Micro Express Ships 1-GHz Notebook

Tom Mainelli, PC World.com

If you're eager to lay hands on a 1-GHz notebook but unwilling to wait for Intel's upcoming 1-GHz mobile Pentium III chip, Micro Express has a product for you. The vendor has released its model NP1000A, apparently the first 1-GHz notebook to hit the mainstream market.

The $2699 notebook uses a desktop version of the 1-GHz PIII processor and comes with 256MB of SDRAM, ATI Rage Mobility-128 graphics with 16MB of video memory, a 20GB hard drive, an 8X DVD-ROM drive, built-in Ethernet support and a modem, and a 15-inch SXGA TFT display.

Micro Express also offers select upgrades to make the NP1000A even more like a desktop, says David Kaye, spokesperson. You can swap out the disk drive and replace it with a Zip drive ($199) or a second 20GB hard drive ($249). You can also replace the DVD-ROM drive with a CD-Rewritable for $299.

That much PC doesn't come light or small, and the NP1000A brings new meaning to the term "desktop replacement." It weighs in at 9.25 pounds and measures 11 inches deep by 14 inches wide by 2.2 inches tall. All that real estate makes the unit an ideal desktop replacement, Kaye says.

For example, the unit's large footprint means it can accommodate a full-size keyboard and a separate numeric keypad, he says. It also has all the standard ports of a regular PC, including a FireWire port and a TV-out port.

Battery Killer

Of course, its girth means it's probably not the perfect notebook for frequent business travelers.

"This is an office-to-home notebook," Kaye says. People can travel with it, but more often than not it will sit on a desktop, plugged in.

Plugged in is the best way to use the notebook, because its desktop processor isn't kind to batteries. Shorter run time when using the battery is the biggest compromise of using the desktop version of the 1-GHz PIII in the NP1000A, Kaye says.

However, engineers counter the chip's power-drain tendency by using a Smart Lithium battery, Kaye says. That battery has several settings that help extend run times, so the notebook can run unplugged for about three hours, he adds.

Normally, dissipating the heat generated by such a fast desktop processor would also be a problem in a notebook, Kaye says. But since the NP1000A is so large, dissipating heat isn't a problem, he says. Like most desktops, the notebook actually employs an on-chip fan that wouldn't be possible in a smaller device. The fan keeps the unit from getting too hot to handle, he says. Not that most people will be using the notebook on their laps.