NEC Revamps Notebook for Outdoors

The outdoor computer user is the target of NEC Solutions America's new Versa E120 DayLite, a notebook that features a special reflective display to ward off the glare from direct sunlight, plus two batteries for extended usage.

The notebook's 10.4-inch TFT screen has an illuminated reflective display designed for people who often work outdoors, such as construction workers or digital photographers, said an NEC spokesperson, but it can be adjusted for indoor work using a switch on the display panel. The notebook is shipping now.

At just 3.1 pounds, the Versa E120 DayLite is lightweight, and it is less than an inch thick. The price is not quite so compact. A base configuration, featuring an 800-MHz Pentium III CPU, 256MB of memory, a 20GB hard drive, an external CD-ROM drive, and Microsoft Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000 Professional, starts at $2199.

The Versa E120 DayLite conserves power through the use of Intel's Low Voltage Mobile Intel Pentium III processor, which runs at 800 MHz and features Intel's SpeedStep technology. SpeedStep switches between a maximum performance processing mode and a battery-saving mode, depending on the workload demanded by an application; it allows users to save battery life when using less complex applications.

New Options

The previous version, of this laptop, called the Versa DayLite, used a 600-MHz Crusoe processor from Transmeta. NEC chose an Intel processor for the new machine because Intel has developed a competitive low-power chip, a choice that didn't exist when the Versa DayLite came out last year, the NEC spokesperson said.

With the new machine, NEC seems to be filling a gap in laptop products: According to Alan Promisel, research analyst for portable PCs at IDC, outdoor workers need to rely on a machine that will keep its charge over a full day in the field.

Pricing has also become a key differentiator for notebook manufacturers as PC components have become a commodity, said Promisel. Although the $2199 price is a little bit expensive, he said, NEC can charge a premium for the machine because it is the only company with this type of display-screen technology.

The Versa E210 DayLite comes with two batteries: a built-in lithium ion battery that, at peak usage, lasts for 4 hours, and an optional removable "battery slice" that can add 4 more hours of battery power, also at peak usage, the NEC spokesperson said.

Three USB ports are provided, but the external CD-ROM drive and an optional external floppy disk drive will take up two of those ports. A FireWire (IEEE 1394) connection port is also included, along with a modem and an ethernet LAN card for network connections.