2004 promises to be another exciting year for notebooks with a dizzying range of new features expected to roll out in the coming months. As always, there will be faster processors, more efficient chipsets, larger (and wider) screens as well as slimmer form factors. Multimedia or "media center" notebooks will be built with vastly improved graphics and connectivity options in the hope of convincing gamers and power users to switch from desktop systems. All of these will be happening in the midst of an increasingly competitive price war among the various notebook vendors. Let's take a look at what you can expect for this segment of the market in the coming year.

Click here to see the upcoming trends for PCs in 2004 .

CPU

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Graphics and LCD

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Storage

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Battery

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Network

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Size

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New Player

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Apple's tablet

Lord of the mobile CPUs
Intel laid a strong foundation for its Centrino chipset in 2003 and will be looking at reinforcing it further this year with the launch of the improved "Dothan" core processor in Q1. This enhanced version of the Pentium M chip offers faster clock speeds and 2MB of L2 cache compared with the 1MB integrated in the current "Banias" core processors.

Meanwhile, Intel is also expected to ship a mobile Celeron based on the Banias core (that means similar architecture to the Pentium M chip) in Q1 this year. This Ultra Low 800MHz processor is designed as a lower-priced alternative to the Pentium M and is slated for use in tablet PCs and sub-notebooks.

Transmeta's Efficeon processor

Intel's greatest competition will come from Transmeta's Efficeon processor, whose notebooks have been available since end 2003. It will run at either 1GHz or 1.3GHz (and up to 2GHz by mid-2004), with 512MB or 1MB of cache. According to the company, the new chip's redesigned architecture will offer a more efficient performance and be priced competitively for the mainstream market.

Via is also expected to give Intel a run for its money, with the launch of the Eden-N chip for ultraportable notebooks. Touted as the world's smallest native x86 processor, the Eden-N, which was announced last October, is half the size of the Pentium M chip and runs at 6 watts for the 800MHz model and 7 watts at 1GHz.

Last but not least, many notebook vendors are expected to introduce high-end machines that are fitted with desktop processors, such as AMD's Athlon64 XP and even Intel's latest Pentium 4 Extreme Edition or the upcoming Prescott chips. These machines will be offered as laptop alternatives for gamers and multimedia-intensive or "media center" users.

What's screening?
The graphics hardware for notebooks has improved significantly over the past year. Dedicated 3D graphics chipsets now come with as much as 128MB of onboard memory, compared with just 32MB a year ago. This momentum is expected to carry on into 2004, with vendors eager to narrow the gap in 3D graphics and multimedia performance between notebooks and desktops. Already in the pipeline for early 2004 is Nvidia's GeForce FX Go5700, which is targeted mainly at powering gaming notebooks.

To accommodate the higher screen resolutions and intensive multimedia applications, many notebook makers have started to introduce bigger screens, with some as large as 17-inch and offering a widescreen aspect ratio. While we do not expect screen sizes to increase any further this year, given the portability limit of the machine, we do foresee more widescreen notebooks. And if things go according to Sharp's plans, we may also be looking at 3D screens as an option on laptops by the end of the year. (Currently, it is available on only Sharp's Actius RD3D notebook.)

Improved storage
With prices of 2.5-inch notebook hard drives expected to drop further in 2004, many manufacturers will be offering higher-capacity storage in their upcoming machines. Increasingly, vendors will also be turning to 1.8-inch hard drives in a bid to further reduce the size of the ultraportable notebooks, as with the Toshiba Portege R100. Those who seek better performance can watch out for faster notebook hard drives with 7,200rpm, up from the usual 5,400rpm or 4,200rpm.

CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drives will slowly be replaced by DVD+RW or -RW drives (or both) as a standard package in notebooks, as the production goes into full gear. Expect also to see optical drives half the size of current models as well as smaller multiformat memory card slots in new thin-and-light machines.

Built for the long haul
The Centrino platform has proven that with the right combinations of chipsets, the battery performance of notebooks can be considerably improved. This should spur other manufacturers to collaborate and research new ways to increase battery.

Unfortunately, fuel cell technology is still some years away from commercialization, with only a few manufacturers like Toshiba showing off prototypes at electronic shows.

Going wireless
Wi-Fi will continue to find its way into most notebooks, with the next generation of the Centrino chipset expected to come equipped with triband wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g). Increasingly, Bluetooth will also be offered as an integrated option in notebooks. Meanwhile, rumors have it that a wireless USB standard is in the works.

Sony Vaio PCG-X505 notebook

Slim form factor
With smaller hard drives, tinier chipsets and more energy-efficient processors in place, we can all expect to see smaller and slimmer notebooks in 2004, if the recently launched Sony Vaio PCG-X505 notebook in Japan is any indication.

Here comes a new player
Samsung recently announced its plans to introduce its laptops into other parts of Asia, starting with Singapore in 2004. This will no doubt heat up the competition in the notebook market, particularly in the thin-and-light segment where Samsung has performed extremely well with its X-series offerings in Korea.

Apple's first tablet PC?
According to the grapevine in the Mac forums, Apple may be introducing its first tablet PC this year, which is targeted at graphics designers. In the report, it is said the Mac tablet can double as a digital media hub which can be connected to the TV and PC. Considering Apple's traditional product design, one just wonders how the final product will look like, if it is going to be available in the first place.

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