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The Timeline: October/November 1997

XKE and Power Trip reviews and Comdex. This page may take a while to load...

11-10-97: PowerTrip review and new notebooks
10-28-97: Transmonde and some other news...
10-23-97: XKE review and no more message board
10-13-97: Still testing and a visit from Down Under
10-08-97: Sorry... been busy, but the PowerTrip is here!

Tillamook Time

September 97: The Tillamooks (mobile 200/233 MMXs) arrive (and so does my Micron XKE!).

Changing of the guard

07-08-97 to 08-31-97: Hitachi VisionBook Pro, Nimantics HS-166M 14.2", Transmonde Vivante' and news about the upcoming Tillamooks

The TXs are coming...

05-19-97 to 06-30-97: Solo 9100, Micron XKE, Toshiba Libretto 50, Transmonde 166

The Dell vs. Micron Saga

04-18-97 to 05-12-97: See how the Dell LM 166 and the Micron XPE 166 compared against each other!

The Archive

02-07-97 to 04-16-97: History of the Quest and how this site got started

* If it has an asterisk next to it, that means I've made an error or corrected something that was in it. These changes can be found in:
Errors and Corrections


10-08-97: Sorry... been busy, but the PowerTrip is here

Well... it's been over 2 weeks since my last update. I've been hoping that the new notebooks would come in (the Power Computing and the Nimantics) but both of those have been delayed by a couple of weeks. As I was writing this, the Power Computing notebook just arrived so I will be putting a First Look article up for that at the Mining Co. in a day or so. They started shipping on Monday so everyone who ordered them should be getting them now. The Nimantics should be here next week also.

So... what's new? Well I forgot to mention another new notebook in the market, the company is called Akia and the notebook is called the Tornado. The story behind this company (or from what I've been told) is that the head of Akia is a former executive for Dell Japan. Akia is supposedly doing real well in Japan so they decided to bring their products here... they are even based in the same city as Dell (Austin). The machine looks pretty good and is based on a thinner form factor then some of the current 13.3" notebooks. More on the PowerTrip at the end of this update.

This site is getting a lot more traffic lately so I've been receiving requests for advertising. If you are interested in advertising on my EdgeWorld site (or my Mining Co. site), please e-mail me.

I've been looking into some new products lately. One is a keyboard built specifically for notebooks. It's made by Darwin Keyboards and what makes it different from other keyboards is that it has adjustable feet that allow it to be placed directly above your laptop keyboard. I will have a more in-depth review of this on the Mining Co., but we have arranged a special deal for readers of this site to get the NoteBoard for less then the regular retail price. For more info please go to this special Darwin Keyboard NoteBoard page. It will tell how to get the discount (and I believe they have another contest to win some other notebook peripherals).

The other product is a "notebook wetsuit". This is that neoprene case that fits tightly around your notebook to offer extra protection while in your laptop bag or just while you are using it. Once I get more info about them I will actually hold my own contest at my Mining Company site so you that you can win one for your own notebook. Yes... to reward all of you out there for reading my site and helping me with information... I will be giving you something in return. I don't know how exactly I will run the contest but I am willing to take suggestions.

Now back to the PowerTrip... here are a some first observations:

That's it for now... more on the PowerTrip in a day or so on my Mining Company site.
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10-13-97: Still testing and a visit from Down Under

Well... I'm still testing the 2 notebooks I currently have. I even used a null modem cable and hooked them both up for a head to head game of Red Alert to see how performance and battery time was. But due to some technical difficulties (like the PowerTrip battery not being fully charged) I only got a time for the XKE, about 2 hours 47 minutes. That is with NO power management at all so that means it would last a lot longer, probably close to PC Mag's 4 plus time. I'm going to run the Mobile Computing Power Hour test on both of them and see how they compare.

The Nimantics should be coming in tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed. If it does it will be my article for my Mining Company site.

I had the opportunity to meet one of my web correspondents last Friday, all the way from the land "Down Under" (Australia if you never listened to Men at Work). We had lunch and talked about notebooks, computers and all this other stuff. DVD was a big topic because John (the Aussie) has a business that deals with movies and laser discs. So far only 2 companies advertise some type of DVD compatibility, IBM and Power Computing. But from what I have read and have been told, basically any notebook that can offer MPEG-2 can also do DVD. I'll have to look into this more in the future.

