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Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/776
17th Hong Kong International Computer Expo – Computer 2001
by Mike Andrawes on June 2, 2001 2:42 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Every year there are quite a few computer trade shows around the world, with one of the biggest being Computex in Taipei. Computex takes place in June and attracts a considerable number of people since many companies take this chance to announce their newest products and technologies, just like at Comdex. The difference is that there tends to be more of a focus on computer components at Computex than at Comdex since many of those companies are based out of Asia.
One important side effect of Computex in Taipei is that several cities in Asia also hold their own computer shows around the same time, so that people attending Computex can also pass by those cities, potentially boosting their own market. There are computer shows in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong.
Luckily, we happened to be in Hong Kong this year when they were holding their annual international computer show, so we took a few moments out to take a look. The show was quite different from those we have attended and covered in the past, such as Computex and Comdex.
Nevertheless, we were able to gather quite a bit of interesting information about future products and what is hot in Hong Kong right now. Since the show is held two weeks before Computex in Taipei, we were able to get a sort of preview of some of the things we might see there. Want to know how different the show was and what information we gathered? Read on to find out.
Computer 2001
This year’s Hong Kong International Computer Show ran from 5/24 to 5/27. It was the seventeenth year of the show in Hong Kong and, as usual, it attracted quite a few people. The show was held in the new Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, but the show floor was considerably smaller than that at Computex or Comdex.
The show floor was quite crowded
Because of the limited floor space, the types of booths seen here were also different from those we have seen in the past. Instead of manufacturers having their own booths, displaying their own products, the trend here is local distributors that group several brands of products together into their booth. One reason for this could be that most manufacturers are busy preparing for Computex, which is going to be held in Taipei next week, so they simply don’t have time for another show. Despite these reasons, we still saw large booths from Microsoft, Sony, Epson, Canon, and Acer. Otherwise, most of the booths were relatively small.
In addition to the different style of booths, the types of products available at the show were very different from those at other trade shows. Usually we see a lot of computer components such as motherboards, video cards, chipsets, CPUs, etc., but things are all different at Computer 2001. Instead, products shown here are geared more towards the local market.
For those who don’t know, Hong Kong is a densely packed city with a population of around seven million. Of course, space is at a premium, with the result being that many families cannot afford a large computer system, much less more than one system per household. So it's no surprise that slim PCs were huge at Computer 2001 since they take up very little space and come in at a relatively low price.
Another result of this lack of space is the popularity of LCD monitors in Hong Kong. For most families, owning a 17-inch or 19-inch CRT monitor at home is out of the question due to size constraints. Clearly, LCD monitors become a much more feasible solution. As LCDs have gained popularity, that has allowed economies of scale to take over and lower prices, making them even more popular in a positive feedback cycle.
Yet another feasible solution for small households is to have a laptop system, something we also saw quite a bit of at the show. They are also priced relatively lower than those in the US thanks in part to their popularity.
Neverthelesss, we still saw quite a few motherboards around at Computer 2001. Although space is sometimes a factor, the "do it yourself" market in Hong Kong is still thriving. For those who don’t know, you can find virtually any product you want at the Golden Shopping Center in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong. Of course, that means quite a few people are still eager to learn about the latest developments in hardware components.
Unlike most other trade shows, you can actually purchase many of the products right off the show floor. Of course, this is the result of the showing being driven by vendors, rather than manufacturers who do not sell things in small quantities.
We will divide our coverage into five parts: laptops, slim PCs, LCD monitors, and motherboards, with the last section devoted to other random and interesting things we came across during the show.
Laptops
There are two main kinds of laptops shown at Computer 2001, with the differences based on size and performance. Some of the laptops are relatively large, with more features and higher performance, that could serve as desktop replacements. Of course the larger size makes them less portable, so the secoind type of laptop is focused on mobility, but sacrifices some features and performance.
The first laptop manufacturer we came across was Fujitsu, who was able to show us a few very interesting models.
The above laptop is the new Fujitsu C-6599. It uses Intel's Pentium III running at 850MHz with SpeedStep technology. The screen is a relatively large 14.1 inches. Also included are 256MB of memory, a 30GB hard drive, and integrated Bluetooth. Bluetooth technology allows you to connect all kinds of wireless devices more easily. With all these features, this laptop is pretty good for home use, but also comes at a premium price of around US$3700.
Here we can also see that Fujitsu has joined Sony in offerring a laptop using Transmeta's Crusoe processor. The above is the P-1000, using the TM5400 Crusoe with an 8.8 inch screen. The laptop only weighs about 3 pounds, making it a good choice for those on the go. At a price of around US$1666, this notebook is a little bit cheaper than the Sony PCG-C1VMT (the Asian version of the Crusoe-based Picturebook), but sacrifices a bit in terms of CPU clock speed.
