page 2 Lamenting the loss of a Business/IT Icon- August 30, 2002 That same year HP shipped its 10 millionth HP LaserJet printer and Dave Packard retired as chairman of the board of directors. HP had revenue of $20 billion and 96,000 employees. Down in Texas, Compaq introduced its first all-in-one desktop PC the Presario, which also became one of its portable computer brands. The OmniBook little by little evolved into a premium "business" and "engineers" choice for portable computing, well known for its features, quality and often hefty price too. One of my favorites was the Omnibook 5000cts. It had an Intel P90 processor, 48 MB RAM, 1120 MB Hard Disk, 10.2" 65k Color TFT Screen, PCI bus, two type 2 PCMCIA slots, Trackball mouse, Internal SCSI controller with an external connector, TV out (composite PAL/NTSC) and a VGA monitor output. Mmmmm, pretty impressive for 1995! OmniBook 5000cts Another OmniBook I had, was a company purchased OmniBook 3000 back in 1998, which was clearly the best Notebook of its time and at around $5,000. it had better been. I loved that "OB" and just hated to give it up when leaving the company.				OmniBook 3000cts My oldest kid, a died-in-the-wool MS/Intel IT Manager type, has been through various brands of Notebooks like you'd go through paper plates, his favorite is his current 6100 PIII OmniBook with a 15" display. Recently, HP debuted the Omnibook 510, a PIII at 1.13GHz, 256MB of RAM, built-in Wi-Fi and very thin because it used an expansion base that turns this notebook into a competent desktop replacement. It was a bit sluggish in actual operation for a reason I couldn't understand, but I wanted one very badly except that the hefty price tag made it only a dream. OmniBook 510 Will the Compaq Evo fill the illustrious reputation that the OmniBook had and has? That all depends on how the Compaq notebook line evolves under the new company organization. Some Compaq Notebooks have been very good, some have been . . . . well stinkers, I have one of those too. A Presario 1200XL125 that doesn't always start (intermittent power button) and has a dead Li-Ion battery, that's only 16 months old. All I know is that I will miss this old work mate and reliable companion.
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