EUREKA! LAPTOPS THAT SHARE PARTS Machines are finally being designed that accept accessories from earlier models In the past year, I've had perhaps two dozen laptops in my office for evaluation. Often, I'd like to use an accessory--a spare battery or an AC adapter left behind from a previous model. But these old parts almost never fit new notebooks because the design has changed. This is more than an annoyance for lots of laptop buyers. For companies that have invested many thousands of dollars in docking stations and spare disks--or even the individual buyer who popped for a spare battery and connection to a car's electrical system--the inability to reuse components involves real money. Corporations, which often buy top-of-the-line notebooks for senior executives and entry-level machines for sales or service people in the field, want to minimize the cost of stocking a common pool of spare parts. DOCKING EASE. Manufacturers are beginning to respond to the loud complaints from customers. More and more new laptops can use old accessories or share components with current models. ''We are making a concerted effort to design our 1998 generation of products to have much greater commonality,'' says James Schwabe, senior vice-president at NEC Computer Systems. Dell Computer got the trend rolling with its XPi laptops a couple years ago, but Gateway 2000, which is increasing its emphasis on corporate sales and trying to establish itself as a player in the notebook market, has taken the concept the furthest. With its new Solo laptops, the big direct-sales computer maker is promising customers interchangeable parts across its laptop line. One example is docking stations, into which you can slip a portable computer to use a corporate network or other features. Gateway designed a $599 docking station with multimedia capabilities and a $199 minidock for its under-$2,000 Solo 2100, but the $6,000 top-of-the-line Solo 9100XL can use the stations, too. ''We can do standards across lines and across generations,'' says Bob Burnett, director of mobile systems for Gateway. ''It's cheaper and easier for customers.'' It can be hard for manufacturers to simplify their customers' lives. The switch from 486 to Pentium processors required major laptop redesigns to deal with increased power and cooling requirements. Now, Intel wants laptop makers to use its new Mobile Module (MMO) Pentium package. This standardized module, which the Gateway Solos use, could make common designs easier in the future, but it will mean more incompatibilities between new designs and existing machines. It's tough to share disk drives, batteries, and docks between normal 2-inch-thick laptops and the new ultrathin models. Another factor confounding common designs is something laptop makers don't much like to talk about: Many of them farm out the manufacturing--and sometimes the designing of some models--to third parties that have their own way of doing things. LESS INNOVATION. Compaq Computer, whose various notebook lines have barely shown a family resemblance of late, has a long way to go, but it's making a start. Its new Armada 7700 models can use the docking stations of the LTE5000 units they replace, and special plastic inserts allow all new Compaq laptops to share a dock that turns them into desktop minitowers. The company is promising greater reusability of components in future models. One disadvantage of standardized components may be a bit less innovation in the design of new models. However, that is a small price for buyers, who now are stuck having to toss out accessories whenever they upgrade their laptops. BY STEPHEN H. WILDSTROM RELATED ITEMS PHOTO: Gateway Solo Laptop

Updated July 4, 1997 by bwwebmaster
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