Notebook computers are the sport utility of the personal computer industry - their segment of the market growing amid buyers willing to pay premium prices for a machine with on-or-off-road capabilities.
"People are looking for mobility," said Tayne Hunsaker of Midvale, who has watched the laptop computer market continue to grow during his 10 years working for computer manufacturers and retailers.Hunsaker recently heard that entrepreneurial voice tell him he could be doing for himself what he was doing for somebody else, so he took the knowledge of his customers' likes and dislikes and started PC Notebook, his own laptop computer company about a year ago.
There is now a "Cougar" and several "Jaguar" models carrying the PC Notebook name among the scores of laptops jockeying for market share in the highly competitive laptop arena. His advertising pitch "Tame a Cat" ties to the model names and an image Hunsaker is trying to promote of the product's power - and prowess.
Components are designed by a contract manufacturer in Taiwan. Hunsaker assembles the finished product in Midvale. He introduced the first production model featuring a 14-inch display at COMDEX last fall. Models also offer accessory bays that allow the installation of a second battery, internal Zip or DVD II drive without sacrificing the floppy or CD-ROM.
Hunsaker also hopes his 24-hour tech support and on-site service from a contract repair provider with 418 locations will attract customers.
PC Notebook sales still number in the hundreds. But his choice of design, his pricing structure and responses from buyers have resulted in good reviews from the trade press and from business rating giant Dun & Bradstreet. PC Portables magazine gave PC Notebook's high-end Jaguar 2 model its "best buy" recommendation in February.
Laptop buyers have gotten used to the fact that the latest technology is seldom available to them. The newest, fastest processors are designed for desktop PCs first and then adapted to battery-powered laptops. Laptop sales are always in quantities that lag behind desktop PCs, a factor that keeps laptop prices well above the price of comparably equipped desktop PCs.
And then there's the traditional inability to make hardware upgrades on a laptop because of the proprietary design of internal components that have to be packed together inside such a small case.
"Consumers tend to underbuy to meet their needs of today," Hunsaker said. "That's a double whammy with notebooks because they're not upgradable."
It's hard to find an unexploited niche in a market that is as developed as the laptop computer market. But Hunsaker seized on the laptop's hardware-upgrade-unfriendly characteristic and has made that a major part of his marketing plan by using Pentium processors, hard drives and other components that can be swapped with newer devices as they come along.
The turnover in laptop models is so rapid industrywide that it's hard for a potential buyer to lay hands on a manufacturer's most up-to-date model.
That and the cost of maintaining a retail sales force have dissuaded Hunsaker from having a PC Notebook store, as such. He is working on agreements with resellers to add his computers to their product line but sells, for now, from a virtual showroom at (www.pcnotebook.com). Call from the Salt Lake area and ask to see one of his current models, and chances are good Hunsaker will ask for your address and bring a computer to you to test drive.
How well PC Notebook promotes its "upgrade" features will help determine the company's success in the short term. How well the company is positioned as competitors with the same Taiwanese manufacturing houses incorporate similar features will also help determine PC Notebook's success.
In the slightly longer term, the cost and ongoing availability of upgrade items will help determine whether customers can really keep their laptop up to date without replacing it.
"We believe we're going to be the next Dell, Micron and Gateway. But it's going to take some time to get there," Hunsaker said.