Laptop Users Don't Like To Leave Home Without It

Intel Survey Reveals Laptop PC Users Don't Like To Leave Home Without It - And Use It For Anything, Anywhere, Anytime

81 Percent Use Laptop PCs While Watching TV;
One in Four People Describe Their Laptop as Their “Prized” Possession

Americans have an unlimited imagination for unusual and creative ways to use their laptop PCs, according to the “Laptops & Lifestyles” survey released today by Intel Corporation.

The survey of more than 2,400 computer users found that people have used their laptop PCs at weddings and funerals, in coal mines and on top of grain towers, from a Grand Canyon hiking trail to a “dodgy youth hostel in Amsterdam,” while riding a horse, milking a cow and building a chicken coop.

Of those people surveyed, they tend to use their laptop PC just about anywhere, and often while doing other things. Eighty-one percent reported using their laptops in front of the TV, 60 percent in bed, 54 percent while eating and 48 percent while undressed or in their underwear.

Forty-one percent of respondents used their laptops while riding as a passenger in a car, 39 percent while outdoors, 20 percent while on a train or bus, and 18 percent in a foreign country. The top two ways people feel when they have their laptop PCs with them are “organised” and “connected.”

“The laptop PC has become an extension of ourselves, offering an unprecedented level of freedom while still helping people to feel organised, connected and in-touch with the world,” said Ann Lewnes, vice president, Sales & Marketing Group and director of Consumer Marketing for Intel Corporation. “No matter where our lives, jobs and experiences take us, consumers are increasingly turning to this one powerful device with which they can create, communicate, share and be entertained - anytime and anywhere.”
Intel designs a family of mobile processors to enable a broad selection of laptop PCs. The company recently introduced the Mobile Intel* Pentium* 4 Processor - M, which brings desktop performance and longer battery life to the laptop PC so that people can enjoy digital music, photography, movies and graphic-intensive games anytime, anywhere.

The Attachment
Among Americans who now use a laptop PC, the necessity to have their laptops by their side is strong. Sixty-five percent feel “it is too much of a risk to store their laptop at a coat check or as luggage.” More than one in four laptop owners (28 percent) claimed that their laptop was one of their “most prized possessions.” More than half (54 percent) regretted leaving it behind on at least one occasion, and 29 percent turned around to retrieve it.

The survey also revealed that computer users have a strong curiosity about other people's laptops. Almost half (46 percent) of all respondents admitted glancing at someone else's machine. It was a more common practice among frequent travellers (57 percent), men (53 percent) and people under 35 (54 percent). While the majority (71 percent) looked to see the style or design of the machine, 31 percent were interested in the kind of work a person does, the person (19 percent) or the games they play (19 percent).

The Ideal Laptop PC
Looking ahead, consumers overwhelmingly believe that a laptop PC will remain an essential ingredient in their lives. Ninety-one percent said that laptop PCs would remain "as important or become even more important" to them over the next two years. Their "ideal laptop PC" would allow them to "surf the Internet wherever they are" (84 percent), weigh less (79 percent), provide better battery life (57 percent), offer the digital music capabilities (57 percent) or digital movie capabilities (56 percent) that desktop PCs now have, and enable them to play games with maximum speed and rich graphics (49 percent).

About the Survey
This national quantitative study was sponsored by Intel Corporation and conducted under the direction of The Brain Group, an international research and strategy agency. Fieldwork was executed using a proprietary questionnaire on computer usage, lifestyle and attitudes, and fielded by Harris Interactive via its QuickQuery omnibus service. The national survey sample consisted of 2,448 Internet users ages 18 and over and was balanced by age, gender, income, education, race/ethnicity and region to represent the U.S. online adult population. The margin of error is +/-3 percent.

Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

ENDS

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