Article: Pentium 4 laptops zoom; Notebook computers start to earn respect but bring heavy baggage

Pentium 4 laptops zoom. Notebook computers start to earn respect but bring heavy baggage

NEW YORK -- Ever feel like the pace car at the Indy 500 when you'd rather be tearing around the track at more than 200 mph? That's about how I've experienced every new generation of laptop computer.

Compared with desktop PCs, notebooks always have been mediocre substitutes, tolerated because they're portable. Now that Intel's Mobile Pentium 4 microprocessor is here, the notebook finally gets you into the passing lane.

I looked at three: IBM's A31 Thinkpad, the Inspiron 8200 from Dell and Toshiba's Tecra 9100, all billed as desktop replacement units.

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