Thanks to the small screen and the low powered Crusoe, the P-1000 has a relatively long battery life. The standard battery lasts about four hours, with the optional quad-battery going strong for 11 hours straight. Compared to the 2-3 hours we typically see, the P-1000 is great for those who do a lot of traveling, especially with its light weight.
Fujitsu has also developed a laptop with touch screen functionality - a major plus for users in Hong Kong, since you can now write Chinese directly on the screen, rather than learning awkward Chinese input methods. Like a PDA, the computer is designed to recognize your writing automatically and convert it to standard characters on screen. This laptop comes with a Celeron 500MHz processor and a 10 inch screen, all for a price of US$1900.
Acer TravelMate 351T
Over at the Acer booth, a relatively well-known brand in Hong Kong, we saw quite a few laptop solutions on display. The most impressive, however, was the TravelMate 351T laptop shown above. The laptop weighs a bit less than 4lbs and is only 0.8 inches thick. At a price of US$1666, the notebook comes with a Pentium III 700MHz chip, 128MB memory, and a 13-inch display.
Sony PCG-C1VMT
Over at the Sony booth, they were showing the PCG-C1VMT, which uses the Transmeta Crusoe TM5600 processor. The laptop also has an integrated camera at the top of the screen for multimedia purposes. All this comes at a bit of a price premium, right around US$2100, some of which undoubtedly is for the Sony name.
While Toshiba wasn’t showing their newest Libretto laptop during Computer 2001, they were pushing their new partnership with one of the wireless service providers in Hong Kong. Using their notebook and a special PC card, you will be able to connect to the Internet without any physical connections. The PC card acts like a wireless LAN card, but with a much longer range. While the connection is not very fast, you should be able to check email and do some basic web browsing.
Slim PCs
During the show we came across quite a few slim PCs which are quite popular in Hong Kong since a many families do not have enough space for larger PCs. We also noticed that they do not use cutting edge technology, but are being sold at a relatively low prices, making them good solutions for those who do not know much about computers, but need a PC for general word processing and Internet access.
Fujitsu's DP-6000/SS
At the Fujitsu booth, they were showing their newest slim PC, the DP-6000/SS, which includes a Pentium III 1GHz and a 15-inch LCD monitor. With 128MB memory and 40GB hard drive, the DP-6000/SS is only around US$1800, pretty cheap considering the LCD monitor and 1GHz CPU.
FIC's S1815
Over at the FIC booth, they were introducing their own slim PC solution, the S1815. The bare bones system uses an i815E chipset and supports 1GHz+ Pentium III processors. The nice thing about the S1815 is that customers have more flexibility in the components for the system since FIC will custom build each one. Another nice thing about the S1815 is that at the front of the case there are two IEEE 1394 ports, a second set of USB ports, and an optical jack for connection to a variety of audio devices.
Acer's Veriton 3210LCD
Being a pretty well-known brand in Hong Kong, Acer of course was also pushing their slim PC solution, the Veriton 3210LCD. It also uses the 815E chipset and includes a 1GHz Pentium III processor and a 14 inch LCD monitor. Acer's slim PC has an impressive US$1280 price tag attached to it as well.
Sony's PCV-LX100
Moving to the Sony booth, we saw the PCV-LX100 slim PC. The PCV-LX100 uses a Pentium III 866MHz chip, and interestingly enough, the SIS 630 chipset instead of the Intel i815E chipset. It also comes with 128MB memory and a 40GB hard drive. The LCD monitor is Sony's own PCVA-15XSA1, a 15-inch model with integrated speakers. However, like many other Sony products, the PCV-LX100 is more expensive compared to similar models, this time at a price of around US$2200.
LCD Monitors
Nowadays, 15-inch monitors running at 800x600 is probably considered insufficient by most AnandTech readers. Unfortunately, squeezing a 17 inch or 19 inch CRT monitor into some of the smaller households in Hong Kong could be a problem because of their deep necks, especially with the 19-inchers. As a result, LCD monitors have provided a nice alternative, especially, since some users have to sit quite close to the monitor such that radiation could be a problem with a traditional CRT. During Computer 2001, we saw a lot of booths with LCD monitors, most of which had a decent price tag. One possible reason for this is that some companies buy the OEM parts directly from well-known companies, then build and sell their own models under another brand name.
One good example of such business is Gennett International Ltd. and Gennett Technologies Ltd. They directly purchase OEM parts for LCD monitors from Panasonic and develop their own brand, which they call the NP Sexy, and then sell the final product at a cheaper price. This is not unlike the CRT industry where only a handful of manufacturers actually make all the actual tubes for the various monitors out there.
Gennett's newest products are the NPS350S and NPS870S, which are 15 inch and 17 inch models, respectively. A very nice feature of these monitors is that at the time of purchase, you can request that the company install a piece of glass on the LCD monitor for an additional 50 dollars for better protection of the screen surface. What's impressive, however, is that a 15 inch model is only around US$433, which is quite cheap compared to the prices found in the US.
