Content area
Full text
Amidst the grueling heat and honking horns of New York, the big trade show shrugged off desktop PCs.
NEW YORK -- If you want to live life on the go, try the Big Apple. And if you want to check out the gadgets built for life on the go, there was no better place than this year's PC Expo. Wireless and handheld products drove desktop PCs almost completely off the stage. Amidst the sauna-like show floor, we checked out the countless personal digital assistants, Internet appliances, and sleek long- lasting notebooks designed to keep you connected and productive anywhere. Here are the hits and misses we found in the New York haze.
MOST PROMISING NOTEBOOKS: For once--with ("http:// www.transmeta.com" TARGET = "_blank") Transmeta's Crusoe chip--the hype around a product may be justified. IBM, NEC, and Hitachi unveiled thin-and-light notebook prototypes that weigh less than four pounds, and run all day on one charge. The IBM Thinkpad 240 promises a whopping eight hours of battery life in a small subnotebook. And for color, the Hitachi Prototypes cased in lime green and bright blue metal afford a slick look to mobile computing. We want one--but vendors may not be committed to shipping these machines.
"Committed would be too strong a word," said one high-ranking computer exec, who is waiting for Microsoft to certify Crusoe for Windows and worrying if the new brand will turn off corporate customers. --Tom Mainelli, Laurianne McLaughlin, and Bill Synder
WEIRDEST-LOOKING PC: Korea's ("http://www.hyun-ju.com/" TARGET = "_blank") Hyun Ju Computers wins the award for showcasing the weirdest PC form factor. The silver, legacy-free FX3 looks like a Star Wars alien, or maybe a flying saucer that got stuck sidewise when it crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. Hyun Ju hopes to sell the FX3 in various configurations starting at $500. --Tom Spring
MOST PROMINENT PLATFORM: Not Windows, but ("http://www.palm.com" TARGET = "_blank") Palm was the clear winner in the operating system category, thanks to the Palm and ("http://www.handspring.com/ flash.htm" TARGET = "_blank") Handspring booths' plum locations on the show floor and countless other exhibitors that demonstrated Palm OS hardware, software, and services. --Harry McCracken
LEAST PROMINENT PLATFORM: Linux generally showed up only in prototypes like the Transmeta notebooks, and in a tiny ghetto...