying a notebook:
- CPU speed: Mobile P4 CPUs run up to 2.4GHz. The fastest mobile AMD Athlon XP Processor available now is the 2200+.
- Displays: 14.1in seems to be the standard size display for these notebooks. Check to see that the display is well protected and not flimsy. Also check the native resolution.
- Weight and portability: Desktop replacement notebooks are quite heavy but are feature packed and things like CD/DVD-ROM drives. The tradeoff depends on how you will use the unit.
- Connectors: Check to see what connectors the notebook has. What connectors are important to you? IEEE 1394? S-Video? SD Slot?
- Networking: Look at notebooks that have Bluetooth integrated as well as 802.11b.
- 3D performance: Look for nVidia- and ATI-based graphics accelerators with at least 16MB of on board video memory. 32MB is recommended.
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