Sharp Notebook Gets Wi-Fi Upgrade

Sharp Systems of America on Thursday gave a wireless facelift to its Actius AV18 notebook computer.

The Actius AV18P replaces the original AV18, which was announced in June. The new model adds integrated 802.11b wireless networking support and lowers the price to $1,449.

The 4.3-pound (with optical drive) notebook is identical in form to the MV series, with a 12.1-inch display and integrated CD burner/DVD drive. Unlike the MV notebooks, however, the AV18P is powered by the low-voltage mobile AMD Athlon XP-M processor 1800+ rather than Intel’s mobile Pentium III chips.

The AV18P features 256MB of memory and a 40GB hard drive. It includes Windows XP Professional Edition and Sharp’s DVD optimization software, which automatically adjusts image contrast for the best clarity.

Notebook shipments increased 22 percent in the second quarter compared with the second quarter of 2002, according to a new report from IDC. Another researcher, Strategy Analytics, has predicted that 90 percent of all notebooks sold will include built-in Wi-Fi by 2008.