Ecs notebook computer

Back in 1992 I received a list of desktop manufacturers, and you might find this unbelievable given today's market but it numbered 103. That's right: 103 desktop PC manufacturers in the world. On that list were names such AST, Acer, Toshiba, and forgettable Momenta and Greff.

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The reason I bring this up is because of the news on notebooks these days. Our front cover has a story on LG Electronics Canada releasing its first product in this market. BenQ Canada and more than likely Samsung Canada will have notebooks to compete with IBM, HP, Dell, Toshiba, Acer, Gateway, Sony and the system builders later on this year. Don't forget Asus, Fujitsu and Touch Systems from Supercom already compete with the big boys. And we can't forget Seanix and MDG. A simple Google search found others such as ACI, ECS, Iridum, Rock, and ProStar.

There are specialty notebook makers such as Eurocom in the desktop replacement category, Panasonic in the rugged category, Apple in, of course, the Mac environment, and JVC and Sharp who play in the home notebook entertainment market along with Sony, BenQ and now HP.

Don't like new? Buy slightly used or off-lease notebooks from CDI.

And have you checked prices lately? You hardly need a capital spend requirement on notebooks these days. Which means margins that were once pretty good for resellers selling notebook solutions are shrinking.

Shawn Snobelen of LG Canada pegs them at six to eight per cent. If resellers specialize, such as in rugged notebooks, the margins are better at around 12 to 15 per cent.

The market for notebooks is growing, however. According to Eddie Chan of IDC Canada the Canadian PC market repeated its double-digit third quarter performance in the fourth quarter of 2003. According to preliminary figures released by IDC's Canadian Quarterly PC Tracker, PC shipments grew to 950,500 units in Q4 '04, an increase of 15.2 per cent from the same period a year ago.

But will number of notebook vendors continue to surge, or peter out as it has with desktops? I think that more than likely it will consolidate. Currently, there is money to be made in white box notebooks, which have, in one case, postponed the launch here of the BenQ Joybook. System builders who have gotten on board with original equipment designers such as Asus, and with Intel's help, have done well this year after struggling for the past two.

For now, resellers should start to specialize their notebook solutions and begin offering customized configurations.

As for all the new entrants, good luck. You are going to need it.