This trend has also penetrated the computer industry, where cumbersome desktop dinosaurs are being usurped by compact, easily transportable laptops.

Brothers Timothy and Michael Smith, natives of Minnesota who previously worked in the computer equipment brokering business, have found a way to capitalize on this computer mobility movement.

The Smiths are the owners and founders of Laptop Xchange, a Las Vegas retail operation that buys, sells, trades, services and upgrades used, off-lease and factory-refurbished notebook computers. (Factory refurbished computers refer to machines that have been returned to the factory for repairs and can no longer be sold as new.)

"Laptops are leading the pace right now and we saw a niche for used laptops," said Michael Smith, adding that the recent advent of wireless roaming Internet connections has further fueled the notebook computer craze. "We have a unique, popular concept in a rapidly growing market. We're trying to see the future and predict what future needs will be and we're trying to fill those needs."

At competitive prices, he added.

"We have laptops for sale starting at $99 up to $1,800 and everything in between," he said. "Most are priced between $200 and $600, and that's really why we're so unique."

The company offers a wide inventory of popular brands, including Compaq, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Toshiba.

On the lower end, Laptop Xchange carries computers such as a late-1990s Pentium 166, which Timothy Smith described as an entry-level model.

"But there's still a need for that product," he said, referencing the auto mechanic running vehicle diagnostics or operating older metal cutters that require DOS-based programs.

Higher-end products available at the 2,000-square-foot facility, located on Spring Mountain Road west of Valley View Boulevard, include items such as a current model Gateway laptop with a DVD burner, which might sell for $1,200.

Business is typically brisk, the brothers agreed, and encompasses a broad range of transactions.

"When someone comes to our store, I want to do more than trade in that unit," Michael Smith said. "Sometimes, they'll buy another laptop and get credit off for their trade, or they can trade in and trade up. Occasionally, some people just come in for cash -- every once and a while sometimes they just need the money."

The company also services and repairs laptops, and it sells a wide array of computer accessories, such as automobile adapters, hard drives, batteries, bags and special parts. The store also carries items such as used or factory-refurbished printers and even flat-panel monitors.

Paul Peterson, owner of Pacific International Realty, is a regular customer at Laptop Xchange, stopping in at least twice a month for computers and accessories and referring friends and business associates to the store.

"I utilize their services to help me staff my agents with computer equipment because Mike and Tim are reliable and they just know what they're doing," Peterson said. "If you need somebody to tell you the truth -- and I'm not very up on computers -- they know how to solve the problem at an affordable price, and they have a good warranty so I don't have to worry. I refer a lot of people to them because I know they'll take good care of them."

Michael Smith said the company, which the brothers founded with personal funds, is "extremely profitable," and they are looking to expand in the valley in the future, although they don't have a timeframe in mind. They do minimal advertising, but rely largely on word of mouth.

The biggest challenge the brothers have faced in their five years of operation is an obstacle cited as a common encumbrance among small-business owners: employee recruitment.

"Hiring quality employees is a challenge," Timothy Smith said. "We put a lot of effort into hiring correctly the first time because training can be expensive. We need somebody who knows the industry, knows laptops and knows how to sell. If somebody doesn't know computers, they can't sell them."

Although businesses may still be inclined to rely on desktops, laptops are becoming desktop replacements for consumers, Timothy Smith said.

In fact, a July 2003 article on www.computerworld.com reports that notebook computers outsold desktops in the United States for the first time in May 2003, according to sales results from New York-based NPD Group's point-of-sale tracking service.

Furthermore, according to NPD, notebook computer sales volumes have been steadily closing the sales gap with desktops during the past four years. In January 2000, NPD said, laptops represented less than 25 percent of computer sales volume. By May 2003, notebooks represented 54 percent of the nearly $500 million-a-month retail computer sales pie.

"Everybody wants portability," Michael Smith said. "As far as desktops go, we're seeing a downward trend. As far as laptops, the sky's the limit."