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Jan 7, 2009 07:43 PM | 3
Editor’s note: I will be Twittering and blogging from CES this week. To follow my posts, visit my Twitter page, Scientific American’s Twitter page and Scientific American.com’s 60-Second Science blog.
When the CES exhibit floor opens Thursday, HP is set to roll out its $500 Mini 2140, a netbook that weighs in at 2.6 pounds and has a 10.1-inch diagonal scratch-resistant HP Illumi-Lite LED display. In one upgrade from HP's older netbooks, the Mini 2140 has a keyboard that's only about 8 percent smaller than a full-size laptop keyboard. Another upgrade is a computer chip that sends a signal to shut down the hard drive if the netbook is dropped or smacks into something hard. The Mini 2140 is powered by an Intel Atom processor, designed to run cooler, using less power and improving battery life.
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. ushered in the netbook in 2007 with its $300 Eee PC, which has an Intel Celeron processor (not as robust as the newer Atom) and a seven-inch screen. At CES, Asus (which predicts it will have sold 7 million Eee PCs by the end of this year) introduced its Eee PC S101 and S101H (both of which cost about $650), which uses a hard-disk drive rather than flash for memory. Hard drives can store more information longer than flash, which takes up less memory and is cheaper.
Other players in the market: MSI Computer Corp., whose MSI Wind U100 is a 10-inch netbook that also uses the Atom processor (price: $500), and
Image courtesy of HP
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3 Comments
Add CommentThese netbooks are a gold mine. With people relying heavily on their mobile devices these days, it's becoming more clear that the hand-held just doesn't cut it, but the standard laptop is too big. This is a great in between.
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The article failed to mention Dell's Mini 9 & Mini 12. I purchased the Mini 9 about three weeks ago. I love it! The netbook is perfect for being on the go and not being tied to a 3 to 6 pound laptop. I configured mine with the 16GB flash drive, running Linux. So far, I'm unimpressed with Linux but very impressed on the netbook concept.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe emergence of the netbook will accelerate the demise of the PC, Laptop and notebook to the museum of technology. The netbook is easier to carry and able to perform most of the basic data processing task.It is currently limited in terms of computational power but this is a temporary setback.Its current storage limitations compelled the end users to store their information online.This leads to some privacy concerns because people don't trust a little or a big brother scrutinizing their info.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe netbook could be an efficient marvelous data processing machine if configured adequately. Its size,portability and low cost make it the gadget of predilection for the mobile person.