IBM makes it truly portable—at last

Press, 15 April 1986, Page 34

IBM makes it truly portable —at last

IBM’s new lap-top computer has caused a stir in the United States. Its new faster and cheaper PCs, software and hardware are also opening eyes wide. By GARETH POWELL

In theory, lap-top computers should sweep all before them. They are small, powerful, adaptable, unobtrusive and, frequently, extremely elegant

The best of them can give as much pleasure as a superbly engineered and manufactured Swiss watch. But sales have never taken off. Not in any quantity. Not across the board. They have never come within cooee of meeting industry expectations. Not here, not in Europe, not in the United States. The only lap-top machines which have really sold well have been the single-purpose word processors — the Tandy 100 and 200, the NEC 8201 A and the Olivetti MlO — which have rightly become known as the journalists’ friend, and function superbly as word processors, but sometimes less than superbly in other modes.

Now IBM has come into the market and the scene will very probably — but not certainly — change. Its new lap-top computer is, like many others on the market, aimed at being a portable personal

computer. Almost everything you get on the standard desk-top model you get on its new lap portable except, importantly, for the visual display unit, the screen. The new IBM PC laptop convertible has a detachable display that can be removed to convert the system into a desk-top computer with optional colour and monochrome displays. The computer also has dual inch diskette drives, weighs less than seven kilograms, is battery powered and, with an optional modem installed, can communi-

cate with other computers over the telephone. At the same time as it launched the new lap computer in the United States — expect it in New Zealand in a few months time — IBM introduced a faster model of its personal computer AT and three new models of the XT computer. IBM also introduced software to improve communications between personal computers and larger host computers, and two new series of accounting software. It lowered prices for its personal computers, hardware options

and software. According to industry observers, the IBM machine has technical merits which will probably make it the bestselling lap-top unit now on the market-

Chief among them is its compatibility with the millions of existing IBM PCs, meaning thousands of programmes that run on the desk-top models can be used, without modification, on the new machine. That issue has bedevilled virtually all of IBM’s competitors as the low-power circuitry and liquid-crystal display screens create engineering problems that prevent many programmes from working correctly. IBM also improved upon the screen technology, with a liquid-crystal display that is clear with high resolution. However, IBM engineers conceded that the poor contrast of such screens, which do not emit light, needs work. When the convertible is used on a desk top, a new high-resolution display screen can be plugged in, but the machine will not work with the ordinary monochrome displays that IBM supplies with its PCs.

The new computer uses two 3.5 in disc drives, similar to those on Apple’s Macintosh. This marks IBM’s first use of the smaller drives, which use discs that can slip into a shirt pocket, and seems to indicate that the

commpany plans to shift over gradually to the more compact technology. Each drive holds more than 700,000 characters of data — enough to write a small book. The new computer is relatively heavy, and it takes up nearly twice as much space as the Tandy 200, one of the popular non-IBM-compatible versions now on the market.

IBM also increased by one-third the processor speed of its AT and doubled the fixed disc drive storage capacity of the XT, with similar improvements for the IBM 3270 PC family. It introduced a new series of accounting programmes for its personal computers, including the IBM Business Adviser and the IBM Accounting Assistant series.

All of this activity by IBM suggests that it has a tremendous faith in the future of personal computers. In a sense, this is perfectly correct because IBM expects the personal computer market to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 25 per cent for the second half of the 1980 s — a rate which would make other industries positively ecstatic. The computer in-

dustry is, of course, slightly different. Like Oliver, they want more. William Lowe, IBM entry systems division president, says the growth rate is “clearly lower’’ than 1982 to 1984 when sales expanded by 100 to 200 per cent a year. “IBM expects the market to expand faster outside of the United States for the rest of the

decade,” he said. Mr Lowe said 1985 was “a very good year” for the company’s personal computers. He said IBM’s personal computer sales outperformed the market as a whole and its market share increased. Last month, the company lost a bid to sell a lap-top machine to the Internal Revenue Service. However IBM officials report-

edly feel strongly that a

market is developing for an IBM-compatible sevenkilogram machine, smaller than a briefcase, for use by executives, writers and sales representatives when they are out of their offices. Three weeks ago, IBM quietly released a new version of its personal computer operating system that contains functions needed to make the new lap-top machine ex-

change files with standard IBM PCs.

This flurry of announcements is only the start of a deluge to come. Mr Lowe said IBM planned very frequent new personal computer product announcements for the second half of the decade.

Hardware announcements will focus on better price/performance. Mr Lowe said IBM had already received “a very encouraging” response from large customers to its lap-top sized computer introduced recently. He said the company’s older portable computer, which is basically a desktop size computer with a handle on it, has been withdrawn from active marketing.

A host of computer concerns are bringing out new lap-top computers that, like heavier “portables,” can run on batteries. Most have 24-line screens — though they use varying technologies to display characters in Japan for Tandy, NEC and Olivetti without con-, suming much power — and built-in modems that allow users to exchange data with their home offices.