[Ti] 17-inch Wintel competition

[Benn]

On Tuesday, July 1, 2003, at 11:31  AM, Peter Krug wrote:
> It seems that my LunchTrayDeluxe is no longer the only 17-inch  
> portable on the block:
>
> http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/pc/ 
> pc_cf_prodChassis.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1537960166.1057078350@@@@&BV_Eng 
> ineID=cccfadcijmhmkifcgfkceghdgngdgli.0&comm=ST&plin=Portables&pfam=Sat 
> ellite&pmod=P25
>
> That's one hell of a URL.  For $1k less ($2179), you get almost the  
> same specs as the 17-inch G4 PB.  No Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a instead  
> of g, the ability to put 2 GB RAM inside, 4 USB 2.0 ports, 40 fewer  
> pixels in width, 32 MB less on the video card, No bluetooth, SD slot  
> instead of PC card slot, no FW 800, whatever a 1-FIR port is, a 2.8  
> GHz P4 (not M?), 800 MHz bus and Windows XP Pro.  Plus a strange case  
> (is it really as thick as the picture implies) and a horrible website  
> to buy it from.
>
> Maybe Apple will fill the void here with a new machine (as the 1 GHz  
> 15-inchers are now 7-10 days backordered?)

My observations:
-Uses PC2100 DDR (and has two slots, just like the powerbook, which  
will support 2GB in time)
-Half the video RAM
-16.4” x 11.5” x 1.8”   9.9LBS!!!  That's a hell of a lot larger than  
the 17" powerbook.  (157.08 in^2 compared to 339.48 in^2?)
-Battery Life?  Not an amazing 5 hours, not 4.5 hours.  3?  Nope.  The  
battery is rated for TWO hours.  I guess that's in part because it uses  
a normal pentium 4, instead of a portable version.  2 hours, though, is  
pathetic.  I bet doing processor intense stuff it'd get less than an  
hour.  LOL.
-UGLY!  No elegance whatsoever.  It looks like a big rock.

Will they sell?  Yea, probably.  This thing is by no means a "17"  
Powerbook" for the windows world.  This thing seemed to learn only one  
thing from apple--and that is to put the 17" screen in there.

Benn