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Over the years the lines have blurred among various models of battery-powered portable computers. Today it is a given that business executives, engineers and other traveling professionals need to be able to bring their desktops out of the office and onto the road.
But with so many portable computer offerings, selecting a machine that best suits one's needs isn't always easy. The mobile professional is asking, Do I need the more powerful, but bulkier laptop? Will the "fit-in-the-briefcase" notebook do the job? Can a palmtop provide enough computing power?
To help make these distinctions clearer, laptop-computer manufacturers, such as IBM Corp., White Plains, N.Y.; NEC Technologies Inc., Boxborough, Mass. and Zenith Data Systems, Buffalo Grove, Ill. have taken their machines to heights only dreamed of in the past. How? They are building into laptop machines such technologies as color graphics, 486 processing power and networking capabilities.
Manufacturers are aware that the growth of notebooks is outpacing laptops and are gearing their products to a more specialized user--one who requires the capability of a virtual workstation for engineering or color-imaging applications while traveling to client sites or data collection points.
Market research company BIS Strategic Decisions, based in Norwell, Mass., expects that the laptop share of the portable computer market will be a mere 10% by 1995, compared with the hefty 81% of the portable market it had in 1990. Despite this anticipated slower growth, BIS expects the laptop segment of the market to be worth $1.6 billion in 1995.
The line of demarcation between laptops and notebooks is 7 lbs. Machines that weigh more are regarded as laptops; notebooks weigh under 7 lbs. Laptops...