Anyways... John is very much in the same dilemna as myself (and many of you) as he does not know what to get and would like the best for his money. He is looking at the IBM 770 due to all its features and the fact that it has an international warranty. I like that machine a lot too, but the price is a little too high to justify. Both John and I were speculating about price drops and since so many of you are e-mailing me with this question (a FAQ as it would seem) I will share my thoughts on it herein:

So if you think that you are the only one... think again... people even as far as Australia are undergoing the same hardships. But this is the reason I started my site(s), to help people like myself who would otherwise be at a disadvantage because either vendors aren't as forthright as we would like them to be (sometimes not by their own faults), magazines are a little too concerned about their advertisers, and many of the testers/reviewers may not see things the way we "average consumers" do. Maybe I'm not a good example of an average consumer but I try to listen to everyone's suggestions and test the notebooks on those criteria. That's why we have to share our information to make us all more aware of what is going on... like the old G.I. Joe cartoons used to say -- "Knowing is half the battle!". And that's what I'm after, to build a community and maybe like John said... we can direct the companies out there to give us what we want... not what would work out more economically for them.

Okay... I have to breathe now... I'm feeling a little a bit too didactic now, but you know what I mean. I would like to thank John and his wife (Lucia) for treating me to lunch and for the nice souvenirs from the other side of the world. I wish them a safe trip back and hope their "quest" goes well. And if any of you have any more suggestions on what you would like to see from my site(s), just e-mail me and I will do what I can.
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10-23-97: XKE review and no more message board

The Micron Transport XKE review is done and it's at the Mining Co. site. It took me a while but I was able to use this machine a bit more so I got a better feel for it. The PowerTrip review will be forthcoming next week and also a comparison article between the two machines.

If you post to my message board, you will notice that it has been taken down. The guy who was providing it for me can no longer support free boards so I will be setting up a new one shortly within my Mining Company site. Which reminds me... I have a chat room now available at the Mining Co. and I am taking suggestions on when to schedule chat sessions, please e-mail me to tell me when is the best time to have them.

The Dell Inspirons have started shipping and so I'm working on trying to get an eval unit but I'm not sure how successful I will be. Most likely I will try to obtain the OEM version of it from Compal or maybe contact Quantex and ask about their Meridian. Quantex and Dell both get their machine from the same OEM (Compal) so I wouldn't expect too much difference between them. My biggest problem with the new Mook machines is that they are all pretty big and hefty, I understand that sizewise to accomodate the bigger screens they would be larger, but they are a lot heavier too, coming in at about 8 to 9 pounds. That's why both the Tornado and the Inspiron have me intrigued due to their lower weight.

If you are wondering what has happened to my Nimantics 14.2" review, so am I. They have delayed giving me the unit for about 3 weeks and when I went there yesterday they said it would be another week. I don't know, I'm not getting very good vibes from them... if you have a Nimantics machine, please e-mail me and let me know how it is.

Transmonde is giving $100 rebates on selected models of their notebooks. The latest ad in Portable Computing has some great prices on their Vibrants and Vivantés. They even have a 133 MMX with a 12.1" Active Matrix screen for less than $2000! And remember, it has ZV, CardBus AND USB!! The Vivantés start at under $3000 which is one of the lowest prices for a TRUE mobile notebook with a 13.3" screen. You can check out reviews of both machines at my Mining Co. site.

And if you didn't notice, I have a banner up for Darwin Keyboards. We set up a deal that will save you $15 off their NoteBoard, a keyboard designed just for notebooks. They also have a contest to win a 56k PC-Card modem. To find out more info click on the banners or here. If any other notebook vendors would like to arrange special deals on their products exclusively for my site, please let me know.
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10-28-97: Transmonde and some other news...

Everyone keeps asking me when is Transmonde going to have the new Tillamook notebooks. Well, I went there yesterday for a couple of hours and... you will have to wait until November 10. Sorry, but I'm not allowed to say anything until then but from what I saw I think that you will be impressed.

Intel has released a new mobile processor -- but before you get excited... it's not a faster Tillamook but actually a CPU geared for the new mini-notebook market. It's a 120 MMX and runs at about 2.2v. You can find out more info at C|Net's News site. Like I said when I first mentioned the Libretto, this will become a pretty hot niche. I really don't like the Windows CE machines, and having the power of a Pentium in a small package is pretty nice. Pricewise it may not be an option for everyone but if more come out, the prices might get better.

