What is really happening with laptop design?

Are colour and design changes really necessary and will Joe Punter really shell out for a new multicoloured designer notebook when he still cannot buy a functional mobile printer which fits into a computer bag?

Developments in notebook computer and peripheral design and technology are going to have a major impact on the industry in 2001.

But those changes may not always benefit the consumer.

Laptops will be available in all the colours of the rainbow but many manufacturers are still bringing machines to market with casings that fracture on the slightest impact.

Some, like IBM, are making the effort with add-on multicoloured covers that add impact protection to its products.

But others seem to have lost the plot completely.

It is time for the major vendors to take a long hard look at what the consumer needs before producing gimmicky snap-on/ break-off attachments and tacky multicoloured cases.

The business world demands reliability, functionality and performance from a computer.

Although a small segment of the market place regards a laptop as a style statement, most users simply want a machine that can handle hard work.

The average non-business consumer is not prepared to pay premium prices for laptops when they can have a desktop machine for 25 per cent less outlay. So what does all this tell you?

Quite simply, designers have managed to get their fingers into the laptop-marketing pie.

The groundbreaking damage was done by Apple with their multicoloured iBooks, which were snapped up by arty types who couldn't handle the deviousness of a Windows PC.

Unfortunately, other manufacturers are already starting to following suit with design leaders IBM offering clip-on notebook covers in both metallic and primary shades.

Nobody wants to carry around a small suitcase - 2001 will definitely bring a rash of faster, slimmer, smaller and lighter notebooks from most of the top manufacturers.

But most of these manufacturers believe they will expand their marketplace by offering a more colourful product.

Several sources inside the industry believe this will be a big mistake.

"It would be hard to take a pink computer seriously", said one unimpressed software developer.

"I couldn't feel comfortable about a bright coloured laptop because it would distract me!"

Mainstream business also has reservations about bright colours in the workplace.

"It just wouldn't be acceptable", barked a relatively tame bank official.

"This is a place of work, not a children's playground".

So, given that bright colours may be something of a place-of-work no-no, what on earth will ordinary people make of the computer industry's more radical research projects?

These will almost certainly include wearable and edible computers.

An edible computer chip which can track blood disorders and monitor digestive systems has apparently been developed in Hewlett-Packard's secret research labs in Silicon Valley.

IBM, leading the way by a considerable margin, is promising more flexible ways to carry technology.

It is proposing belt and wrist-mounted offerings linked to a headset complete with micro-monitor/camera that works via speech and language software to give 'hands free' access to data.

Given the kit's obvious potential in hospitals where a user does not have time to wash his/her hands before accessing their computer, frontline research like this needs to be encouraged.

Richard Sapper, known in the industry as the driving force behind the sleek, black ThinkPad series, is the IBM consultant working with design teams on the PC of the future.

He believes design is driven by functionality, adding: "We are going to see the function of the computer become more and more specialised."

All I want is a laptop that is light enough to carry and tough enough to survive a day's work - not much to ask really!