Tired of writing out your noted in thar scrawl you call handwriting? There's a new alterntive, if you're willing to lug just five or six extra pounds around to your classes.

Rarely seen carried around a mere three years ago, notebook computers, those which weigh between three and eight pounds, have become a popular companion of the frequent traveler or industrious note taking student.

According to industry reports, notebook computer sales have soared past those of desktop machines over the last tow years, and are showing no sign of slowing. Now that smaller systems cost little more than larger ones, and color displays have become very affordable, the trend is sure to accelerate.

A notebook is a complete system containing all compounds necessary for everyday use, from a powerful central processing unit (CPU) to a screen that can display more than a dozen lines of text, a full-size keyboard, and adequate amount of storage. Anything that weighs more than eight pounds is classified as a laptop-which has declined in popularity-and if a system goes under three pounds, it is called a subnotebook. Those under one pound are referred to as "palmtops."

Confused? If you think it's vexing telling a notebook from a subnotebook, wait until you try distinguishing one notebook model from another. There are at least 100 U.S. nationally advertised vendors who market notebooks, many of whom sell generic systems manufactured by a small number of Taiwan companies.

All but three or four notebook vendors market machines based on the Intel 80x86 family of microprocessors and running the MS-DOS operating system and often Window. The latest member of the family is the 80486 line, which contains over one million transistors and generally runs at faster speeds than older 286s and 386s.

Due to processor differences, each company offer's wide army of models the most popular being the ones employing Intel's 80486SK processor.

In fact the 486SX, as it is commonly called and the more powerful 486DY chin used in high-end notebooks and desktop systems are selling so quickly that Intel has reportedly had trouble meeting the high demand, especially in Europe.

And the immense popularity-and profit margins-of the 486 chips also convinced Intel to push back the introduction of its next generation microprocessor, the Pentium, by more than six months, Originally scheduled for release last fall, the Pentium, which was to become the 586 and is reported to run up to 10 times faster than the 486, is now slated to be shipped in May.

Also popular with notebook buyers are systems built around Intel's 386SL CPU/A member of the successful 80386 series, the chip was designed to prolong battery lives on notebooks, one of the biggest concerns for notebook users. It does so through a lower power requirement, an internal memory cache that Intel claims can speed up operations by up to 20 percent, and built in power-management circuitry that helps per serve as much power as possible.

Despite the innovations, until better battery, technology is developed, users need be wary, since a notebook system is likely to exhaust its battery in about two hours.

The biggest electric power consumption in a notebook comes from the CPU, the hard disk, and the liquid crystal display, or ICD, screen, Most modern notebooks to run as long as possible on a single charge, have some sort of power management, with or without the help of a 386SI. A software driver determines which devices have bean idle of a lecture always looms over your notebook computing life. One solution: Get a notebook that uses nickel hydride (NH) batteries, which on the average have 50% longer life than the more common and lest expensive nickel cadmider (Cad) one.

Some computers, including the CompuAdd Express 325NXL, are amazingly good at implementing helpful power management, although the worry that your computer may run out of juice in the mddle of a lecture always looms over your notebook computing life. One solution: Get a notebook that uses nickel hydride (niH) batteries, which on the average have 50% longerl ife han the more common and less expensive nickel cadmium (niCad) ones.

The only signifigant disadvantage to notebooks, of course, is that it's little difficult to draw cartoons in the margins of your lecture notes. That aside, notebooks can certainly make your life just a little easier.

Haibin Jiu '94 is forever president of the Harvard Computer Society. His column will appear on this page on alternate Tuesday.