Those of you from Hong Kong are probably familiar with the brand Topcon. As one of the biggest monitor manufacturer in Taiwan, quite a few people in Hong Kong use their products in value line systems. Utopian Computer Systems Ltd. is Topcon's distributor in Hong Kong, and from what they showed us, the price of their solutions is extremely competitive. Their newest 15 inch model is also priced at around US$433, and even their 17 inch model is only around US$930.
You could also spot a few LCD monitors over at the Acer booth. Their 15-inch model is priced slightly higher, at around US$600, but compared to the prices found in the US, this is still quite good.
For those looking for high-end products, Sony is ready for you with their newest SDM-N80 LCD monitor. While this monitor is not yet available on the market, and the estimated price is around US$2500, its look and the ultra-slim design make it very impressive. Sony will also have several new 15 inch models coming out, including the SDM-M51/51B, SDM-N50PS and SDM-N50. They are all ultra slim designs, so expect them to be priced higher than average. Of course, you'll pay a bit more just for the Sony name as well.
Motherboards
Around the Computer 2001 showroom we were still able to spot quite a few booths showing motherboard solutions, and to a certain extent this is an indication of what we can expect at the upcoming Computex in Taipei.
While ABIT didn’t have a booth at Computer 2001 since they are working hard for Computex, one of their distributors in Hong Kong, Trans Europe Computer Limited, was holding quite a large booth. Besides seeing a few new ABIT boards that some of you are already aware of, we were fortunate enough to meet with one of their Research and Development Product Managers. He was able to show us some upcoming products and answered some of our questions about current products.
AMD unveiled their new Athlon core with the Athlon 4 a couple weeks ago. While no benchmarks have been published yet, the question remains whether the new processor will work on current motherboards. We took this chance to ask ABIT if they have any information on this topic with respect to their popular KT7A-RAID. He told us that, so far, their testing has been quite positive and that the Athlon 4 chips they have in hand are working properly on the KT7A-RAID.
When asked if this is because the KT7A-RAID has a very wide range of CPU core voltages (from 1.100 – 1.850 in 0.025V increments), we got a somewhat surprising response. While voltage values available on the board could be an issue, the most important piece of the puzzle is the necessary circuitry for detecting the chip correctly. They said that the circuitry on their current KT7A-RAID is already capable of detecting the Palomino core and that's the main reason why the chip will work on their board, but possibly not on others.
This is quite surprising since we previously thought that voltage would be the most important factor for getting the Palomino to work on a KT133A. However, if the correct circuitry is really what is needed for this to happen, it could be bad news for those KT133A users whose boards happen to not have this circuitry since no BIOS update can fix that. We have yet to see how other manufacturers will address this issue, though, and we'll be doing our own testing in the lab soon enough.
Besides the Palomino issue, we were able to see some new ABIT boards during the show, including long waited DDR solutions from ABIT.
ABIT KG7-RAID
The first DDR board we came across was the KG7-RAID, using the AMD 761 North Bridge and the VIA 686B South Bridge. This board has already passed all the required pre-production testing and will be available at the end of June or early July. Besides the six PCI slots and the IDE RAID controller, the most impressive feature of the board are the four DDR DIMM slots. So far all the other AMD 760 motherboards we have seen in the market only have two such slots. They claim to have spent much time to ensure that the timing on the memory slots is done properly and will remain stable with 4 DIMM's installed.
ABIT KR7-RAID
The second new board ABIT showed us was the KR7-RAID, which uses the new VIA KT266 chipset, something that we will be seeing a lot of at Computex. The KR7-RAID will be available a little later than the KG7-RAID. Like the KG7-RAID, ABIT also includes four DDR DIMM slots for added flexibility in memory configuration and expansion in addition to the usual six PCI slots and an IDE RAID controller.
ABIT VR6-RAID
The last board that ABIT showed us was their new VR6-RAID. It is a Socket-370 board using the VIA Apollo Pro266 chipset. On this board, ABIT only includes three DDR DIMM slots, but the board still features six PCI slots and onboard IDE RAID.
Although we didn't get to see it, ABIT announced the ST6R based on the Intel i815EP chipset. ABIT has already released a few boards using the i815E chipset, including the SA6R, and will release the ST6R shortly after Computex.
Another board that has generated much interest recently is the KT7E, which was also on display at Computer 2001. When asked, ABIT said that they would not include an IDE RAID controller on the KT7E since they want to use the board to capture more of the value market, so the RAID controller will not be an option to further reduce the cost.
ABIT will also be displaying two new boards at Computex, both for the Pentium 4. The first one is the TH7-II, which still uses Intel's i850 chipset, but this time around is for the new Socket-478 Pentium 4, based on the Northwood core, instead of the current Socket 423 chips. Its older brother, the TH7, which uses the Socket-423, is already in our lab and will be reviewed shortly.