The PowerTrip review will be coming in the next day or so. I will post it on my Mining Company site either tomorrow or the next day. I had some problems with the modem but a call to tech support fixed it quickly.

And I still don't know what is up with Nimantics. I think they grew too fast and are experiencing problems with product delivery, tech support and quality control. I went there again today and still no HS, I think they are just giving me the run around which is sad because they look like a very good company in all their ads (but then again... don't they all?).

November's Mobile Computing had a Triatholon for 10 notebooks testing speed (performance), strength (ruggedness) and stamina (battery life). The winners (in order) were the Micron XKE (not again!), the Gateway Solo 9100 and the Digital HiNote VP575. You can check out the full story yourself.

Speaking of mini-notebooks, November's Portable Computing has an article on the Libretto 60 and the Hitachi Prius (which is the same machine as the Nimantics Persona). It's not on their website yet so you have to get the dead tree version if you want to read it.

And my friends over at NotebookMall have put together a nice newsletter that you can subscribe to. You can also view their past issues at their archive page. They have lots of notebook news and tips there (and actually quite a bit of info that I've missed) so you should check it out. By the way, NotebookMall guys, you owe me if your hits double from this reference (hehe).

I'd also like to thank you for continuing to visit my site and I hope that my little bits of info have helped many of you out there. Please continue to visit my Mining Company site, as any revenue I generate from there keeps this site going. And as I mentioned earlier, I will have a contest soon to win one of those "wetsuits" for your notebook. I haven't got any suggestions for what type of contest to hold so please send me some mail. [Top of Page]

11-10-97: PowerTrip review and new notebooks

If you haven't seen it yet, the PowerTrip review is now up at my Mining Company site. And for everyone who is asking about a WinBook XL review, the PowerTrip and the XL are pretty much the same machine externally. Internally there are some differences, the first being the XL has a smaller L2 cache, 256k vs. the PowerTrip's 512k. This does have an effect on performance. Additionally, the WinBook is using a 2MB C&T video chipset while the PT is using a 4MB SGRAM Trident 3d chipset. Tests show that the Trident video is better. This also explains why the WinBooks are priced lower but they still represent a very good value. I don't know if I will be able to review one but I'll see if WinBook is willing to let me, otherwise you can check the comp.sys.laptops newsgroup, several people have posted their own reviews there.

As I promised, today is November 10 and I said I will spill the beans on the new Transmonde products. They are coming out with 2 Tillamook notebooks, a 13.3" version and a 14.1" version. The 13.3" version uses the same chassis as the Vivanté but with some improvements and is called the Vivanté SE. The 14.1" version uses a differents chassis and is called the Vivanté XL. Here are some highlights of both machines:

They are both killer machines and will compete with anything that is out there right now. The only caveat is a shipping date, I'm not sure when they will be ready but I believe I've been told December or January (more like January). While I was at Transmonde, they also showed me this new external sound system by Mediaphile. It uses 2 satellite speakers and an optional subwoofer. The sound is amazing as the satellites used the surface they are laying on to produce a surround-sound effect. You have to hear them to understand what I am talking about, but you can basically have a powerful sound system in a very lightweight and small portable package. I think Fujitsu is also selling this external speaker system. For more information on the new Vivantés, please call Transmonde at 1-888-988-2883.

I still have not received the Nimantics machine and I don't think I will. Their phone lines are ALWAYS busy and the last time I went there they were not very helpful. I have received e-mail from someone who is also having trouble getting a hold of them so I'm not sure what is going on. Hopefully I can have this situation straightened out shortly.

Vendors are coming out with new models this month. Dell even has a new notebook, the Latitude CP. It's thin light notebook that looks pretty impressive. If you want to read more about the newest offerings, please read C|Net's article on the newest notebooks.

Sometime this week I will be putting together a news page for you to read the latest mobile happenings. I am also working on my reviews page that will collect reviews from the newsgroup as I am not able to review all laptops (and of course to get 2nd and 3rd opinions). I would like to schedule a chat session some time before Comdex and would appreciate any suggestions on when to have it.


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