Add-Ons Mimic Your Desktop
Photograph: Rick RiznerSo your new desktop is a notebook? If you're using a notebook but yearning for desktop functionality, it's worth checking out some of the myriad USB, Bluetooth, PC Card, and ExpressCard/54 notebook add-ons--not to mention sampling the scads of ergonomic accessories that are available--for the most comfortable and rewarding desktop experience possible.
Basic third-party USB port replicators and screen stands are available from many vendors including APC, Belkin, Kensington, and Targus; but if your notebook company makes custom accessories, start there. Logitech and Microsoft are good places to begin looking for keyboard and mouse accessories.
Then there are products such as HP's xb2000 Notebook Expansion Base. Compatible with any HP notebook that includes an Expansion Port 2 (such as our Best Buy, the HP Pavilion dv8000z), the xb2000 provides a screen stand for docking the notebook; it comes with a wireless keyboard and a wireless optical mouse. Built into the $500 base are an additional 250GB hard drive and a pair of Harman/Kardon speakers.
Photograph: Rick RiznerAnother type of stand to consider is a desk-mounted arm such as the $99 Ergotron LX. Adjustable arms enable you to free up your work space by lifting the notebook completely off the desk. As a quick fix for poor notebook audio, you can add surround sound by using Creative Labs' $99 Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS PC Card sound card; it provides an S/PDIF output for connecting to external speakers. Accustomed to working with multiple monitors? You don't have to give up this workflow when you switch to a notebook, thanks to external graphics products like Matrox's DualHead2Go. This $169 palm-size box connects to any PC's VGA port and displays the output on two side-by-side external monitors at a double-width resolution of 2560 by 1024 pixels. You can view output as a single wide picture across two monitors or on three displays, including the notebook's screen. You can surf the Internet on one, check e-mail on another, and edit a photo on the third. Matrox also recently launched a TripleHead2Go priced at $299.
Carla Thornton
In This Article:
- Introduction
- The Performance Divide
- After-Hours Appeal
- Creature Comforts
- What to Choose?
- What's Next?
- Add-Ons MimicYour Desktop
- Top Desktop Replacements (chart)
Contributing Editor Carla Thornton has covered notebooks for PC World since 1998. Danny Allen is a PC World associate editor.
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