Aero Sub-notebook Is Light On The Pocket

The Age

Thursday February 17, 1994

David Frith

ARE you looking for a laptop portable computer but find the current crop of notebook PCs either too expensive or too heavy to lug far? Compaq Computer Australia has launched what it is billing as the world's first no-compromise affordable ``sub-notebook".

In the trade jargon, notebook computers are portables with a profile about the same size as a sheet of A4 paper, and a weight of two to five kilograms. Sub-notebooks are a little smaller and weigh under 2kg. There aren't many of them around, because they are devilishly difficult to make and they tend to be expensive.

Compaq claims the new Contura Aero will change all that. At just 1.6kg, it is 45 per cent lighter and 33 per cent smaller than most notebook models. It will slip into the smallest executive briefcase with ease. And with prices starting at $2750, it is a fraction of the cost of most other sub-notebooks.

Competitors include the Toshiba T3400 at $5095, the Zenith Z-Lite at $6250, the Hewlett-Packard OmniBook at $4398 and the Apple Macintosh Duo at $2995. Price reductions on some of these models are likely in the near future as their makers come to grips with Compaq's aggressive pricing.

The Aero is powered by an Intel 486SX processor. Its nickel hydride battery is claimed to last up to six hours. In the interests of saving weight, there is no floppy disc drive but there is an optional $399 external drive that plugs into a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) slot.

PCMCIA slots are appearing on most portable computers these days. They are mainly used for plugging in a range of credit-card sized devices, including modems, extra memory and connections to corporate networks.

Mono models of the new Compaq Aero have a 20-centimetre (8-inch) backlit screen; color models, which start at $4371, have a 19.8-cm (7.8-in) passive matrix screen.

Passive matrix screens lack the crisp images and wide viewing angles of active matrix models but are cheaper and lighter. One design blunder has put the Contura Aero's in-built trackball (a mouse substitute) on the right hand side of the computer, out of easy reach of left-handed users.

This means left-handers either have to learn to master right-handed trackballing or work awkwardly with the left hand crossing over the right. ``They'll get used to it," said an insouciant _ and presumably right-handed _ Compaq executive when the Green Guide pointed out this problem at the press launch.

Left-handers who want to register a protest, or those who want more information, should contact the Compaq Action Centre at the company's Australian headquarters on (008) 060 800.

Compaq has also reduced prices of its full-sized Contura notebook models by 10 per cent. They now start at $3513 for a mono model, and $4902 for color.

IN OTHER news around the personal computer industry this week: If you have ever yearned to own a multinational PC distribution house, this could be your big chance _ Commodore Business Machines, Australian distributor of the much-loved Amiga range, as well as IBM- compatible PCs and games machines, is being advertised for sale after running into steep financial troubles.

Despite a turnover of more than $40 million last year, Commodore Business Machines was unable to meet a bank loan that fell due last week. An administrator has been appointed to take control of the company _ and he promptly decided to put it up for sale.

What does this mean for owners of Commodore Amigas and PCs in this country? As things stand, Commodore Business Machines is still trading and promising to honor warranties and service contracts.

A spokesman for Commodore told the Green Guide he was sure a buyer would be found for the company, and the new owner would take over all existing obligations. Commodore owners: watch this space. We will keep you posted.

Buyers of Apple Computer's new high-performance Power Macintoshes, which will be launched in Australia on 15 March may be getting two computers in one. Many of the new PowerMacs will come bundled with SoftWindows, a software application from Insignia Solutions that will allow the computers to run Windows and DOS programs as well as Macintosh software.

At the heart of the PowerMac is the PowerPC, a radical new microprocessor said to outperform the Pentium _ the most powerful processor available in the IBM-compatible world _ but cost less than half the price. (One catch: to enjoy the full performance of the PowerPC, you will need to upgrade your software applications to new versions specially designed for the new processor).

PowerMac prices will probably start at about $3500-4000, compared with almost $6000 for the cheapest Pentium PC. You don't have to wait until March 15 to get a taste of the PowerPC performance.

Apple Computer is staging a special preview in Melbourne's Dallas Brooks Centre on Friday, 25 February. The show is free, but numbers are said to be limited. If you would like to attend, ring 008 025 355 pronto.

Bored by the dreary look of Microsoft Windows when you are not actually computing? Perhaps you need Imaginaria, multimedia screen- saver software from Claris, to inject a little color and whimsy into your Windows world.

Screen-savers are supposed to prevent images being permanently burned into your computer's screen when it is left switched on but idle for long periods. After a set period of inactivity they switch in with a series of changing images.

This theory is actually nonsense, at least as far as modern monitors are concerned: no one we know has ever suffered from burned-in images of this kind. The real reason for buying a screen-saver is just to prevent terminal boredom setting in.

Imaginaria offers to do just that with a choice of colorful surreal images and animated stories with marvellous music and sounds. You might come back from lunch to find your PC displaying a jaunt into a primaeval jungle inhabited by dinosaurs; an exploration of a haunted attic; a crazy opera-singing bulldog; or a midnight moonrise to the more soothing accompaniment of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

Claris Imaginaria is part of the company's low-price Clear Choice range. It sells for a recommended $69. To run it, you will need a PC with a 20-megahertz 386 processor or better, 4 megabytes of random access memory, a VGA color monitor, sound board and speakers.