Enough Stuff to Make Your Magnetoresistive Head Spin

By the time you read this, I’ll be in Las Vegas where, with about 200,000 of my closest friends, I’ll be attending Comdex. Comdex (for Computer Dealer Exposition) has evolved into a world showcase for new products, although many companies announce products just before the show to avoid getting lost in the crowd.

Here’s a look at a few of this year’s more interesting offerings:

* Big disk drives. Hard disks aren’t exactly the sexiest products around, but plenty of people are paying attention to IBM’s new super-fast, high-capacity disk drives based on the new giant magnetoresistive (GMR) heads. The new drives, which will be available to PC makers in December, will range from 3.2 gigabytes ($275) to 16.8 gigs ($895).

The GMR drives store 3.2 gigs per platter, which is considerably more than what is offered by most other drive makers. IBM is also showing a 14.4-gig drive, which rotates at 7,200 rpm--providing very fast access. The drives fit into a standard PC drive bay and connect to IDE controllers that are built into most PCs.

High-capacity drives are particularly important now that an increasing number of people are storing digital photographs, graphically enhanced e-mail and multimedia presentations. IBM plans to provide drives for upgrading existing PCs in early 1998.

* Small notebooks. Ultra-small sub-notebook PCs will be big at this year’s Comdex. Toshiba’s $1,999 70CT, a larger version of its Libretto hand-held computer, weighs in at just 1.88 pounds and sports a 120-megahertz Intel Pentium with MMX, a 1.58-gig hard disk, a 6.1-inch active matrix screen and a nearly full-sized 80-key keyboard.

Mitsubishi will be showing off the 2.4-pound Amity CN Ultra-Lightweight portable. The little $1,999 machine comes with a 7.5-inch LCD display, a 1.2-gig hard disk, a 133-MHz Intel Pentium CPU, 16 megabytes of memory (expandable to 48) and an 83-key keyboard.

Hitachi will be demonstrating its new VisionBook Traveler ($2,499) a 2.7-pound machine with an 8.4-inch display that comes with a 133-MHz Pentium processor, 8 MB of RAM (upgradeable to 40) and a 1-gig hard disk drive. Each of these machines uses an external floppy disk drive.

* Cool cameras. Digital cameras have been available for a couple of years, but they’re now on the verge of becoming mainstream. Look for several impressive new models at Comdex, including Kodak’s sleek 1-million-pixel-per-image DC210 Zoom Digital Camera that has the look and feel of a film camera with the advantages of digital.

Olympus America will be showing two new offerings, the D-220L (about $500) and the D-320L (about $700). Both cameras feature video outports, auto-focus lens, exposure controls, red-eye reduction and, like the Kodak model, an LCD panel that displays the picture as soon as it’s been snapped.

* Combo machines. At the last Comdex, Gateway 2000 was the only player in the “PC TV” category to combine a PC with a big-screen TV. The current version of its Destination Digital Media Computer features a 33.5-inch monitor, a DVD (digital versatile disc) drive, cordless mouse and keyboard, and a choice of Intel Pentium processors. Compaq’s PC Theater sports a 36-inch TV.

The latest entry is from Philips Electronics, which last week began shipping its DVX8000 Multimedia Home Theater that includes a DVD player, video out and Dolby Digital Sound. Unlike the Compaq and Gateway products, it does not come with a monitor but is designed to connect to a large-screen TV.

* DVD drives. Last year Toshiba and a couple of other vendors showed off DVD drives, but they were available only to PC makers, not the public; the technology has been slow to catch on.

This year, most major PC vendors will be displaying PCs with DVD. The discs can store up to 17 gigabytes, which is more than enough space for a full-length movie. Creative Labs will be displaying its PC-DVD Encore upgrade kit for adding DVD to existing computers. And several companies are expected to show off rewritable DVD drives.

* Pentium power. Intel’s Pentium II processor is now old news, but Intel plans to be at Comdex in force, trying to convince PC makers and buyers to shun its older Pentium chips in favor of the faster and, of course, more expensive Pentium II.

There will be plenty of vendors on the floor showing PCs with 300-MHz Pentium IIs, but Toshiba, Compaq and IBM are reportedly planning to show off the first notebook PCs with mobile versions of the chip. These machines won’t be on the show floor, but will be seen under nondisclosure in private hotel suites.

Intel isn’t content with a PC in every home and office. It will also show its “Connected Car PC,” which will “offer the driver and passengers an assortment of in-vehicle applications,” such as “entertainment, communications, information, navigation and security.” I wonder if the operating system will be called “power Windows.”

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Larry Magid can be reached at magid@latimes.com. His Web page is at https://www.larrysworld.com, or keyword LarryMagid on AOL.