The other new Pentium 4 board from ABIT is the BL7, also for Socket-478 chips, but this time using the still unannounced Intel i845 chipset, codenamed Brookdale. The i845 chipset will bring PC133 memory support to the Pentium 4 platform, allowing cheaper systems to be built with that processor.
The TH7-II has five PCI slot while the BL7 will have six. Both boards will include an integrated IDE RAID controller and be available in the third quarter to go along with the release of the Socket-478 Pentium 4's.
Last of all ABIT showed us their roadmap for the remainder of the year, pretty much summing up the new boards we have introduced here.
After noticing the few DDR boards in the show, we couldn't help but ask ABIT why they are rather late with DDR platforms. Their answer is that they have been working on the development of these boards for quite some time already and that the only reason they haven't been released until now is that they were not comfortable with the state of the DDR market.
Upon the release of DDR chipsets, ABIT realized that boards using SDRAM could survive in the market for quite a while until the price of DDR memory came down to match SDRAM. As most of you remember, when DDR boards were first released, DDR memory was double that of PC133 memory, while the performance gain was only marginal in most cases. That's why ABIT decided to push back the release of their DDR boards for a couple months. Further, this also give them more time to develop solid boards with better performance - possibly one of the reasons they've got four DDR DIMM slots and most manufacturers only have two.
Moving away from the booth showing ABIT boards, we came across a booth with some new Magic-Pro boards. Magic-Pro is actually the name Soltek by in Asia, just like EPoX is called 2themax here.
Magic-Pro MP-6VIP-DR
The above board is the new MP-6VIP-DR, using the VIA Apollo Pro266 chipset. Below is the Magic-Pro dual Socket-370 solution, using the Apollo Pro133A chipset.
At the FIC booth, we saw the new FIC AN11 and AN11C boards, both of which use the new VIA KT266 chipset. The AN11 features onboard IDE RAID, while the AN11C does not in the interest of cost savings. FIC has already finished developing these board, and they were demonstrating a working AN11 sample during the show. You can expect to see the board on the market very soon.
FIC AN11
Over at the ECS booth, they were also demonstrating a KT266 solution, the K7VTA3. While the reddish PCB may be considered quite attractive, the most impressive thing about the board is its price. Priced less than US$110, it is far less expensive than most other DDR boards on the market.
ECS P4ITA
The P4ITA is ECS's Pentium 4 solution, which we should see on the market soon.
This and that
While at Computer 2001, we also came across some other interesting scenes that we thought to photograph and will include in this section.
Over at the Sony booth, they continued to demonstrate their newest AIBO entertainment robots. Interestingly, they also displayed all the different AIBOs in Sony’s history, from the first Prototype in 1997 to the latest model, the ERS-210 (shown below). At a price of around US$2000, it will still cost a pretty penny for you to bring one of these cute little pets home.
Sony has always been famous for their developments in monitor technology, and during this show they were pushing their newest FD Trinitron model, the Multiscan G520.
Last but not least, those of you in Hong Kong will probably recognize this shop. Centralfield is probably the most famous computer shop for all hardware enthusiasts in Hong Kong. They have been in the market since 1983, and although their prices are somewhat higher than the rest, their quality is always guaranteed.
Final Words
Computer 2001 in Hong Kong is by no means close to the size of Computex in Taipei or Comdex in Las Vegas, but that does not mean it cannot provide us with a valuable look at the current state of the computer industry. In fact, it was quite an interesting experience and a good indication of what we will be seeing during Computex next week.
Instead of targeting the international market, Computer 2001 is geared more towards the local Hong Kong market, which is exactly why we saw so many slim PCs, LCD monitors, and laptops. Nonetheless, we were able to spot quite a few new motherboards during the show as well.
We were extremely honored to have the chance to be on the floor of the show and meet so many people from so many different companies. As stated earlier, the most important aspect of the show was being able to see just how different Computer 2001 is from the other computer shows we have covered.
A very special thanks goes out to the following companies for giving us all the information on their products:
ABIT – http://www.abit.com.tw/
Acer – http://www.acer.com.hk/English/index.html
Centralfield – http://www.centralfield.com/
Elitegroup ECS – http://www.ecs.com.tw/
FIC – http://www.fic.com.tw/
Fujitsu PC (Asia) Limited – http://www.fujitsu.com.hk/
Future Computer Center – http://www.f-tech.com.hk/
Gennett International Limited – http://www.gennett.com/
Magic-Pro – http://www.magic-pro.com.hk/
Sony – http://www.sony.com.hk/index.jsp
Toshiba – http://www.toshiba.co.jp/index.htm
Trans Europe Computer Limited – http://www.transeurope.com.hk/
Utopian – http://www.utopian.com.hk/