Bigger, Better, and Still Fits in Your Lap

Russell Kay

Laptop screens keep getting bigger, but the latest notebook from Digital, the HiNote Ultra 2000, has a 14.1-inch XGA 1024- by 768-pixel active-matrix display that may define the best size of all. This laptop has all the features you'd expect in a $6000 state-of-the-art system, including a 166-MHz MMX Pentium, 32 MB of RAM, a 2-GB user-replaceable hard drive, a 20X CD-ROM, a built-in modem, a touchpad, and a lithium-ion battery. Weighing under 5 pounds and measuring 1.4 inches thick, it's easily transportable. A built-in, replaceable USR Sportster Winmodem attaches to a back-panel phone jack (with room for the to-come LAN adapter's RJ-45 jack).

The screen captures your attention right off. Tests with Sonera's DisplayMate for Wind ows test patterns showed a lack of geometric distortion, which characterizes all flat-panel screens. Digital has managed to package all this into an amazingly small space, with the edge of the display only 3/8 inch from the case edge. Do the math, and you'll see that this has more than double the d isplay area of a 12-inch panel, and the XGA resolution lets you take good advantage of the extra real estate. (But the weight of the display in the lid tests the holding ability of the hinges.)

In addition, the 1/2-inch-thick multimedia base adds another drive bay, more ports (including a USB connection), full wave-table sound with stereo speakers, and a subwoofer.

I almost fell in love with this machine, but I had some trouble adapting to its very flat keyboard. It's also expensive, although Digital offers a model with a 12.1-inch screen for a kilobuck less. Of course, the real attraction is the 14-inch display, which, frankly, redefines the term "desktop replacement."

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Where to Find

HiNote Ultra 2000........................$5999

Digital Equipment Corp.
Acton, MA
Phone:    800-344-4825
Phone:    516-493-5111
Internet: 
http://www.digital.com/

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A Desktop for Your Lap

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