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New Laptops: Tinier Machines with Fancier Features

Date: Mar 01 2010
Author: Sven Appel
Article ID: 1880

A rash of new laptops set for display at the CeBIT computing trade show underline the growing shift in the market to tinier machines with fancier features such as 3D graphics.

Taiwan-based Acer will be at the show with the Aspire 5740D, which will retail in Europe for 800 euros (1,090 dollars). Thanks to a special coating on its 15.6-inch screen, users who wear polarizing spectacles can see the third dimension when they play movies.

Experts say 2010 will be the year that 3D becomes widely available on notebook computers.

Thomas Rau, who writes for the German version of PC World magazine, says, "It's good for gamers, because they can sense distance better."

Users don't even need to buy movies and games made in 3D, according to Robert Perenz, Acer product manager. The Aspire can compute a near-3D image for games designed for DirectX 9 graphics and higher.

"It can also recompute 2D films, though it is not quite as impressive as a made-for-3D film like Avatar," he said.

In Germany alone, Europe's biggest marketplace, mobile computing is huge, accounting for 8.7 million of the 13.1 million computers sold last year, according to digital industry federation Bitkom, a sponsor of the CeBIT fair.

The overall figure was a jump of 900,000 from 12.2 million in 2008, proving this part of the industry is nearly recession proof. The March 2-6 fair is mainly directed at trade buyers of business software and computer componentry.

Convergence, the linkup of computers and home entertainment, is again visible this year with the release of laptops that can be used to play HDTV movies on televisions. Stefan Hollaender, Sony marketing director, says that is why notebooks need Blu-ray players inside.

That is why notebooks often have a jack at the back to connect to a big-screen TV.

Ulrich Jaeger, product manager at Toshiba Germany, says he is a bit surprised that shoppers are demanding not only Blu-ray players, but also Blu-ray recording capacity in laptops. He...Read the entire article...

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