Buying a notebook computer

Toshiba of Canada Ltd. has released three new notebooks, chock full of bells and whistles -- a harbinger of things to come, according to one analyst.

A combination DVD/CD-RW drives is the significant addition to the line-up of high-end Toshiba Satellite notebooks and what Canadian consumers have been asking for, according to the company. The combo drives are more expensive than buying the two separately, said IDC Canada hardware analyst John Stanisic, but consumers will appreciate the overall weight reduction for the notebook.

"I think we're going to see more vendors coming out with these combo drives," he said. "Especially as price on the drive itself starts to fall."

The widespread high-tech market slump is prompting vendors for look for new ways to appeal to customers, he added. "There's not a lot of salient reasons for people to go out and upgrade their machines. It's this whole idea of 'good enough computing' where users make do with older technology if it still accomplishes the basics," Stanisic continued. "These bells and whistles are to entice people to say, 'I should upgrade'. You've got to throw in other features to get people to buy, because after a while, price isn't enough."

The three Satellite series notebooks that Markham, Ont.-based Toshiba of Canada released late June are aimed at the Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) and small business user, with a nod to the gaming community, particularly with the Satellite 2800 C500. The C500 weighs 7.5 pounds and ships with a 1 GHz Pentium III processor, 128 MB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce2Go graphics processing unit. It also features the combo DVD/CD-RW drive.

"Laptops have caught up with everything else (in terms of performance)," explained Toshiba product marketing specialist Richard Ting. "But for games, audio (and) video, it's been lagging behind. From the feedback we've received, the main thing is if it's capable of running Quake."

Toshiba hopes to find that niche of gamers who are also business users and frequent travelers, a market Stanisic described as potentially huge. However, he said, for the typical gaining enthusiast, the platform of choice remains a powerful desktop machine.

The new Satellite 1800 is a slightly less powerful machine than its 2800 cousin, standard with an 850 MHz PIII or 800 MHz Intel Celeron processor, 128 MB of SDRAM and built in DVD. It's aimed, according to Toshiba, at the SOHO market and at students. It weighs in at 6.9 pounds.

The 3000 is Toshiba's first two-spindle entry into the Satellite series. It has a removable 20 GB hard drive, 850 MHz PIII, 128 MB of SDRAM, a 3.5-inch modular bay and a DVD/CD-RW drive. This 5.7 pound notebook is targeted at high-end SOHO users and has seen some interest from enterprise customers, according to Todd Smith, group marketing manager.

Currently, all the notebooks ship with Windows ME, but they are upgradable to Windows XP, according to Smith, through a coupon in the box. Sometime this month, Toshiba will release more 3000-series notebooks for the enterprise market, which will ship with Windows 2000.

The Satellite 3000 is available for $3,349, the 2800 C500 for $3,899 and the 1800 for $1,799 to $2,349 based on options selected.

According to research conducted by Toronto-based IDC Canada Ltd., Toshiba holds the number one spot in total notebook shipments in Canada with a 21 per cent share of the market in the first calendar quarter of this year. Furthermore, Dell, IBM and Compaq are ranked second, third and fourth respectively.