Freedom from connectivity

Osborne 1, produced in 1981, is considered by most tech historians to be the first commercially available portable computer. It weighed 24 pounds and cost $1,795. It had a five-inch screen, modem port, two 5 1/4 floppy drives and software programs like Wordstar word processor.

But laptops appeared much earlier. In the late 70s, Bill Moggridge, designed the GRiD Compass 1101, a 340K-byte bubble memory laptop computer with die-cast magnesium case. This was used during the early years of the NASA space shuttle program. It’s price? Nearly US$10,000!

Definitely, the early portable computers definitely didn’t look like the ones we see today. But they were already “lapable.” And portable.

I got my first laptop in 1998. It was a secondhand Macintosh Powerbook 520c. It had a trackpad, which was then a revolutionary input device. It weighed 6.4 lbs and cost around $1000, which I bought in a shop in Akihabara, Tokyo’s famous electronics district.

Today, laptops are packed with a range of features that would dwarf the laptops of the 80s. They are lighter, have more efficient batteries and smaller CPUs with faster processing power. They also have improved interconnectivity through internal modems and all types of ports that gets you and your gadgets connected to it. And even, fingerprint recognition technology and with large-capacity flash storage units instead of hard drives, plus, they are also shock resistant and come in neon colors and “lifestyle” designs. Remember those neon-colored iBook Clamshells? Recently, Dell introduced its own version of multi-colored laptops. Anyone for ”sunshine yellow” and “flamingo pink?” The cost? $749.00.

According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarter PC Tracker report, laptops will constitute more than 50 percent of all client PCs worldwide by 2011. Already in the US, laptops had overtaken desktops.

In 2006, IDC said that the volume of portable systems, excluding handheld devices, rose by 26.3 per- cent to 82.4 million units while the volume of desktop shipments grew less than 2 percent over 2005 to 138.3 million units. The sales of portables are more robust despite higher ASP (average system price) of portables compared to desktop. The ASP of portables in Asia was $1,157 while a desktop was at $617.

“In Singapore, laptops seem to be everywhere. It is a country where everyone shops for technology products from laptops to other gadgets. You can see business executives, students, even schools kids everywhere furiously punching into them all across the island, from morning to night, be it fast-food restaurants or coffee shops,” said Neeraj Mehra, knowledge manager, McCann Worldgroup Asia-Pacific.

Even my thesis students at UST bring their laptops to school. Their laptops are faster and fancier than the 6-year-old iBook that I currently use.

Laptop + connectivity

“Singapore is fast becoming the wireless nation. More than anything else there’s been a rapid growth of WiFi hot spots to plug and get online —­almost 2,500 of them as quoted in a recent article in the Singapore press. These days after all, a laptop + wireless connectivity = a mobile office, isn’t it?” Neeraj said.

“Because of the connectivity and mobility offered by a laptop, one is essentially free, which means you own your time,” said Tere Pacis, external communication manager of Intel Philippines, “but need to be disciplined on its use.”

Pacis adds that laptops have become ubiquitous. Laptops are definitely around us, at work, in school and even on the road. It is impossible to not to see someone doing work on a laptop in a coffee shop around Makati or Ortigas business districts. “With PC, you have to go to your work station, to your office. But with a laptop, you can work anywhere, which sometimes leads to work controlling your life.”

An exit strategy?

While laptops gives us access to work, often professionals are left without an exit strategy. Among us, many can’t find the strong urge to shut down our laptops and focus on family or achieving a work and life balance.

“Yes, laptops make our work more efficient but when you are out of the office and have your laptop, you are always wondering or anticipating about an e-mail coming into your inbox,” explained Neal Tieng, vice-president for operations at Kelseat Corporation. He uses an IBM Think Pad.

Tieng added that for many businessmen, there is little choice over the growing dependency on laptops. “Laptops have become the artery to connectivity. Other gadgets and gizmos need to be connected to them,” he said.

“If you have a laptop, it is like a badge of success. But with that badge, comes responsibility to yourself, your work and your family,” said Pacis.

Yes, a responsibility that leads to a work and life balance.

Studies show when a person’s personal life is balanced with his or her own job, this balance reduces stress levels, increase job satisfaction and productivity and reduces employee turnover for companies.

Given laptop’s connectivity and mobility brought about by fast-changing technology, laptops will remain an integral part of businesspersons’ lifestyle, who at some time would need freedom from connectivity.

Or we can simply, press control alt delete.

(This was published as my 3rd column at the Technology Section of the Manila Times
last Monday, 06 August 2007)